Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design Is Wrong for Our Schools [Paperback]

This book is an interesting examination of the issues surrounding the promotion of Intelligent Design in America. Although it is of general interest, I suspect that it will be of greatest use as a resource for teachers within the American public school system or for concerned parents who wish to promote good science education. The final chapter is mainly devoted to practical details concerning how to organise groups to oppose the teaching of Creationism / Intelligent Design.

The book comprises six chapters. The editors have written the opening and concluding chapters and other authors have written or co-written the others. There is a fairly comprehensive account of how Intelligent Design evolved(?) from Creation Science as it twists and turns to try and avoid violating the First Amendment.

What is particularly heartening to note is the extent to which Christian groups and individual Christians are opposing the pseudo-science of Intelligent Design. In addition, the third chapter of this book is co-authored by a Lutheran theologian and a Roman Catholic biologist. It would be very easy for advocates of Intelligent Design to see themselves as being persecuted by godless scientists but this is far from the case.

The proponents of Intelligent Design seem to have managed to create the impression of a controversy where no controversy exists. Evolution is well established and Intelligent Design is a sterile dead end. Its agenda appears to be predominantly destructive - aimed at undermining confidence in well-established science.

This book also looks at some of the proponents of ID - particularly Phillip Johnson, Michael Behe and William Dembski. Having myself looked at some reviews of Behe's books it would seem that opinion is polarised but that some people obviously think that there is some scientific credibility to his work.

If you are interested in seeing why Behe's idea of Irreducible Complexity fails then I would refer you to pages 43-46 of this book. It concludes, 'When Behe was cross-examined during the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial in October 2005, he was asked if he still believed that the scientific literature had no answers on the origin of the immune system. He said that he did. Then, in a Perry Mason-like flourish, the plaintiffs' attorney piled fifty-eight peer-reviewed articles and a stack of books on the witness stand in front of Behe.' Evidently Behe admitted that he hadn't read most of them and dismissed them with a wave of his hand. As the cell biologist Kenneth Miller remarked, 'Ain't nothing going to convince this guy.' Faith trumps science every time but the pretence of being scientific goes with it.

Reading this book, my hope was that the relevance of this book will be somewhat limited in this country. However we do seem to have a tendency to follow the American lead and it may be that the same issues become more relevant here. If so, this is a very worthwhile book to read.

If it IS NOT obvious to you that the teaching of "intelligent design" doesn't belong in public schools in the U.S., you should read this book: it will help you to understand what a big mistake you would be making if you support the "intelligent design" movement and how you are being manipulated.

If it IS obvious to you that the teaching of "intelligent design" doesn't belong in public schools in the U.S., you should read this book: it will help you understand how well-organized and persistent the misguided effort is to undermine science education. The trickiness of the anti-evolution forces is very high. This book like this will guide you so you may be fooled by phony arguments such as about "fairness". "Intelligent design" efforts are also just one step toward undermining religious freedoms in this country.

People with good intentions are being manipulated by their religous leaders to believe that evolutionary theory and facts are inconsistent with religous truths. The level of manipulation is very high. Most of us are not scientists and may be fooled by carefully constructions scientific-like arguments.

Accepting evolutionary theory and facts DOES NOT make someone an atheist or immoral. As you will find in this book, it is not only possible to be a good Christian and accept evolution, it is the only way to be a healthy Christian and American.

This short book explains the scientific basis of the theory and facts of evolution, how some religous organizations are consciously attempting to subvert the U.S. Constitution in order to play on people's good intentions to make them believe that evolutionary teaching is contrary to healthy religous faith, what legal decisions have been made to date and how you can join in acting to stop this ongoing threat to our nation's future.

This is a highly informative examination of ID and Creationism from several viewpoints, outlining the historical context and providing plenty of practical advice on tackling these morons. Science teaching is still under attack; if we care about it we must stand up for it.