Thoughts in a Haystack

A few things from around the intertubes:

Roger Ebert was, in fact, having us on:

Some days ago I posted an article headlined, "Creationism: Your questions answered." It was Q&A that accurately reflected Creationist beliefs. It inspired a firestorm on the web, with hundreds, even thousands of comments on blogs devoted to evolution and science. More than 600 comments on the delightful FARK.com alone. Many of the comments I've seen believe I have converted to Creationism. Others conclude I have lost my mind because of age and illness. There is a widespread conviction that the site was hacked. Lane Brown's blog for New York magazine flatly states I gave "two thumbs down to evolution." On every one of the blogs, there are a few perceptive comments gently suggesting the article might have been satirical. ...

But the purpose of this blog entry is not to discuss politics (a subject banned from the blog). Nor is it to discuss Creationism versus the theory of evolution (that way lurks an endless loop). It is to discuss the gradual decay of our sense of irony and instinct for satire, and our growing credulity.

And speaking of credulity (via The Panda's Thumb), there is William Dembski, among other things, calling James Dobson, Chuck Colson, Dinesh D'Souza and Lee Strobel the "distinguished company" that he'll be sharing the stage with at the National Conference on Christian Apologetics (Remember, folks! ID is all about the science!) and, for the umpteenth time, declaring the demise of evolution:

We've made a good case. What we need now are good legal and political strategies.

It takes massive credulity to think that the central core of ID hasn't been religion and politics all along.

And then there is Adnan Oktar, otherwise known as Harun Yahya, who is many, many things, but credulous is not among them. Here he is on ID:

I find the concept of intelligent design rather dishonest. One should openly stand up for the existence of Allah, should sincerely stand up for religion, for Islam. Or, if one is a Christian, one should honestly stand up for Christianity. This is a theory which claims that things have somehow been created, but it is unknown who created them. I find this rather dishonest, actually. The followers of intelligent design should openly and clearly declare the existence of Allah as the Creator.

I wonder what it feels like to be less honest than Adnan Oktar.
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