The final of today’s moral trifecta is the case of the Kansas board of education. Basically, proponents of intelligent design say an almighty force (not necessarily God, they say) explains how we got here and not evolution. They want ID to be taught in the schools along with evolution. I guess you could do that by saying “some folks say we got here by Christian magic” and then move on to evolution. I mean, what else do you say after saying God did it?
Of course, I always thought God designed evolution. Evolution itself is a miracle to me, so I can’t see why evolution is a threat to Christianity. But The Washington Post gives ID a hard uppercut.
NEARLY FIVE YEARS into the 21st century, the Kansas State Board of Education has begun an earnest discussion of whether schools in that state should teach science that was obsolete by the end of the 19th century. The board is holding hearings into proposed changes to its model science standards, changes intended to cast doubt on conventional evolutionary biology and inject into classrooms the notion of “intelligent design” — the idea that the complexity of life can be explained only by some conscious creator’s having designed it.
Intelligent design is not your parents’ creationism. It’s a slick set of talking points that are not based on biblical inerrancy but framed, rather, in the language of science: molecular biology, the structure of DNA and holes in the fossil record. Moreover, the ostensible justification for the changes is a seductive one. Proponents say they mean merely to ensure that schoolchildren are given a full sense of the scientific controversy over evolution so that they can make up their own minds. Who can object to that?
But there is no serious scientific controversy over whether Darwinian evolution takes place. Intelligent design is not science. Whatever its rhetoric, the public questioning of evolution is fundamentally religious, not scientific, in nature.
Groups protesting the Kansas curriculum, sex education and the separation of church and state form the nexus of American Taliban movement. Say that, of course, and someone will accuse you of being against people of Christian faith. No, people of strong faith are those who understand that faith is a private matter, and they practice it by setting an example. There are many good people of faith who are legitimately upset by our moral waywardness. But most of them are toiling away in the vineyards. The American Taliban, on the other hand, is using those people and their beliefs to sell an agenda that is reminiscent of the McCarthy era. They want to squash dissent and impose their moral relativism. (Life is sacred but capital punishment is cool, for example.)
Again, we find the battleground to be the classroom. I welcome that, if for no other reason than it will engage kids to get involved in the issues of the day. If curriculum changes the Taliban wants in sex-ed or science class is accompanied by a freewheeling discussion in the classroom, then maybe it’s worth it. Progressives shouldn’t be afraid of “former gays” or ID proponents. But I suspect that a discussion of the issues is not what the Taliban want. We need to force it.