I disagree with the idea that ID believers are Christian Fundies in disguise. Most real christian fundies would be clinging to the outdated creation myth until they die.
I believe most IDers are christians who basically have realized how screwy and unsupported creationism is and are desperately trying to find something scientific to justify their beliefs, even if they don't actually understand science itself or why ID isn't science. Just enough knowledge to be dangerous.
A handful are grabbing onto it as a pseudoscience wedge to push creationism into the classroom. These are the annoying ones.
As far as in classrooms, the only thing you really have to do is reign in the atheist science teachers who would unequivocally state that there is no god. This is as much of a religious belief as stating that there might be a god tinkering with the DNA behind the scenes. Whether there is or is not a god is not science and should not be part of the classroom, and the teacher should say as much if asked about god, ID, atheism, etc. Stating that Creationism ideas like the earth being 6000 years old are contradicted by the evidence would be within the realm of a science class. The best course of action is to not even bring religion up unless a student specifically asks, then keep the answers purely scientific without personal religious opinions (including atheism) coloring them.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-08-11 06:31 am (UTC)I believe most IDers are christians who basically have realized how screwy and unsupported creationism is and are desperately trying to find something scientific to justify their beliefs, even if they don't actually understand science itself or why ID isn't science. Just enough knowledge to be dangerous.
A handful are grabbing onto it as a pseudoscience wedge to push creationism into the classroom. These are the annoying ones.
As far as in classrooms, the only thing you really have to do is reign in the atheist science teachers who would unequivocally state that there is no god. This is as much of a religious belief as stating that there might be a god tinkering with the DNA behind the scenes. Whether there is or is not a god is not science and should not be part of the classroom, and the teacher should say as much if asked about god, ID, atheism, etc. Stating that Creationism ideas like the earth being 6000 years old are contradicted by the evidence would be within the realm of a science class. The best course of action is to not even bring religion up unless a student specifically asks, then keep the answers purely scientific without personal religious opinions (including atheism) coloring them.