:: Running from the Thought Police ::

:: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 ::

Intelligent Design Unconstitutional

Why? 'Cos it's still Creationism, just with fancy words. So sayeth U.S. District Judge John Jones:

In an opinion issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Jones ruled that teaching "intelligent design" would violate the Constitutional separation of church and state.

"We have concluded that it is not [science], and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents," Jones writes in his 139-page opinion posted on the court's Web site.

"To be sure, Darwin's theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions," Jones writes.

As usual, I am not wedded to my computer so I missed scooping this one. Pooflingers Anonymous is, well, flinging poo in celebration, while PZ Meyers of Pharyngula is all over the decision, ripping apart the Discovery Institute's response with paragraphs from the judge's own ruling and preemptively taking down one of the more prominent proponents of Intelligent Design before he can start bullshitting as well. If I find more good stuff I'll post it too.

Smart people have won this battle, for now. I wonder what Creationism will have to morph into next in order to be able to legally rear its head somewhere else.

UPDATE: Crap, I forgot Orac at Respectful Insolence. He's got a post up too, and is promising more.

:: The Squire 1:37 PM :: email this post :: ::
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