ID Proponent: Ruling May Generate Interest in Theory
by Jim Brown
January 4, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A prominent intelligent design (ID) think tank says a federal judge's decision to ban any mention of ID in a Pennsylvania school district is a loss for science education. Intelligent design, explains the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, is a bona fide scientific theory and has a right to be taught in science class if teachers choose to do so. But the recent ruling constitutes "censorship of science education" as well as a "pyrrhic victory" for Darwinists, says the Institute. Spokesman Casey Luskin says the judge's ruling is not only a loss for science education in the Dover School District in Pennsylvania, but for students as a whole.
Still, Luskin believes the ruling will generate more interest in ID theory. "Whenever you tell students that they can't think about something, guess what they want to do? They want to think about it," he explains. "So this decision really bans the scientific theory of intelligent design from the science classroom."
Luskin contends students are now going to wonder why ID was banned, asking questions like "Why can't we think these thoughts?" and "Why can't we learn about this banned idea?" And teachers, he adds, should be allowed to present students with the simple observation that evidence in the human cell points to an intelligent designer.
The Institute spokesman believes that while the ruling is unfortunate, the potential result could be a boon for ID and its supporters. "The fact of the matter is that you can't change the facts of biology through judicial ruling," Luskin states. "You can't change the fact that there is encoded information in our DNA. You can't force the microbiological rotary engine out of the cell simply through judicial decree."
The evidence for intelligent design, he says, is not going away. "It's still a compelling argument -- and I think that it's going to continue to be persuasive to people," Luskin states.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
