"Dummies" in this article defines those who have not paid much attention to this issue and want a quick synopsis of what this is all about. If you are an advocate of Intelligent Design you are at the wrong article, please go to this article: Intelligent Design For Morons & Imbeciles.
Nova recently broadcast a two hour special on the Pennsylvania case of Dover Parents and Teachers versus the Dover School Board who tried to push Intelligent Design into 9th grade biology classes. It went to Federal District Court under Judge John E. Jones, a Republican recommended by Intelligent Design advocate Senator Rick Santorum and appointed by Intelligent Design advocate George W. Bush. The parents and teachers were represented by the Pennsylvana ACLU while the School board by The Thomas Moore Law Center (advocates of bringing down the separation of Church and State) and the Discovery Institute (the old Creation Science organization under the new auspices of Intelligent Design).
Though it goes without saying that Intelligent Design is in reality just the latest phrase for Creationism, the ACLU had to prove so in a court of law. To that end they produced documents from the organizers of the Discovery Institute which proved just that. The other issue at play was the anonymous arrival of 68 copies of the Intelligent Design textbook, Of Pandas and People, to the Dover high school library. Under oath, two of the school board members, Bill Buckingham and Allan Bonsell – the instigators of this shell game – stated they did not know anything about that box of books. When confronted with ACLU documents that proved otherwise on the stand, Buckingham later admitted he ordered them and Bonsell paid for them.
In the few months that Judge Jones spent writing his decision, Dover residents voted out all of the Intelligent Design school board members. Unsure what the decision would be considering Judge Jones ties to Rick Santorum and George W. Bush, it was somewhat of a surprise just how hard Judge Jones came down on this silly business. Not only did he rule that Intelligent Design was religion, that it was also religious creationism in poor disguise, called for the school board members to pay $1 million to the plaintives in legal fees, but he also charged both Bonsell and Buckingham with perjury.
"In an era where we’re trying
to cure cancer— where we’re trying to—prevent pandemics, where
we’re trying to keep science and math education on the cutting edge in
the United States. To introduce and teach bad science to ninth grade students
make very little sense to me. You know, garbage in, garbage out. And it
doesn’t benefit any of us who benefit daily from scientific discoveries." Judge John E. Jones
The response to the decision was what one would expect from such people. Phone and email death threats to the teachers, parents and Judge Jones requiring FBI protection and of course some quotes from the losers.
"I’d like to say
to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don’t
turn to God. You just rejected him from your city" Pat
Robertson"To put it bluntly, I think he’s a jackass.
I think he went to clown college instead of law school or else he went to law
school and slept during the Constitution classes because, uh, his decision
doesn’t jive with the law. Uh, I think he should be on a bench, but it
ought to be in a center ring of Ringling Brothers Circus. He, it, it,
it’s disgusting." Bill Buckingham.
The complete two hours of this is available at the PBS website linked below. To see just how mud dumb stupid human beings can get, go to minute 7:20 in the last chapter to see Bill Buckingham’s speech. Concluding chapter of: Judgment Day – Intelligent Design on Trial (12 min)
The videos of all 12 chapters are available at All 12 Chapters of Nova’s Judgment Day -Intelligent Design on Trial (2 hours)
Michael Behe, the leading (so called) Intelligent Design scientist – degreed not in life sciences but in mathematical theory – was one of the few ID purveyors dumb enough to testify. He was made a fool of by the ACLU lawyers as he was by Stephen Colbert earlier this year. Stephen Colbert interviews Michael Behe
Short history of the Intelligent Design movement on Kick!