LA Times Columnist Takes on Strawman

In her recent LA Times column, Patt Morrison spent half her essay pummeling a strawman: creationists who think the Smithsonian is hiding Noah’s ark. The other half she spent fear mongering: The creationist “brain snatchers,” the essay warns, “could be in anybody’s backyard tomorrow.” Like an aging boxer, Darwinism has taken to dodging the real challenger, intelligent design–according to which, certain features of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process like natural selection. Morrison eventually mentions intelligent design, but only to erect another strawman. “ID is a canny tactic,” she explains, ” . . . in which the Bible is an encoded science text.” Her column attacked the creationist museum but also the ID Read More ›

Sticker Shock at Instapundit

Instapundit is featuring a joke equating the Cobb County evolution sticker with belief in a flat earth. Glenn Reynolds doesn’t fit neatly into the Republican or Democrat camp. For that reason I’m optimistic he will soon move past the simplistic binary opposition of idiot-Darwinism-doubters-who-only-grudgingly-concede-the-earth-is-round vs. enlightened-secularists-who-understand-that-Darwinism-is-a-given-and-doesn’t-threaten-religion.

Censorship issue not going away

Albuquerque Tribune columnist Jeffry Gardner is not amused by PBS affiliate KNME’s decision to cancel the intelligent design documentary “Unlocking the Mystery of Life.” His title is the first clue: “The BS in PBS”: We’re shelling out more than $300 million annually in state and federal tax dollars for shows like “Charlie Rose” (name the last conservative you’ve seen yucking it up with Chuck), “Frontline,” “American Experience” and “Nova” – all agenda-less programs, I’m sure. I think that’s why the blatant religious discrimination KNME proudly practices is all the more galling. We’re a nation rooted in religious freedom. Tolerance in the public forum is required. The entire piece is here.

AIM Zeroes in on PBS

The newest Accuracy in Media report takes PBS to task for liberal bias and viewpoint discrimination. The piece is particularly good on PBS’s deeply flawed treatment of the controversy over evolution in the public schools: Then, Moyers turned to another current topic, the ACLU’s lawsuits against school districts that want to “teach an alternative to evolution.” Romero insisted that, “teaching alternatives to evolution is about teaching religion in our public schools. And in a country as diverse as this one, and in a country where religious belief is such a core belief for so many Americans, you want to keep the government as far away as we can from involving itself in our most important and private institutions.” Romero’s statement Read More ›