| The game is over. In the District Court action, Professor Michael Behe appeared as an expert witness for the defendant school district, and his testimony in support of Intelligent Design based on “irreducible complexity” was found to be refuted in peer-reviewed research papers and rejected by the scientific community. Tammy Kitzmiller, et al., v. Dover Area School District (Case No. 04cv2688), Memorandum Opinion, at pp. 73-79. In fact, Professor Behe admitted that Intelligent Design was not supported by any scientific evidence; and when pressed on the point of reconciling Intelligent Design with the evidence of biological systems, he could only respond that “the inference still works in science fiction movies.” Id., at p. 81. Intelligent Design has been completely debunked, and its advocates discredited. Professor Behe is a charlatan; and his works are - by his own admission - on a par with astrology.
Let’s put this sad chapter behind us, and look forward to a new, and better, future. Evolution is a proven fact - the engine of creation has been established, and independently verified by Mendelian genetics - and we are on the verge of harnessing the genetic code. Surely, we can sustain progress without casting aspersions on the truth. It’s time that religion cease being the altar of superstition upon which knowledge and reason are sacrificed for the sake of ignorance and stupidity. |