Darwin Days and Nights

The crowd was enthusiastic and large -- over 600 -- at my Monkey Girl Evolution vs. Intelligent Design talk at Washington State University. The questions were spirited and almost all good -- and, most encouragingly, there was a great deal of commonsense puzzlement expressed by students, who wondered just why some Americans -- nearly half, according to various polls -- felt science contradicts their faith.

“I think it’s very much possible that you can believe in evolution and still have your own religious beliefs,” bioengineering student Shantel Martinez told the Daily Evergreen afterward. “And it shouldn’t be so hard for our world, our country, to not have issues about it.”

One idea in particular seemed to resonate with the gathering: that the promoters of putting the supernatural theory of Intelligent Design into high school science classes were, in effect, trying to role back the Enlightenment and reject the scientific method. Most of those present seemed to think that was not a very good idea.

My presentation was part of a weeklong observance of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. The folks at WSU pulled out all the stops and put on a very interesting series of presentations. The big finish was a showing of 1966's One Million Years B.C., starring a scientifically inaccurate pairing of cavemen, dinosaurs, and Raquel Welch -- chosen by the WSU organizers because, they say, the film's lack of scientific authenticity is on par with the critics of evolution depicted in Monkey Girl.

The Boss on Evolution: We're Counting on It

I hadn't heard this one before. Judge John E. Jones III reported during our joint Darwin Week appearance Saturday at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History that Bruce Springsteen followed Jones' famous case, Kitzmiller v. Dover -- the intelligent design versus evolution case portrayed in Monkey Girl. 

During an August 2005 concert, The Boss quipped to his audience:

In Dover, PA, they're not sure about evolution. Here in New Jersey, we're countin' on it.

All in all, it was a terrific event in Santa Barbara, held in a jewel of a museum, with a passionately engaged audience that wanted to discuss issues of scientific integrity, religious freedom, judicial independence and the source of this endlessly evolving conflict between science and faith in America. Judge Jones and I shared the stage "in conversation" about the case and the broader implications of Jones's ruling, which found that intelligent design was  fundamentally religious, not scientific. That finding compelled him to throw out the Dover School Board's policy of teaching intelligent design and criticizing evolutionary theory in high school biology classes -- the policy violated the Constitution's Establishment Clause.

If there was a consensus at the gathering, it was that America desperately needs improved science and civic education as a means of avoiding conflicts such as Dover's.  In Jones' courtroom, it was revealed that the school board members who voted to mandate intelligent design in the classroom had little understanding of the the theory of evolution they rejected, nor the intelligent design proposition they embraced. 

Our conversation was impromptu, but I did have a short prepared introduction to the event that I'll post a bit later. Meanwhile, he's an excellent post, The Persistent Divisiveness of Darwin, about the case and Monkey Girl from Michael White over at ScientificBlogging.

Darwin's 200th

In prepping for Darwin Week events in Santa Barbara and at Washington State University, I've come across several excellent resources for those who wish to learn more about the theory of evolution and its alternatives on Charles Darwin's 200th Birthday. Here are a few highlights:

• Darwin's Living Legacy (Scientific American)
• Monkey Girl Fact vs. Myth Evolution FAQ
• Understanding Evolution (Berkeley)
• American Museum of Natural History Online Darwin Exhibit
• Evolution and the Constitution 
• Kitzmiller vs. Dover Decision (Evolution vs. Intelligent Design)
• Wikipedia Intelligent Design page (thoroughly sourced)
• Science Wars: Should Schools Teach Intelligent Design (AEI)
• Intelligent Design Wedge Strategy document

Evolution v. ID Reviewed

Spectrum, the Seventh Day Adventist magazine, reviews three books today on the Kitzmiller v. Dover case -- the modern-day Scopes Monkey Trial that found the teaching of intelligent design to be an unconstitutional introduction of religion into public schools. The books reviewed are Bleached Faith by Steven Goldberg, Only a Theory by Kenneth Miller, and Monkey Girl by yours truly. Spectrum praises all three, and implicitly takes ID advocates to task. 

I am impressed by the perspective that this evangelical Christian publication takes here, embracing as ingenious America's unique take of religious freedom -- that it is designed to protect worshippers from secular interference, and the country at large from the tyranny of theocracy. The reviewer, David Pendleton, concludes: "We are blessed to live today in a society where, as Humes and Miller implicitly remind us, we can pursue truth of science and Truth of Savior free of persecution by the government." 

Of Monkey Girl, he writes:

Edward Humes’ ...is the most readable of the three books and chronicles the ID controversy of Dover, Pennsylvania, as only a journalist can.... Humes arrives at a position not unlike that of the late Stephen J. Gould’s NOMA (non-overlapping magisteria). That is to say, there is no clash between the scientific method and faith, because they deal with separate aspects of reality. The objects of faith (i.e., virtues, values, morals, matters of the spirit) are not readily amenable to measurement by the instruments of science. 

"Science doesn’t rule out the supernatural – it doesn’t rule out God as a cause – because scientists are small-minded or conspiring to cover up evidence of design, as creationism and ID often allege. Science rules out the supernatural because it is science that is limited, whereas God is not." (p 267)

New Monkey Girl Readers Guide

In a springtime ritual repeated in thousands of communities across the country, the school board in Dover, Pennsylvania, convened for the seemingly innocuous task of adopting new science texts. Instead, Dover became the first school district in America to mandate the teaching of a new and controversial blend of science and the supernatural known as “intelligent design.” This 21st century take on creationism attempts to poke holes in evolutionary theory with a vision of a universe designed by a guiding intelligence – while avoiding any mention of God or the Bible. Could this new approach pass constitutional muster? Was it legitimate science or artful sham? The maelstrom that followed became the subject of a media fixation, a sensational trial, a town torn down the middle, and a still-raging national debate over a seemingly eternal conflict: What happens when science and religion collide?

With my new Monkey Girl Readers Guide, your book group or class can explore the cases presented by both sides in this modern-day Scopes Monkey Trial, examine the implications for scientific progress, religious freedom, and public school reform, and learn more about the characters depicted in Monkey Girl. Enjoy!

Darwin Week at WSU

I've been asked to speak about the evolution wars, Monkey Girl and the Kitzmiller case during Darwin Week at Washington State University in Pullman, part of an international series of events during Charles Darwin's birthday week.

I'll be signing copies of Monkey Girl at WSU's Community Union Building Wednesday Feb. 18 in advance of my 7 p.m.  presentation, so come by a bit early and say hello. 

Borders Book Club Reads Monkey Girl

The Borders Book Club Pick of the month for nonfiction is Monkey Girl. 

Here's the handy Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion & the Battle for America's Soul Readers' Guide to stimulate discussion about the evolution-intelligent design-creationism conflict in our schools and culture.