Looks like I can harden my reserve to never again eat Domino?s pizza ? not that I liked it much anyway. The Thomas Moore Law Center, founded by ?za magnate Thomas Monaghan, is representing the defending Dover school board that tried passing off intelligent design as real science. As a card carrying Pennsylvanian, I?ll be closely watching the proceedings in our neighbor county. But I actually have little faith that the A.C.L.U. will be able to successfully convince district judge John E. Jones III (a Bush appointee from 2002) that there is indeed a difference between theology and biology.


That?s not to say that there?s no hope. I had a chance to talk with my father over the weekend on the matter. A litigator himself and a devout Catholic, he?s a brilliant man with a penchant for theological argument that has sadly declined with his hearing. Having grown up under the spell of his fear of encroaching materialist ideology, I seriously doubt that I could change his mind with regards to basically anything. But he seemed quite content with John Paul II?s assessment that evolution is not necessarily incompatible with faith. There has been, of course, a lot of reinterpretation on JPII?s encyclical lately.


I think my father agrees that the IDers aren?t selling science, but he simply sees no harm in teaching theology in public school. This will continue to be the problem for scientists to contend with in this country. The IDers know they?re selling faith and are proud of it. But there?s still some reasoning with my dad and keeping science in the natural ? rather than the supernatural world certainly appealed to him. I think I got him when I strove for simplicity, paraphrasing from our president?s ?favorite philosopher.? ?Render unto Darwin what is Darwin?s and unto God what is God?s.? The pizza guy, on the other hand, is lucky if he gets 15%.