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Dover Decision Anniversary Today. Ho Hum. Zzzzzzzz. (Just Kidding.)

Ronald_Reagan_Federal_Building_and_Courthouse_entry_Harrisburg_PA_Nov_10.JPG

Most of us who operate in the media have come down with a case of it now and then: anniversary-itis, a condition where the existence of a yearly anniversary leads the unwary into granting more importance to an event than it deserves because well, it happened exactly 10 years ago, or 20, or 103, or 247.

The Kitzmiller v. Dover case was decided 11 years ago today. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an important case in a sense because it is routinely abused by Darwin advocates to fool the public and prove that intelligent design was “over at Dover.” Oh sure, on December 20, 2005, an enigma discussed for millennia by scientists, philosophers, theologians, and other thoughtful adults, one of the ultimate questions ever to fascinate the human intellect, was decided for all time by an obscure Federal judge in Harrisburg, PA, cribbing from the ACLU. As Darwinists never tire of crowing, Judge Jones was appointed by George W. Bush (didn’t you know?), the only decent thing most of them would be willing to admit that President Bush ever did.

Right. Only evolution’s evangelists could take Jones seriously as a scientific authority. Dover‘s propaganda value is certain, which is why evolutionists keep coming back to it. But let’s not allow a bout of recurring anniversary-itis to lead us into imagining that in objective terms the Dover case is important, that it truly decided anything of significance. It did not. To misunderstand that is to fall into a trap, a false narrative written by Darwin apologists.

That’s the point of a lecture I want to share with you by our old friend and colleague Casey Luskin, on the 10th anniversary of Dover, “Why Intelligent Design Was Not Over at Dover.” It’s one of the highlights of a section, “Intelligent Design on Trial,” that is part of our website RevolutionaryBehe.com.

(Casey is doing great, by the way, exploring new horizons, intellectual and otherwise. He keeps in touch. But we do miss him!)

The website, if you’re not already familiar with it, is an accompaniment to the new documentary Revolutionary: Michael Behe and the Mystery of Molecular Machines. It’s stocked with helpful resources that complete a picture of the insurgent work of biochemist Dr. Behe and the revolution he sparked 20 years ago with the publication of Darwin’s Black Box. Now there’s a genuinely significant milestone! You see, the key is to intelligently distinguish anniversaries that matter from those that don’t. Helping you do that is one of the services we provide here at Evolution News. (Take a moment to support our work this Christmas season, by the way, won’t you?)

Get your copy of Revolutionary now, on DVD or Blu-ray. (See the trailer here.) But while you’re waiting for it to come in the mail, you can hear the extensive section of the film that tells the story of Dover, Behe’s role in the court case, and his vindication over critics, here in a new episode of ID the Future, “A Revolutionary Look at the Dover Decision 11 Years Later.”

Photo: Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse, Harrisburg, PA, by Pubdog [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

I’m on Twitter. Follow me @d_klinghoffer.

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Evolution News
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and the editor of Evolution News & Science Today, the daily voice of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, reporting on intelligent design, evolution, and the intersection of science and culture. Klinghoffer is also the author of six books, a former senior editor and literary editor at National Review magazine, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Commentary, and other publications. Born in Santa Monica, California, he graduated from Brown University in 1987 with an A.B. magna cum laude in comparative literature and religious studies. David lives near Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children.

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