Should ID Be a Political Subject?
I don't think that ID should be taught in public schools. There's not a solid curriculum out (yet), and there is concern that it wouldn't be presented properly, as you said.
By the way, it's interesting that the events in Dover were misconstrued as an attempt to place ID cirriculum in biology classes. All they wanted was a sticker admitting that 'evolution isn't a fact' - the same notion that many prominent evolutionists have tried to promote for a decade.
I think that, based on the current coherency of ID theory, the best place for debate over ID material is in the scientific community. The most important thing at this point in time is that schools use more accurate curriculum when teaching about Darwinian evolution. I have friends who are still being taught that peppered moths are proof of macroevolution. Curriculum writers had better shape up.
Well, ID is and will be a political issue whether we like it or not. ID needs allies in the political spectrum of it wants to really go somewhere in the U.S. Senator Santorum recently distanced himself from ID. Maybe the it's time to put a fresh face on ID's public relations (not in terms of people, but in terms of the approach). If you ask 1000 people on the street who the face of the Intelligent Design movement is, few very, if any, will be able to answer you.
I'm not sure what you mean by "ID shouldn't be taught in schools," I mean, I'm not sure whether you mean that ID shouldn't be taught as a solid fact, the way darwinism is today, or whether it should be mentioned. However, if you mean that it shouldn't be mentioned for fear of misrepresentation, that is a dangerous stance to take. If we go with that logic, we will never see anything but darwinism in schools. And as for the point that there is no viable curriculum, if that is true, then how have christian high scools and colleges gotten by?
"By the way, it's interesting that the events in Dover were misconstrued as an attempt to place ID cirriculum in biology classes. All they wanted was a sticker admitting that 'evolution isn't a fact' - the same notion that many prominent evolutionists have tried to promote for a decade."
Dover involved mentioning ID in the biology class, which had to be done by school administrators in some cases because teachers refused to comply. Cobb County, Georgia, is where the stickers were placed on the textbook calling evolution "a theory, not a fact."
I think the problem with Dover was that the school administrators were looking for a way to teach Christian creationism, and latched onto ID. In my opinion, ID in no way supports Christian theology - it is a scientific pursuit plain and simple. Unfortunately, the activist judge Jones decided to overstep his mandate and rule against ID itself, when even the Discovery Institute was against the curriculum.
(whoops - I meant this to be a reply to a comment below)
ID in no way supports Christian theology
Bill would disagree, actually. There isn't a direct logical chain connecting the design inference to the Christian God. But at the same time he feels that ID gives epistemic support in the form of greater explanatory power for his theology.
But that's more a discussion on philosophy. Doesn't matter to me other than I felt that point needed to be clarified so the views of major ID proponents is known correctly.
People have been fired over ID.
So the issue is political.
People with jobs to lose over openly supporting ID are brave.
Firing of IDiots
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=b1c67abe.0403121312.35d2e0c%40posting.google.com
I was wondering what other people thought about Intelligent Design being used for political purposes. I'm not sure that I have a strong position on this. All I know is that when it becomes a political issue, a lot of mistaken and misguided stuff gets said and the public gets confused.
Personally, I lean towards the view that the public schools are beyond salvagable anyway and that even if ID was taught in the public schools, it wouldn't be taught well.
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