Intelligent Design has evolved, evolution theory supporters claim.
That is part of what Nick Matzke, public information project director for the National Center for Science Education showed during his lecture in Bakersfield College’s Fireside Room on Sept. 21.
Matzke worked a year for the plaintiff’s legal team in the recent Kitzmiller vs. Dover Case, which concerned the teaching of Intelligent Design in the public schools of Dover, Penn.
BC English professor Jeannie Parent, leading member for the Kern County Chapter of American United for Separation of Church and State, arranged Matzke’s lecture. During the lecture, Matzke probed the origins of Intelligent Design and discussed the particulars of the Kitzmiller vs. Dover case.
Matzke, with his double B.S. in biology and chemistry from Valparaiso University and a master’s degree in geography from UC Santa Barbara, lent scientific advice to the legal team that fought to keep ID teaching out of Dover schools.
The pro-evolution legal team beat down the Dover school board policy, which ordered the instruction of ID in science classes. Presiding U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III ruled that the ID policy was a violation of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state. Jones, a conservative fundamentalist appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002 to the federal court, wrote in his 139-page summary of his ruling that ID was not an actual science but religion. Jones even went so far as to lambaste the Dover school board for implementing such a controversial policy in Dover.
Jones mentioned in his legal treatise on the case that Dover school libraries were provided with copies of the pro-creationist textbook “Of Pandas and People.” Jones also brought the fact that the students were ordered to listen to a pro-ID disclaimer.
Jones wrote in his ruling officially known as Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District that “The disclaimer’s plain language, the legislative history, and the historical context in which the ID Policy arose, all inevitably lead to the conclusion that Defendants consciously chose to change Dover’s biology curriculum to advance Religion. We have been presented with a wealth of evidence which reveals that the District’s purpose was to advance creationism, an inherently religious view, both by introducing it directly under the label ID and by disparaging the scientific theory of evolution, so that creationism would gain credence by default as the only apparent alternative to evolution.”
This text, which appeared in 1989 was authored by San Francisco State University biology professor Dean Kenyon and co-authored by Percival Davis. On pages 95-100, the text states to the effect that, “life began with distinctive features already intact . fish with fins, birds with feathers, etc.” The text cites an “intelligent agency” as the entity who “abruptly” created humans and animals.
Matzke quoted a Dover high school student who, upon hearing all that Intelligent Design entails, quipped, “there’s a Bible club in school for this, isn’t there?”
The text “Of Pandas and People” underwent a kind of evolution; the title went from “Creation Biology” to “Biology and Creation” to “Biology and Origins” to “Of Pandas and People.” Intelligent Design itself went from being referred to as “Creationism” to “Intelligent Design,” according to Matzke.
Matzke discussed at length the intellectual history pertaining to the teaching of evolution. In 1859, Darwin’s “Origin of Species” was published, and public education was on the rise. In 1909, there was a ban on teaching evolution in American classrooms. In the 1910s, as Matzke put it, “Natural Selection went into eclipse.” In 1925, of course, America witnessed the famous Scopes’ “Monkey Trial.” The 1930s, according to Matzke, saw the introduction of the “Modern Synthesis” concept. In 1959, the molecular DNA revolution began, according to Matzke. 1959 also the launching of the Russian “Sputnik,” which caused U.S. education leaders to think nervously that, “the Russians were way ahead. the U.S. needs more science teaching in its schools,” said Matzke. Also in 1959, “Creation Science” made its debut, and schools were federally ordered to give Creation Science “equal time” along with evolution teaching, according to Matzke.
It was a case of either both evolution and Creation Science were taught in schools, or neither would be taught, according to Matzke.
During the lecture, Matzke used an overhead to display several newspaper cartoons celebrating the Dover victory over ID; one cartoon depicted a very jubilant fish walking on two legs toward a sign that reads: “Dover, Pennsylvania.”