Intelligent design in thirty minutes or less

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

| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share
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%.
Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

  • Brendan Maher

    This person does not yet have a bio.
Share
Image of a woman in a microbiology lab whose hair is caught on fire from a Bunsen burner.
April 1, 2025, Issue 1

Bunsen Burners and Bad Hair Days

Lab safety rules dictate that one must tie back long hair. Rosemarie Hansen learned the hard way when an open flame turned her locks into a lesson.

View this Issue
Conceptual image of biochemical laboratory sample preparation showing glassware and chemical formulas in the foreground and a scientist holding a pipette in the background.

Taking the Guesswork Out of Quality Control Standards

sartorius logo
An illustration of PFAS bubbles in front of a blue sky with clouds.

PFAS: The Forever Chemicals

sartorius logo
Unlocking the Unattainable in Gene Construction

Unlocking the Unattainable in Gene Construction

dna-script-primarylogo-digital
Concept illustration of acoustic waves and ripples.

Comparing Analytical Solutions for High-Throughput Drug Discovery

sciex

Products

Green Cooling

Thermo Scientific™ Centrifuges with GreenCool Technology

Thermo Fisher Logo
Singleron Avatar

Singleron Biotechnologies and Hamilton Bonaduz AG Announce the Launch of Tensor to Advance Single Cell Sequencing Automation

Zymo Research Logo

Zymo Research Launches Research Grant to Empower Mapping the RNome

Magid Haddouchi, PhD, CCO

Cytosurge Appoints Magid Haddouchi as Chief Commercial Officer