When we just had science vs. creationism, science was doing pretty well,
I thought. Sadly, this battle has metastasized into a political war
that will have to be fought politically, and probably not with us on the
front lines. What we can do is vote in school board elections. The
national average turnout in these elections is around 10%. A few
committed folks can have a large impact either way. We can also
campaign for the candidates we wish to see elected. If we do want to be
on the front lines we could run for school board.
My representative in congress is Sherwood Boehlert. He happens to chair
the House Committee on Science. This summer I got a chance to ask him
if there was anything to be done right now about ID. He said, "not in
the present climate." I think he means that there is not enough
political push from our side, especially in Washington. Also, as a
moderate Republican, he needs cover in his own district, which is a very
"red" area in upstate NY. (BTW-how odd about the change in the
political meaning of the word, "red.") Three years ago he won by just a
hundred votes or so in the primary over a far-right winger. It would be
nice if our professional organizations could muster some political
weight on this matter.
Meanwhile the threat is that the ID movement will get us arguing about
God and religion when we could be teaching and thinking and arguing
about physics. Judging from the three physics-teaching lists I
subscribe to, this is already happening.