Chalk One Up Against Christian "Subversives"

Katrina Vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation Magazine, posted an editorial on The Nation web site, listing a few of the year's "sweet victories" for progressives. She made an excellent list, but left out one of my favorites, so I commented on it at the end of her article. That comment, which you will find there, reads as follows:

Katrina, we should also remember the double defeat of the subversive proponents of "intelligent design" in Dover, Pennsylvania. It was incredibly encouraging to learn that voters there kicked out all eight school-board members (not just a few, but ALL OF THEM!) who were in favor of teaching "intelligent design" (aka "religion") as science in the district schools. Then, last week the icing was put on the cake (as if the vote wasn't satisfying enough): A republican, church-going judge, John E. Jones, ruled against the proponents of "intelligent design" in Dover, telling them in no uncertain terms that the concept is nothing more than religion masquerading as science. He "decried the 'breathtaking inanity' of the Dover policy and accused several board members of lying to conceal their true motive, which he said was to promote religion."

The Dover story, therefore, is one of the most encouraging of the year for me.

A final comment: Let the proponents of "intelligent design" preach their totally non-scientifc "science" on the streets or in the incredibly vast number of churches that dot the American landscape (a number that puts the lie to the supposed "siege" on Christianity), where most people (adults, at least) have a choice of listening to them. They have no business trying also to indoctrinate young, captive audiences with their particular view of spiritual reality. Outside of public schools, government institutions and some private businesses, Christians have practically no limitations on their movements or their mouths. They always have and always will pester the hell out of us, at practically every turn, to their heart's content (pun intended). Their true goal in all of this (with "ID science" being merely a false front) is, very simply, to gain access to all those captive, impressionable young minds in our public schools. Sadly, Christians of this sort (even if they believe their intentions are "pure") will never be made to understand that they are working against the intentions of the founding fathers, not for them; and so their efforts to subvert public schools in other parts of the nation will continue for some time to come.