The Panda's Black Box: Opening up the Intelligent Design Controversy

Notes

foreword 1. See, for example, Chris Mooney, The Republican War on Science (New York: Basic Books, 2005), which spells out the trend. 2. The statement is printed in Science 57 (June 1, 1923): pp. 630–31. 3. Emily Vasquez and Kate Hammer, “Easier Access to Plan B Pill Evokes Praise, and Concern,” New York Times, Aug. 26, 2006, p. B1. 4. Mooney, The Republican War on Science, pp. 223–24. See also Michael Specter, “Political Science: The Bush Administration’s War on the Laboratory ,” New Yorker, March 13, 2006, pp. 58–69. 5. I am indebted to Paul Fayter, at York University, in Ontario, Canada, for providing me some years ago with a bibliography of these writings; it then comprised some sixty titles. The papal quotation comes from Gerald L. Schroeder, Genesis and the Big Bang: The Discovery of Harmony between Modern Science and the Bible (New York: Bantam Books, 1990), p. 163. The identical point is made in much of the popular writings. See, for example , Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers (New York: Norton, 1978), p. 116. In this address, the pope specifically acknowledged that the universe is billions of years old, thus, in passing, overriding all literal interpretations of Genesis. chapter 1. introduction The title of both this essay and the volume was suggested by my son, Charles Comfort. Cynthia Love provided invaluable research assistance. Richard Comfort, Bob Brugger, Carol Greider, Sharon Kingsland, Ron Numbers, Daniel Todes, the other authors of this volume, and two anonymous reviewers improved the manuscript with their careful reading. 1. Stephen Jay Gould, “Darwinian Fundamentalism,” New York Review of Books 44, no. 10 (1997); Daniel Clement Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), p. 514; Michael Ruse, “Through a Glass, Darkly (Review of Dawkins, notes The Devil’s Chaplain),” American Scientist 91, no. 6 (2003); Joseph P. Kahn, “The Evolution of George Gilder: The Author and Tech-Sector Guru Has a New Cause to Create Controversy With: Intelligent Design,” Boston Globe, July 27, 2005, p. C1; Phillip E. Johnson, Darwin on Trial (Washington, D.C.; Lanham, Md.: Regnery Gateway; distributed to the trade by National Book Network, 1991), p. 14. 2. Michael J. Behe, Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (New York: Free Press, 1996), pp. 95, 185; Johnson, Darwin on Trial, p. 152; David Limbaugh, “The Intelligent Design Bogeyman,” Human Events Online, Aug. 5, 2005, www.humaneventsonline.com/article .php?id=8438 (last viewed Feb. 2006); Richard John Neuhaus, “Stifling Intellectual Inquiry,” First Things: The Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life 152 (Apr. 2005): unpaginated; William A. Dembski, The Design Revolution : Answering the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2004), p. 263. 3. Richard Dawkins, The Ancestor’s Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004), p. 13; Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, pp. 17–18. Project Steve: www.natcenscied.org/resources/articles/ 3541_project_steve_2_16_2003.asp. 4. Play “Panda-monium” at www.uncommondescent.com/darwinalia/ panda-monium.swf. 5. Dawkins, “Put Your Money on Evolution,” reproduced in Richard Dawkins , A Devil’s Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003), pp. 219–20; Daniel Dennett, “Show Me the Science,” The Edge, Aug. 29, 2005, www.edge.org/3rd_culture/dennett05/ dennett05_index.html (last viewed Sept. 21, 2006). 6. The various drafts of the book that became Of Pandas and People were admitted as evidence in the 2005 “Panda trial” in Dover. Scanned images of the pages cited can be found at www2.ncseweb.org/wp/ ?p=80. 7. Kenneth R. Miller, Finding Darwin’s God: A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground between God and Evolution (New York: Cliff Street Books, 1999), p. 164; P. William Davis, Dean H. Kenyon, and Charles B. Thaxton, Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins (Dallas, Tex.: Haughton Pub. Co., 1993); Kahn, “The Evolution of George Gilder.” 138 Notes to Pages 4–10 8. Michael Specter, “Political Science,” New Yorker, Mar. 13, 2006, p. 68. 9. Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture, “The Wedge Strategy,” 1999 (cited Apr. 1, 2006), available from www.antievolution.org/ features/wedge.html. 10. Charles Krauthammer, “Phony Theory, False Conflict: ‘Intelligent Design ’ Foolishly Pits Evolution against Faith,” Washington Post, Nov. 18, 2005, p. A23; George F. Will, “Grand Old Spenders,” Washington Post, Nov. 17...