The IDEA obituary

By PvM

On the Evolution List, Allen MacNeill announces that The “Intelligent Design” Movement on College and University Campuses is Dead

How did he establish the untimely passing away of an IDEA? By checking on the status of the 30+ IDEA chapters at various universities, colleges and high schools. While absence of activity is no evidence of its passing away, I encourage PT readers to do the research to determine the status of these IDEA chapters using independent methods.

Allen MacNeill concludes

1) that the national IDEA Club website is essentially what is known online as a “shell site” (that is, a place-holder with no real content);

2) that the “movement” represented by the IDEA Club organization peaked in late 2005 or early 2006 (around the time of the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial);

3) since then (i.e. since Judge Jones issued his now-famous decision) it has died almost everywhere;

4) the majority of the output of the “intelligent design movement” consisted of press releases (and produced no empirical science of any kind);

For his conclusion read further at The Evolution List

And of course our friend Casey Luskin had to respond, blaming the death on IDEA’s success. What is clear that the IDEA ‘centers’ are following in the footsteps of its ‘Big Daddy’ and are refraining from scientific content or relevancy. Casey Luskin’s explanation of this lack of scientific content?

Additionally, students who start IDEA Clubs in the post-Dover era face new challenges that students didn’t used to face: Students I talk to feel the scientific evidence for ID is stronger than ever, but they see the persecution of ID proponents in the academy (persecution which has dramatically increased in the wake of Dover). Many pro-ID students are afraid; they are intimidated by Darwinist intolerance and fear that if they come out of the closet about being pro-ID, they might be ending their careers before they even begin.

Sure Casey, that must be the case, that mythical persecution complex quickly arises to ‘explain’ the lack of scientific content. Surely ID must have found a more novel explanation by now for its continued inability to deliver scientific content? Seems to me that the Discovery Institute’s insistence that Judge Jones rules on whether or not ID is science, continues to misfire…