Wednesday, March 23, 2005
The Caliphate of Kansas
Some people have been fooled by the arguments offered by intelligent design proponents, the most sophisticated of whom say they don't really want to teach ID, they just want to teach the controversy. These people think that the stakes aren't as high now as they were when the battle was over the teaching of creationism a few years ago.
Red State Rabble, among others, believes the assault on science in this latest round is more troubling -- and dangerous -- than it was before. The real aim of the fundamentalists this time is nothing less than to change the very definition of science -- it's not that they want to add something, such as creationism, they now want to remove the methods of science from the classroom.
The confirmation of this comes from an article by Tristram Hunt in the Guardian:
While we may quibble over whether the assault on evolution is really behind them, it is now impossible to deny what is really at stake in this battle. Some commentators in this country have pointed out that the real goal of extremist Muslims is to re-establish the caliphate -- and Sharia law -- that existed in the Middle East from shortly after the death of the prophet until it reached a high point in the 11th century. With the exception of the symbols and rituals, and the level of violence so far employed, is the ultimate goal of our own Midwest mullahs really so different?
Red State Rabble, among others, believes the assault on science in this latest round is more troubling -- and dangerous -- than it was before. The real aim of the fundamentalists this time is nothing less than to change the very definition of science -- it's not that they want to add something, such as creationism, they now want to remove the methods of science from the classroom.
The confirmation of this comes from an article by Tristram Hunt in the Guardian:
"With the successful assault on evolution behind them, evangelicals are starting to train their sights on the earth sciences of geology and physics."
While we may quibble over whether the assault on evolution is really behind them, it is now impossible to deny what is really at stake in this battle. Some commentators in this country have pointed out that the real goal of extremist Muslims is to re-establish the caliphate -- and Sharia law -- that existed in the Middle East from shortly after the death of the prophet until it reached a high point in the 11th century. With the exception of the symbols and rituals, and the level of violence so far employed, is the ultimate goal of our own Midwest mullahs really so different?
