Monkeys leading in competition with God
October 25, 2007 at 9:22 am by Wayne GarciaThe scientific theory of evolution is winning (for now, at least) as the state of Florida rewrites its public school standards. That’s because, as the name implies, it is based on science, as opposed to the leading “theoretical” contender, the faith-based Intelligent Design movement that wants (at the very least) some equal time to say that God created the heavens and the earth.
To be fair, those who are trying to establish ID in the scientific realm make a more complicated argument for God’s hand in the natural world than just quoting the ol’ King James. They have tried to argue that certain complexities in human and animal designs could not have been the result of Darwinian evolution, that they show an “intelligent” hand behind them. Their claims, however, are barely at the hypothesis stage, have had many holes shot in them and are far from being tested thoroughly enough to make it to the realm of theory.
You can read the draft Sunshine State Standards for biological science here. Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas comments here. And my cover story on the modern-day revisitation of the Scopes trial here. (h/t to Florida Citizens for Science blog.)
ADDENDUM: Just ran across Pushing Rope’s take on this thing.
