Last week I noted that the Kansas State Board of Education in Topeka is holding hearings on whether or not Intelligent Design [a religiously-based critique of Darwininan evolution] should be included in school curricula. Both religious fundamentalists and militant secularists are mobilizing for the occasion. It is being billed as a replay of the famous Scopes "monkey" trial.
At the time I noted that the frame of reference [Scopes redux] has been biased by bad history and anti-fundamentalist propaganda; that the real differences between the two sides have been exaggerated by activists, opportunistic media, and unscrupulous politicians; and that corruption within the scientific community [broadly defined] has undermined its authority and left it open to attack. I also opined that the fundamentalist position is extremely weak (intellectually if not politically and morally). Read my earlier post here.
One of the best blogs covering this controversy and the broader issues it raises is Pandasthumb [a reference to an excellent essay by the late Stephen Jay Gould]. It presents the intelligent design controversy from the perspective of scientific authority. Read it here.
For an account of the recent development of intelligent design theory see here.
For commentary from an evangelical Christian perspective see here.
UPDATE:
Two Kansas bloggers are covering the controversy and liveblogging the hearings [hat tip to Pandas Thumb]
Red State Rabble [here] and Thoughts from Kansas [here].
Read the KC Star report on the brouhaha here.
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