Lanka Citizen

Time was when the Roman Catholic Church held that the earth was flat and confronted Galileo with the instruments of torture that passed for argument in that establishment. If you believe that the Dark Ages of medieval Europe have been buried by history, take a look at current activities of the neo-obscurantists in the USA.

A year ago, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a school board led by fundamentalist Christians included so-called intelligent design in its biology curriculum, launching the latest federal courtroom battle over the place of religion in the classroom. Parents and teachers had taken the school board to court and testimony closed last week. The boards key witness at the trial had been William Buckingham, who as the chairman of the Dover district curriculum committee last fall, had spearheaded the adoption of the intelligent design statement. A former prison supervisor and member of an independent fundamentalist church, Buckingham had cried out at a board meeting: “Two thousand years ago somebody died on a cross. Can’t someone take a stand for him?”

Under cross-examination, Buckingham acknowledged there were times his testimony contradicted statements he had made earlier in sworn depositions, but said his memory was faulty because he was “addicted to Oxy Contin,” a prescription opiate, and had twice been in rehabilitation.

Both Buckingham and the former school board president, Alan Bonsell, who were the leading advocates for the change, acknowledged in testimony that they believe the book of Genesis is literally true.

The Dover board is defended by the Thomas Moore Law Center of Michigan, founded by two conservative Roman Catholics: “Our purpose is to be the sword and shield for people of faith … to defend and protect Christians and their religious beliefs in the public square.” The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania argued that “intelligent design” is “creationism” in pseudoscientific garb.

In 1987, when Louisiana schools were requiring creationism to be taught alongside Darwinism the US Supreme Court had struck (out) that state law. The fundamentalists have not given up their pursuit of the absurd - they have rephrased their assertions. The pre-1987 text book declared that “Creation means that various forms of life began abruptly through the agency of an intelligent creator, with their distinctive features already intact — fish with fins, birds with feathers, beaks and wings, etc.” The post 1987 edition states: “Intelligent design means that various forms of life began abruptly though an intelligent agent … .”

The lead scientific witness for the board was Dr. Michael Behe, a biochemistry professor at Lehigh University and author of “Darwin’s Black Box,” who asserted, as an example, that “scientific literature has no answers to the question of the origin of the immune system.” His lawyers piled stacks of biology and medical texts and peer-reviewed journals before the court; but, alas, it transpired that all his writings discussed the evolution of the immune system.

Catholic

The chief scientific witness for the plaintiffs, Kenneth Miller, said that he, too, was “a person of faith. … I’m a Roman Catholic.” He is also a Brown University biologist and co-author of one of the most widely used high school textbooks — “Biology.” “The statement by the Dover board of education falsely undermines the scientific status of the theory of evolution,” he said, “and does a great disservice to science education in Dover.”

There had also been testimony that some creationists believe the Earth was created in seven days, as described in Genesis, with geological formations such as the Grand Canyon resulting from the flood described in the story of Noah and his arc. The Earth, they believe, is no more than 10,000 years old, whereas the accepted scientific view places its age at 4.5 billion years.

Despite the exertions of the neo-obscurantists, the spirit of science is not dead in the USA. “Intelligent design” or “creationism” has been repudiated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Sciences.

Written By:Gamini Seneviratne

courtesy Weekend Standard