noise to signal

Yet more on intelligent design ...

... but not something that's likely to give regular readers an aneurism: The ACLU has posted an excellent FAQ on Intelligent Design.

Some excerpts:

Q: How does ID undermine science education?
A: Teaching ID as a so-called “alternative” to evolution would misinform students as to the scientific standing of the theory of evolution and the workings of the scientific method. In addition, it would improperly prepare them for postsecondary science education, placing them at a significant disadvantage to their peers. All scientists and physicians who study such diseases as SARS and AIDS, as well as those who trace how bacteria becomes resistant to antibiotics, completely rely on evolutionary theory to understand the phenomena they are examining. We are certain that even ID proponents would prefer to rely on these scientists rather than a scientist who believes that SARS or AIDS was created by intelligent design and can be explained only by intelligent design.

Q: How does ID undermine religious freedom?
A: ID is attempting to insert its particular religious beliefs into science education – as if it were science. By trying to use governments to give the prestigious label of “science” to their controversial theories, they are misleading children and parents. By attempting to elevate a single religious viewpoint over others and situating religion in conflict with science, they are endangering the religious freedom of all Americans. In the words of Theologian John F. Haught, “If a child of mine were attending a biology class where the teacher proposed that students consider ID as an alternative to…evolution I would be offended religiously as well as intellectually.” (Haught, J, rep. App. 3, tab F, at 7.)

Q: What's wrong with the claim that evolution is “just a theory”?
A: Calling evolution “just a theory” is deeply misleading because it confuses the everyday meaning of the word “theory” (a “hunch” or an “opinion.”) with the scientific meaning (requiring an explanation that is testable, grounded in evidence and able to predict natural phenomena better than competing theories). The scientific theory of evolution is one of the most robust theories in modern science. It has been corroborated by hundreds of thousands of independent observerations and has succeeded in predicting natural phenomena in every field of the biological sciences, from paleontology to molecular genetics. No persuasive evidence has been put forward in the last 150 years to contradict the theory of evolution. In the words of Theodosius Dobzhansky, one of the most prominent geneticists of the 20 th century, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution.”

Q: But what about gaps in the theory of evolution that cannot be explained by scientists?
A: Most important scientific theories have gaps that need to be filled, and unanswered questions do not render a theory invalid. Doubters of Galileo's theory of the earth's rotation around the sun asked, why, if the earth is spinning, don't we all fly off it? It took roughly a half-century for Isaac Newton to develop the theory of gravitational pull, which answers this question. A scientific theory is not disqualified simply because it raises new questions; in fact, the ability of a theory to inspire new questions and experiments is a measure of its quality. Furthermore, most of the so-called “unexplainable gaps” pointed out by ID proponents have in fact been answered by scientists. For many years “creationists” argued that there were serious gaps in the “fossil record” and that there was no fossil record of transitional species. During the last twenty years several such transitional species have been found - something that ID people are reluctant to admit -- making the original assertion more and more dubious.