Monday, September 25, 2006

 

Outage


The Discovery Institute is lauding a "new player in the United Kingdom in the debate over how best to teach evolution," a website called Truth in Science. According to the DI, this organization's educational goals are "clearly outlined on the website and put into context with the educational policies and guidelines of the UK." After, no doubt, an extensive review of the site and consideration of the aims and objectives of the group, the DI says:

Because of the different education and policy environment in the UK, versus that of the United States, TiS endorses teaching both the criticisms of evolution and the scientific theory of intelligent design.
It is, therefore, extremely interesting to find out that this organization is, in fact, made up of young-Earth creationists, as revealed in an article by Michael Roberts, an Anglican priest, a geologist and author of a range of articles on religion and science.

What's more, when you go to the site and start poking around, you find that, while it makes all the DI-approved noises about teaching "the current scientific controversy over origins," the point of view they really want to push is "phyletic discontinuity." What is phyletic discontinuity? Enter the phrase into the TiS search engine and the only result you get is a link to an outside site, "Biology Study Group" at Bryan College. As that site describes itself:

The BSG will soon be a formal society of professionals in the biological and related sciences or theology who (1) hold or are working towards an advanced degree in a relevant field (exceptions to this are made on an individual basis) and (2) are Christians accepting the authority of Bible (i.e., Old and New Testament canons) in all areas. Thus, all members accept the taxonomic concept of "created kind" or baramin.
In short, TiS is claiming that creation science is a scientific alternative to evolutionary theory. And it's not as if it is particularly hard to spot, when the site uses images like the derogatory caricature of Darwin above.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the DI maintains that it is not a creationist organization and claims that ID is not at all linked to things like creation science. But TiS's "scientific theory of intelligent design" includes "bariminology" based on "the authority of Bible canons."

Has the DI come "out of the closet" as a supporter of creation science or are they just displaying their usual "scholarship" by not giving the fine print even a cursory glance?
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