Reverend AtheiStar Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 "Once you have made intelligence supreme, you have elevated science to the highest form of knowing. And with that move, the self-appointed champions of religious tradition paint themselves into the same corner that they would like to lead us out of. Using intelligent design as a buttress against scientific hegemony is, to borrow from a Yiddish proverb, as outrageously selfdefeating as murdering your parents and then pleading for leniency on the grounds that you're an orphan." http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...omment-opinions From the Los Angeles Times The divine irony of 'intelligent design' By Garret Keizer GARRET KEIZER is the author of "Help: The Original Human Dilemma." February 24, 2006 ADVOCATES OF teaching "intelligent design" aren't giving up, no matter the recent setbacks in California and Pennsylvania. In Utah, Texas, New York and elsewhere, they persist in trying to make science education subservient to a religious worldview. And yet the longer the controversy continues, the more it illustrates their own subservience to science. As its name suggests, the major premise of intelligent design is that the existence of a supreme designer can be inferred by evidence of his, her or its "intelligence." And that premise rests in turn on an even more basic assumption: that intelligence is the most important, perceivable and telling attribute of God and of the creature supposedly created in God's image. Minus the references to deity, this comes amazingly close to the same hierarchy of value on which the scientific worldview makes its case. Sense perception and logic - not sensuousness and emotion - are the keys to authentic understanding. Rationality will point us to God, if there is one. I think, therefore I am. He thinks like you can't even begin to think, therefore he is God. According to this mind-set, if we can discover a big wooden boat on Mt. Ararat and carbon date it to the sixth millennium BC, then the story of the flood in Genesis might be "true." The authoritative shift is self-evident. It's not a matter of "what the Bible says," as authenticated by generations of shared cultural experience. It's a matter of what science says - or can be forced to say - about the Bible, as verified by a body of data. If you're a bit lost here as to whose mind-set I'm describing, that's my point. For the advocates of intelligent design, the loveliness of nature is a second-class road to truth. It is "merely" aesthetic. In that regard, one notices that there is no campaign afoot to teach "divine inspiration" as the basis for the sacred works of Fra Angelico and Bach. "That's next," you say, and maybe it is next. The point here is that it wasn't first, and it wasn't first for a very good reason. Once you have made intelligence supreme, you have elevated science to the highest form of knowing. And with that move, the self-appointed champions of religious tradition paint themselves into the same corner that they would like to lead us out of. Using intelligent design as a buttress against scientific hegemony is, to borrow from a Yiddish proverb, as outrageously selfdefeating as murdering your parents and then pleading for leniency on the grounds that you're an orphan. The irony extends from means to ends. The motivating force for many advocates of intelligent design, as for the advocates of school prayer who preceded them, is the perceived need for kids to have "some exposure" to religious ideas. If they don't get a taste of that stuff in school, they may never seek it elsewhere. This is where the dismissal of intelligent design as "bad science" doesn't go far enough. It can also be dismissed as bad evangelism. The supporters of intelligent design betray a sadly compromised understanding of their own underlying mission. "The knowledge of the living God" is apparently not to be taught by lives of exemplary service but by fossil evidence. "Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven," Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. Is it now to be understood that by "light" he meant the kind that shines in a specimen case? Finally, the supporters of intelligent design betray their own secularist assumptions through their insistence that Darwinian evolution be taught with the disclaimer that it is "only a theory." One would assume that, from the perspective of faith, a great deal is only a theory. To apply that label exclusively to evolution suggests otherwise. It suggests that we inhabit a world of ubiquitous certainty. No one could walk on water in such a world because the molecular density of water is (unlike evolution, apparently) beyond the theoretical. Of course, that is the view of science, and the only proper view of science. One is amazed, however, to find it promulgated in the cause of religion. This is not to make light of a serious threat posed by the advocates of teaching intelligent design. I happen to share the fears of those who see a theocratic agenda at work in their campaign. At the same time, I can't help but be amused by the notion of the entire edifice of the Enlightenment crumbling beneath the assault of a "religious" crusade. The barbarians may be battering at the gates, but the gates are mostly their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Everon Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 "Once you have made intelligence supreme, you have elevated science to the highest form of knowing. And with that move, the self-appointed champions of religious tradition paint themselves into the same corner that they would like to lead us out of. Using intelligent design as a buttress against scientific hegemony is, to borrow from a Yiddish proverb, as outrageously selfdefeating as murdering your parents and then pleading for leniency on the grounds that you're an orphan." This cannot be stressed enough! It is the ultimate in hypocrisy that so permeates christianity (let's face it, it's the christian god IDers are promoting). I could add to this, but my irony meter just broke pegging out on the high end. I must now go to Spencer's and buy another one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ nivek ♦ Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Thanks Rev, excellent article-bomb.. Been delivered from high altitude and via sappers under the wire at several religio-fascists, err republican xtian strongholds.. kL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverend AtheiStar Posted February 27, 2006 Author Share Posted February 27, 2006 It is the ultimate in hypocrisy that so permeates christianity (let's face it, it's the christian god IDers are promoting). I totally agree. ID is a Christian movement. It was thought up by Christains as a legal strategy to get around the First Amendment. It's their trojan horse to get their religion into the classroom. It was working for a small while but then the most wonderful judgement was handed down in Dover by none other than a Dumbya appointee! This shattered their horse and exposed not only who was inside but everything that led up to it's creation. I have it on my site here. I titled it "The Dover Smackdown!" lol... It reads like a novel! I could add to this, but my irony meter just broke pegging out on the high end. I must now go to Spencer's and buy another one. lol... I want one of those God Detectors. They look like a cool thing to carry around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Gods Fail Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 I thought this was a particulary shrewd observation: The "knowledge of the living God" is apparently not to be taught by lives of exemplary service but by fossil evidence. Do christians ID proponents ever read the bible? Why don't they get it? Is their faith so shaky and fragile they must warp reality to protect it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverend AtheiStar Posted February 27, 2006 Author Share Posted February 27, 2006 Thanks Rev, excellent arricle-bomb.. Been delivered from high altitude and via sappers under the wire at several religio-fascists, err republican xtian strongholds.. kL Thanks! So you spread it around? What's been the feedback? I thought this was a particulary shrewd observation: The "knowledge of the living God" is apparently not to be taught by lives of exemplary service but by fossil evidence. Do christians ID proponents ever read the bible? Why don't they get it? Is their faith so shaky and fragile they must warp reality to protect it? Most Christians nowadays don't read their book. Do you blame them, though? It is quite long and boring! What they do is just read a few parts here and there -- and even that is guided by their pastor/father/minister. This is why I always try to point as many Christians as I can to skepticsannotatedbible.com. I can't get enough of that site! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ nivek ♦ Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Rev... Mostly on the lines of "YOU FUCKING GOD HATING ATTTTTEEEEEEEEEEIIISTTTTT!" along the lines of the Margerite Perrin "Psykikz" and "slackiks!!" shouting... I'm returning to the pits of fyndidom in a few after finding some more good tidbits contra-ID to drop in thrit dog bowls.. kL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reverend AtheiStar Posted February 27, 2006 Author Share Posted February 27, 2006 Rev... Mostly on the lines of "YOU FUCKING GOD HATING ATTTTTEEEEEEEEEEIIISTTTTT!" along the lines of the Margerite Perrin "Psykikz" and "slackiks!!" shouting... I'm returning to the pits of fyndidom in a few after finding some more good tidbits contra-ID to drop in thrit dog bowls.. kL lol... Such moral and loving people they are. If you want an easy way to find good articles on evolution and ID just type those words into this alert. It'll find it all for you, on a daily basis, and drop it in your mailbox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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