I'm Not A Biologist, But...

How many times have you heard some IDiot start a sentence this way? It makes me laugh every time. I came across it again today while reading about the proposed elective course called "Philosophy Of Design" that is going to be taught by a soccer coach in the California town of Lebec in the Tehachapi mountains. (Tip of the ballcap to PZ, of course.) Apparently the course will consist entirely of playing videos from the ICR and other ID propaganda mills.

Heh. The public in Lebec were even told that the course was "to help students apply critical thinking to questions about evolution and Intelligent Design". Hehehe... Funny stuff. Propaganda videos from the wack-jobs at the ICR are now considered training for "critical thinking". It's a perfect illustration of how the ID movement co-opts "scientific sounding" words and phrases, then regurgitates them to the public in order to dazzle them with bullshit.

The Mountain Enterprise newspaper, a local paper in Lebec and the surrounding communities, provides a "community forum" where they print letters to the editor from readers on specific stories. In the community forum regarding the proposed ID course in Lebec, a man by the name of Bob Anderson wrote a letter in support of the ID movement in generall. After making the hoary old "it takes just as much faith to be an atheist" argument, he pulls out the stops:

[link] I’m not a biologist, but the last time I looked evolution was and is still an unproven "scientific theory." And theory is just that: theory, and requires faith in its presupposition until irrefutably proven from beginning to end with facts—just the facts.

*sigh*

I'm not a biologist either, but at least I know what the hell the word "theory" means. What would happen if someone barged into an Engineer's office and shouted, "I'm not an engineer, but that last time I looked, the Limit theory of indeterminate reinforced concrete frames and continuous beams was and is still an unproven 'scientific theory'!" And then demanded that his "alternate theory" of "intelligent structural load bearing" be taught by the local community college? He'd be arrested - or at least viewed as a lunatic crackpot.

However, because the IDiots are coming from a pious, god-botherers position, automatically society wants to treat them with kid gloves and give them a pass. Especially if the IDiots are well-liked soccer coaches in small towns.

No more, I say. This has got to stop.

Update: Suit has been filed.