Vampire beliefs
Anyone who--quite reasonably--thought that Judge John Jones III's 2005 decision in the Dover (Pa.) Area School Board "Intelligent Design" case would kill this vampire belief was wrong.
It seems Judge Jones mistakenly used a steel spike instead of the customary wooden one, and so Intelligent Design--which posits that life is so complex that an "Intelligent Designer," i.e., God, must have "designed" it all--has escaped to roam the land.
Vampire beliefs--a phrase I coined just now--are beliefs, ideas, or concepts which have been proven wrong, are harmful to the public good, but prove nearly impossible to kill. They often have a shred of plausibility that allows their deluded supporters to continue to cling to them. Other examples include the belief that large numbers of American soldiers returning from the Vietnam War were spit upon by war protesters--there is not a single verified incident--and, locally, that agriculture is the number one industry in Pennsylvania. You can laugh about that last one (it actually ranks about 35th, according to federal statistics), but it has profoundly negative effects on taxpayers and public policy here and has proven nearly impossible to kill.
If there was anything the Dover trial here in Harrisburg proved, it is that Darwin's Theory of Evolution is backed by solid science, that Intelligent Design is not, that there are no "troubling questions" about Darwin's Theory, and that Intelligent Design is merely creationism under a new name. For that latter knowledge, the scientific community has Barbara Forrest to thank. Forrest, a professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University, is the co-author of "Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design." She is Public Enemy No. 1 to Intelligent Design supporters.
Of late, the vampire belief of Intelligent Design has turned up in Texas, where the Director of Science for the Texas Education Agency, Christine Comer, has been fired from her job, accused of not "staying neutral" on the subject of Darwin's Theory of Evolution vs. Intelligent Design. Here is one of the smoking gun memos.
Ms. Comer made the mistake of forwarding an e-mail to the staff about an upcoming (at the time) lecture in Austin, Texas, by Ms. Forrest. Within hours, Lizzette Reynolds, who is senior adviser for statewide initiatives for the TEA and closely tied to George W. Bush, had instituted the move to fire her.
Texas will rewrite its standards for the teaching of science next year, which may be the real reason Reynolds and the right wanted her out. The new president of the Texas Board of Education, Don McLeroy, is a rightwing conservative who believes strongly in Intelligent Design and other positions of Texas religious conservatives.
Next time, Judge Jones, please use a wooden stake. Had you allowed Court TV to televise the trial, as you now regret not having done, it would be less likely that this vampire belief would still be claiming new victims.