Not So Intelligent

Recently, University of Kansas Department of Religious Studies head Paul Mirecki created a new course that was to look at the controversial theories - if you can call them that - of intelligent design and creationism. His course was established in response to the Kansas Board of Education's desire to put intelligent design and creationism on equal footing with evolution in Kansas schools' curricula. His planned course, "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies", was to begin at KU in the spring.

Now, it seems that Mirecki's plans have veered off-course just a bit. In addition to his decision to resign his department chairmanship and cancel the new course, he also was physically attacked earlier this week by two men who, he claims, made reference to the college course he had planned to teach.

If his story about the attack is true, isn't it interesting how people so opposed to the teaching of evolution - and presumably so believing of intelligent design and/or the Bible's story of creationism - also are so inclined to resort to violence to settle their differences of opinion? Is that the Christian thing to do? Ironically, their behavior seems more likely to further confirm the theory of evolution...and provides an illustration of what happens when certain segments of the species fail to evolve at an equal pace with others. And they certainly seem to show that their "designer" must not have been terribly intelligent.

Kansas residents continue to be done a disservice by the fringe Christian right's determination to have unscientific beliefs taught on an equal basis with true science like evolution. If they want to impart their religious beliefs on others, then they are more than welcome to do so in their respective houses of worship. Just don't try to pass it off as science in our schools and institutions of higher learning.