The Architect of the Iraq War Addresses "Intelligent Design"
Yesterday George W. Bush declared that schools should teach "intelligent design"—the theory that life is so complex that it must have been designed by some outside intelligence, which itself must be pretty complex, but hey, there's no need to account for that. From Knight-Ridder's account:
Bush compared the current debate to earlier disputes over "creationism," a related view that adheres more closely to biblical explanations. As governor of Texas, Bush said students should be exposed to both creationism and evolution.
On Monday the president said he favors the same approach for intelligent design "so people can understand what the debate is about."
If it's "the debate" that concerns the president, how's this for an educational philosophy: Schools could teach the actual debates that serious scientists have about how evolution works, thus leaving kids immune to the creationist cranks' notion that there is a single, unchanging Darwinian "orthodoxy." At some point, as an intellectual exercise, the instructor could assign a reading in "intelligent design" and have the students write papers explaining what's wrong with it. If parents protest, they can send their kids to another school.
Alternately, an instructor could teach Father Guido Sarducci's theory reconciling evolution and creation. Quoting from faded memory, it went something like this: "Yes, God created man in His own image—but God evolved too. Here we have a picture of Neanderthal God…this is Cro-Magnon God…"