Oh No, Not in Utah

Via The Panda's Thumb comes this article from the Salt Lake Tribune. Utah may be the next battle ground in the fight over including intelligent design in school ciricula.

Continue Reading

But the moral-crusading group Eagle Forum, which has often flexed its muscle on Utah's Capitol Hill, argues a community has a right to teach its values to its children.

Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, plans to lead the fight for instruction of divine design in Utah public schools. He wants to defuse some of the expected controversy by avoiding the term "creationism" altogether.

Instead, he favors "divine design," sometimes called "intelligent design," which "doesn't preach religion," he said. "The only people who will be upset about this are atheists."

I was afraid this day would come. I don't understand why Sen. Buttars thinks this is needed, when a good chunk of the kids in Utah attend relgion classes, oh about-- every day. Fortunately the U of U and BYU are committed to good science, which should help to deflect some of the scorn that could come Utah's way.

It's interesting--the Discovery Institute argues that intelligent design is not about religion. They have to or else they risk losing in the courts, just like "creation science" did. Yet people like Buttars make it about religion. The ID movement just might be destroyed (legally speaking) by its own supporters.