[Phys-L] Re: compromise on ID ... or not

[mshapiro at EXCHANGE.FULLERTON.EDU (Shapiro, Mark)]

I have two colleagues who are very religious.  One is a Christian the
other a Muslim.  One believes that Genesis is literally correct; and, he
expends a great deal of effort trying to show that the laws of physics
can be made compatible with that view.  On the other hand, he considers
some other parts of the Bible as being not literally true, including
some the parts that have to do with how one should behave.

The other colleague does not view Genesis as being literally correct,
but does view the exhortations toward moral behavior in other parts of
the Koran to be, if not literally true, essentially correct.  He doesn't
let the creation stories in Genesis interfere with his scientific
research; but, he does lean heavily on the Koran to guide his personal
life.

If I were going to bet on which one of my colleagues were going to make
it into heaven, if heaven exists, I would choose the second one in a
heartbeat!

Mark

Dr. Mark H. Shapiro
Professor of Physics, Emeritus
California State University, Fullerton
Phone: 714 278-3884
FAX: 714 278-5810
email: mshapiro@fullerton.edu
web: http://chaos.fullerton.edu/Shapiro.html
travel and family pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/user/mhshapiro



-----Original Message-----
From: Forum for Physics Educators [mailto:PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu] On
Behalf Of John Denker
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 7:25 AM
To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Subject: Re: compromise on ID ... or not

R. McDermott wrote:
> Intelligent design is at least in part ...
> an attempt to get what the proponents consider to be "equal time"
> with evolution - IN SCHOOL.

We can agree they want equal time.  They've said so explicitly.

By way of analogy, I _want_ to be paid a million dollars per day.
The only problem is that I haven't earned it.

The ID guys _want_ equal time with evolution, but they have not
earned it.  At best, they have earned equal time with the moon
being made of green cheese, and the earth being flat.

ID is not science, it is not religion either.  Religion teaches
us the difference between right and wrong, and teaches that we
should not compromise between right and wrong.  Suppose I claim
that you owe me a million dollars, and you claim you owe me nothing.
If your claim and my claim are given equal weight, then, by way
of compromise, you will be forced to pay me half a million dollars.
Giving equal weight to the claims of ID falls into the same category.

Some things in this world are just wrong.  Some thinges are merely
wrong, in the sense of incorrect, and others are WRONG, in the sense
of evil and wicked.  ID is wrong.  Touting ID is just a systematic
effort to bear false witness, and it is WRONG.