Creation Science is an Oxymoron

A couple of depressing items on the pseudoscience front today. First, the Guardian reports on how the Religious Right is fighting Science for the heart of America. It follows the debate currently going on in Kansas, where state educators are to decide on curriculum changes for high school science teaching. As the article says: "If the religious right has its way, and it is a powerful force in Kansas, high school science teachers could be teaching creationist material by next September, charting an important victory in America’s modern-day revolt against evolutionary science." 

And in another newspaper, this time the New York Times, Michael Behe has an opinion piece, Design for Living which has as its opening sentence: "In the wake of the recent lawsuits over the teaching of Darwinian evolution, there has been a rush to debate the merits of the rival theory of intelligent design." Er, excuse me? "Rival theory"? – that’s like saying a gnat has the same weight as an elephant. The Panda’s Thumb web site carries a good refutation of this piece from PZ Myers: Behe Jumps the Shark.