IDiots To Descend On Dallas

Just the other day the Dallas Morning News reported that the Discovery Institute will be having one of their "Darwin vs. Design" conferences in Dallas, hosted by Southern Methodist University, as if the possibility of housing the Bush Library, complete with policy institute, weren't bad enough.

Don't they need a co-sponsor?

The “Darwin vs. Design” conference, co-sponsored by the SMU law school’s Christian Legal Society, will say that a designer with the power to shape the cosmos is the best explanation for aspects of life and the universe.

Actually, my understanding is they prefer not to say "designer." That's because they're trying to be sneaky, and failing miserably.

The event is produced by the Discovery Institute, the Seattle-based organization that says it has scientific evidence for its claims.

Yes. The hacks over at the Discovery Institute do often say they have scientific evidence for their claims, over and over again, but they have yet to produce said "evidence," just copious amounts of bullshit - big steaming piles of it.

And now, a word from the sponsor of this event, Sarah Levy:

"It is a very pertinent topic of debate right now and one that has some legal controversy around it," Ms. Levy said. "So it seemed that it was an appropriate event for the legal society to sponsor."

In retrospect, that was more like the regurgitation of a convenient rationalization. But speaking of legal controversy, Michele Behe will be there, flagellating wildly. Aren't you excited?

The two-day event will feature well-known supporters of Intelligent Design. Dr. Michael Behe is author of the book Darwin's Black Box and was a key witness in 2005 at a federal trial that produced a ruling that Intelligent Design was religion rather than science.

Some even say he served as a stellar witness for the prosecution. And the defense seems to have forgotten to rest. Please, someone tell Stephen Meyer that the trial is over, the verdict was in long ago, the judge has ruled, and the jury is no longer out, but has since moved on to matters more worthy of its attention.

Organizers of the conference said that the attacks by the faculty come as no surprise – but are groundless.

"We aren't trying to be sneaky," said Dr. Stephen Meyer, director of the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute.

He's scheduled to speak at the event, which brings him back to a campus where he took classes while working in Dallas as a geophysicist.

"We are very clear that this is a conference to inform the greater Dallas community about what Intelligent Design is," he said.

As for whether it's religion, "we'll be talking about scientific evidence," he said. "We won't be quoting Bible verses."

Fortunately, Meyer and Behe will be greeted by more than just the wandering village idiot. Science professors in the departments of anthropology, biology, geology and physics at SMU have denounced this event as a complete farce.

Here's a brief statement from the anthropology department:

"These are conferences of and for believers and their sympathetic recruits," said the letter sent to administrators by the department. "They have no place on an academic campus with their polemics hidden behind a deceptive mask."

Dr. John Ubelaker, former chairman of the biology department, concurred:

"This is propaganda. Using the campus for propaganda does not fit into anybody's scheme of intellectual discussion."

Physics professor Randy Scalise lamented the impending arrival of these unwelcome guests:

"I think that by having them on campus, we are giving them legitimacy."

The lying sacks of shit at the Discovery Institute haven't earned a damn thing, except for the contempt of the entire scientific community. I'm relieved to see that so many of the science professors at Southern Methodist University are of the same opinion.

Over at Uncommon Descent, William Dembski notes that SMU is in a tizzy over ID, and wonders why professors hired by a Methodist academic institution would be so averse to such nonsense.

Doesn’t the “M” in SMU refer to “Methodist” and aren’t Methodists believers in God? Is SMU’s anthropology department committed to hiring anti-God faculty?

You don't have to disbelieve in God to know that the folks at the Discovery Institute, including Stephen Meyer, Michele Behe and the likes of William Dembski, just to name a few, are a bunch of fucking morons.

Update:

Jason Ronsenouse of the Evolution Blog has written a series of posts about his experience at the "Darwin vs. Design" conference in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

Now you know what to expect in Dallas.