Commentary for November 18: Fossils. 'The Republican War on Science' by Chris Mooney / 'A Jealous God: Science's Crusade Against Religion' by Pamela Winnick. 'The Republican War on Science' by Chris Mooney / 'A Jealous God: Science's Crusade Against Religion' by Pamela Winnick U.S. District Judge John E. Jones made national headlines last year when he handed down his decision in Kitzmiller vs. Dover, the court battle over the teaching of creationism in the public schools.
Jones' acknowledgment that intelligent design is a religious theory, not science, and his resulting decision that "it is unconstitutional to teach ID as an alternative to evolution in a public school science classroom," marked an important moment in an ongoing battle. The intelligent design movement grew out of the failure of earlier efforts to teach creationism in science classes with a strong biblical tilt. It can be viewed as part of the fight religious groups have waged over the exact intent of the Founding Fathers when they wrote "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. " For example, Winnick argues: On occasion, Winnick also misstates facts.
Pamela Winnick's Science Envy. Pamela Winnick is an attorney and former reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette who has written several articles that lean against evolution and in favor of intelligent design. I recently forced myself to read her 2005 book, A Jealous God: Science's Crusade Against Religion. It wasn't a pleasant experience. Winnick's book covers a variety of topics: abortion, population control, eugenics, medical experimentation, the Scopes trial, the theory of evolution, intelligent design, and fetal tissue research. Her thesis -- if this rambling, disjointed book can be said to have one -- is contained in the book's final paragraph: "The Galileo prototype of the scientist martyred by religion is now purely a myth.
Science long ago won its war against religion, not just traditional religion, but any faith in a power outside the human mind. Throughout the book, scientists are depicted as crazed, power-hungry, and immoral. Winnick's reporting is sloppy. Here's an example of a mined quote. "None at all. Expelled Exposed: Why Expelled Flunks » Richard Sternberg. Summary Expelled claims that Sternberg was “terrorized” and that “his life was nearly ruined” when, in 2004, as editor of Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, he published a pro-intelligent design article by Stephen C.
Meyer. However, there is no evidence of either terrorism or ruination. Before publishing the paper, Sternberg worked for the National Institutes of Health at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (GenBank) and was an unpaid Research Associate – not an employee – at the Smithsonian. He was the voluntary, unpaid editor of PBSW (small academic journals rarely pay editors), and had given notice of his resignation as editor six months before the Meyer article was published. After the Meyer incident, he remained an employee of NIH and his unpaid position at the Smithsonian was extended in 2006, although he has not shown up there in years.
The Claim The Facts Expelled doesn’t even get the paper’s subject right. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Part 2 of 10) Respectful Insolence. Expelled Exposed: Why Expelled Flunks.