Simon Mundy: The Creation of Confusion

Simon Mundy, in The Creation of Confusion, published in “The Journal”, on 19 September 2008 explains why Intelligent Design, due to its lack of scientific content, is dangerous to our educational system.

To label as “information” the murky doctrine of creationism (now repackaged as “intelligent design”) is ludicrous. The intelligent design movement represents a desperate attempt to accommodate within American schools the religious fundamentalism that is undiminished–even resurgent–in many parts of the country. Clearly, the Christian creation story should be taught in religious education classes, alongside those of the other major faiths. But there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that the Garden of Eden fable should be given no more credence than the Hindu belief that the world rests on the back of an elephant.

As Mundy explains the cost to education is not small:

Simon Mundy wrote:

. But for a supposedly secular education system to give an artificial impression of high-level disagreement where none exists, at the behest of a fundamentalist religious minority, is inexcusable. To compromise scientific integrity in this way would set a dangerous precedent.

Indeed, to compromise scientific integrity for the sake of some creationists’ faith, whether it be Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism or their scientifically vacuous offspring, Intelligent Design, is inexcusable.

In the mean time, ID seems to be returning to its apologetics roots and betting on the outcome of political races more than on presenting scientific contributions. What choice do they really have?