Ed Brayton doesn't need any enemies

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Categories : Intelligent Design, Evolution, The Critics, Religion

Editor : Krauze

published: samedi 18 novembre 2006 23:24:25

Over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, Ed Brayton is repeating some hoary, old chestnuts:

One of the prominent ways that the anti-evolution movement, in all of its various forms, has attacked evolution for over a century is by framing the issue as science vs religion, or more often, atheism vs religion (with science assumed to be synonymous with atheism). From a PR standpoint, this is a smart move. The vast majority of Americans know very little about science, but they do have a deeply ingrained notion that religion is not only a good thing, but a vital component of any healthy society. As a result, they respond with a great deal of fear and emotion when religion is threatened. And PR campaigns are all about pushing emotional buttons.

First of all, the term "anti-evolution" is just a politically convenient way to label those who disagree with ID critics like Brayton. The evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne was accused of being an "anti-evolution critic" for doubting the rape-as-an-evolutionary-adaptation hypothesis, and in the words of Brayton's fellow ID critic, Jack Krebs of the KCFS, "anti-evolution" can be used to refer to someone who merely accepts a form of guided evolution. But when people hear the phrase "anti-evolutionist" they think of young-earth creationism, which plays straight into the hands of many ID critics.

Evolution, Biology, Intelligent Design, Religion, Science, Creationism, Culture,