Mythology in the White House

seattlepi: The theory of "intelligent design" was once dismissed by a Kansas professor as "creationism in a cheap tuxedo." Yet, the tuxedo in question appears to be hanging in George W. Bush's wardrobe.

President Bush was asked this week whether he thought U.S. schoolchildren should learn about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution or the theory of intelligent design.

Proponents of the latter maintain that life on Earth is too complex to have developed through evolution, implying that a "higher power" must have had a hand in creation. That power is naturally presumed to be God.

Astonishingly, the president answered that both theories should be taught side by side. Why? "So people can understand what the debate is about." There is, of course, no "debate" between the two theories on scientific grounds. And it is astonishing that this struggle is still going on 80 years after the Scopes Monkey trial.

The fact is that Darwinism has been subjected to empirical scrutiny and accepted by every serious biologist in the world. Intelligent design, on the other hand, was devised by a group of Christian fundamentalists to bolster their literal interpretation of the Bible's creation story. Read more

db: Look around you. Intelligent design? Pull the other one - its got bells on.