IDEA clubs: now with extra sneakiness and ignorance!
You might recall that the IDEA clubs required that their leaders be Christian (linked to Google cache).
1) Having an interest in intelligent design and creation - evolution issues, and a willingness to learn more.
2) Agreeing with and being willing to uphold the IDEA Center's mission statement.
3) Having a desire and commitment to using these issues to educate and outreach to your fellow students, campus, or community.
4) We also require that club leaders be Christians as the IDEA Center Leadership believes, for religious reasons unrelated to intelligent design theory, that the identity of the designer is the God of the Bible. It is definitely not necessary to "be an expert" to start and run a successful a club. It is helpful to be familiar with the basics of intelligent design theory, but if you're not, that's where the IDEA Center hopes to step in and help educate you so you can in turn educate others. Where ever you feel like you might need help--whether its science, leadership skills, or practical tips for running the club--that's where the IDEA Center wants to step in an help you. We try to help give any club founder all the tools they might need to start and run a succesful club and help promote a better understanding of the creation - evolution issue at their schools.
No more! The rules have been changed.
1) Having an interest in intelligent design and creation - evolution issues, and a willingness to learn more.
2) Agreeing with and being willing to uphold the IDEA Center's mission statement.
3) Having a desire and commitment to using these issues to educate and outreach to your fellow students, campus, or community.
4) IDEA Club leaders must advocate the scientific theory of intelligent design in the fields of biology and physics/cosmology.
5) There are no requirements regarding the religious beliefs of IDEA Club leaders or founders.
So now, instead of requiring Christianity, they require a) that one be an advocate of the "scientific theory of intelligent design" and b) that one agree with the IDEA center's mission statement. That's interesting; there is no scientific theory of intelligent design. There is no science behind it, and it doesn't qualify as a theory—even calling it a hypothesis is over-generous, since we typically expect even hypotheses to have some foundation in evidence and observation. That's strike one. What about that mission statement?
We believe that in the investigation of intelligent design the identity of the designer is completely separate from the scientific theory of intelligent design, since a scientific theory cannot specify the identity of the designer based upon the empirical data or the scientific method alone, and is not dependent upon religious premises; nonetheless, we consider it reasonable to conclude that the designer may be identified as the God of the Bible, while recognizing that others may identify the designer in a different way.
How cunning! They cut out the blatant religious requirement and buried it more subtly in the mission statement—if you don't think it reasonable to identify the designer as the God of the Bible, you aren't the kind of person they want running their clubs. I guess the Raelians are going to be disappointed.
Intelligent Design creationists do seem fond of sneaking their beliefs in through the back door, don't they?
It's also interesting how much they emphasize that absolutely no expertise is required to be a leader in the IDEA clubs. That's their clientele: people who know absolutely nothing about science, but are willing and eager to repudiate it.