Confused Darwinists Play Coroner with IDEA Center By Casey Luskin Volume 8, Issue 1 2009 is the bicentennial anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of Origin of Species, and Darwinists seem more [ Fall, 2009 ] obsessed than ever with death. In particular, they seem suspiciously over- eager to proclaim the alleged death of the intelligent design (ID) movement. FEATURE ARTICLES: Earlier this year, the New York Times (an unashamedly pro-Darwin media outlet) tried to jump on the current cultural infatuation with vampires by Celebrating 10 Years of IDEA publishing an article titled “Four Stakes in the Heart of Intelligent Design.” (The article merely touts four lightweight books for the lay reader that critique ID.) [p. 2] NCSE affiliates Nick Matzke and Kevin Padian recently published an article in a scientific journal claiming that the “case for ID” has “collapsed,” gleefully asserting their hope that “no one with scientific or philosophical integrity is Interview with a Graduating going to take [ID] seriously in future.” IDEA Club Leader The somewhat rough-and-tumble internet Darwinist choir—which tends to live [pp. 3] in its own world—has also jumped on this bandwagon of declaring ID dead. In fact, they decided to play coroner over the IDEA Center. To give a couple examples, one internet Darwinist wrote a blog post eagerly calling IDEA “dead.” (While he was at it, this person also had the maturity to call ID IDEA Rising “stupidity” and William Dembski “either delusional or a bald-faced liar.”) The internet Darwinists at PandasThumb apparently accept whatever conspiracy [pp. 4-6] theories they read on these blogs, and proceeded to write their own amusing post rejoicing over an alleged “IDEA obituary.” Relying on these sources, the unyieldingly anti-ID online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, now confidently alleges The Matter of Philosophy that the IDEA Center is “moribund.” and Science in the Intelligent IDEA’s death is apparently important to critics. Despite attempts by one high- Design Debate by Dr. H. level Wikipedia editor to correct the error, the other Darwinist editors at Wikipedia have refused to relinquish their grasp on their fantastical claim that Wayne House IDEA is “moribund.” [pp. 7-8] All of this brings to mind a famous scene from Monty Python's classic movie The Holy Grail: “I’m not dead … I feel fine. I think I’ll go for a walk. I feel happy, I feel happy,” says a lively chap being prematurely dragged off for dead by an Cover Story: over-eager coroner. Eventually the chap’s inconvenient vitality is eliminated Confused Darwinists Play by a quick whack on the head. Much like the faux coroner from Monty Python, Darwinists insist that ID is dead, even though it is very much alive. And in their Coroner with IDEA Center eagerness to declare ID dead, critics are willing to use a club to try to make [pp. 1, 9-10] their claims of IDEA’s death a reality, at least in their own minds. Continued on Page 8 How to Get Involved [p. 11] 10yearsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10years Celebrating 10 Years of IDEA Fall, 2009 [THE LIGHT BULB] – Volume 8, Issue 1 As noted in the cover story, 2009 is a year of anniversaries. It’s the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth, and the ofIDEA10yearsofI150th anniversary of the publication of Origin of Species.DEA10yearsofIDEA1 There’s another important anniversary this year: IDEA has now existed for 10 years. It was in May of 1999 that the first IDEA Club was founded at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). During this time IDEA Clubs have not only educated thousands of students worldwide about ID, but they have inspired a number of students to pursue careers doing scientific research into 0yearsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10yearso ID. One IDEA Club sparked the first major ID-focused course taught within a secular university biology department (at an Ivy League school, no less). Many members of the “next generation” of the ID movement found IDEA Clubs to be a place where they could connect with the ID community. As we reflect over the years, we are humbled and fIDEA10yearsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10honored to see a simple concept of informing students about the merits for and against evolution and ID proliferate into a worldwide movement. yearsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10yearsofIA Brief History of the IDEA Center 1999-2001, The Primordial Origins of IDEA: The first IDEA Club was formed at UCSD in 1999 by Casey Luskin and some of his friends who were tired of taking science classes that did not allow meaningful discussion about DEA10yearsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10yorigins. The club was a success as many undergrads, grad students, faculty, and community members from a variety of viewpoints and backgrounds participated. The original IDEA Club was organized around the philosophy that the best way to promote ID was to create a friendly, warm, and inviting atmosphere for personal dialogue and discussion, where the scientific and philosophical arguments for ID could speak for themselves. Thus was earsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10yearsofIDborn the “IDEA Philosophy” which emphasizes intellectual honesty, tolerance, friendship, and civility during disagreement. EA10yearsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10ye2001-2005, The IDEA Explosion: In 2001, the founders of the IDEA Club at UCSD graduated and formed the IDEA Center as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, helping students start similar “IDEA Clubs” on other campuses. From 2001 and 2005, IDEA Clubs were formed on over 25 university and high school campuses in the U.S. including Vanderbilt, Cornell, University of Virginia, University of Oklahoma, UC Berkeley, University of Nebraska, Stanford, Boise State arsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10yearsofIDUniversity, George Mason University, James Madison University, Ole’ Miss, University of Texas Austin, and others. These active chapters drew media attention from outlets such as The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The New Yorker, NPR, and New Scientist. In 2005, when Nature published a feature-story article on ID, it chose to do EA10yearso by focusing on various leaderssofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10ye in the IDEA student movement. As the article stated, “despite researchers’ apparent lack of interest, or perhaps because of it, the movement is catching on among students on US university campuses.” arsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10yearsofID2006-2007, Stasis: By 2006, Casey Luskin had just moved to Seattle to work full time at Discovery Institute in the ID-policy arena. In his new role traveling around the country doing public policy work, it was impossible to keep up with the demand for IDEA Clubs. Unfortunately, this meant that until IDEA hired its first staff member in 2008, EA10yearsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10yegrowth of the IDEA Club network slowed. Nonetheless, contrary to what the insatiable skeptics are saying, IDEA did not “die” during this time—it just did not grow. arsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10yearsofID2008 and Beyond, IDEA’s New Radiation: In early 2008, the IDEA Center hired its first paid staff member – Caroline Crocker – as an Executive Director working part-time. Dr. Crocker was hired for 6 months and she helped bring the IDEA Center fully “back online” until she moved on in July, 2008. In August, 2008, the Center hired Brian Westad as its first full time paid staff member as its IDEA Club Director. Mr. Westad has been helping new IDEA EA10yearsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10yeClubs to form, and current IDEA Clubs to successfully promote ID in their campuses and communities. Over the next few years, we hope to see increased growth building the IDEA Club network not only back up to previous levels, but2 to far surpass them.Visit IDEAthe CluIDEAbs are Center uniquely Online: poised to WWW.IDEACENTER.ORG reach out to many students who typically do not arsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10yearsofIDlearn in their classrooms about the scientific evidence supporting ID and challenging evolution. Our vision is to see IDEA grow into an increasingly bigger worldwide network of vibrant extracurricular clubs that will impact thousands of students. Our progress is thanks to readers like you who are passionate about ID and academic EA10yearsofIDEA10yearsofIDEA10yefreedom in our schools. Thank you again for partnering with us and together we will see many accomplishments and triumphs in the next ten years. Fall, 2009 [THE LIGHT BULB] – Volume 8, Issue 1 Interview with a Graduating IDEA Club Leader We asked outgoing college graduate and University of Oklahoma (OU) IDEA Club president Ray Martin a few questions about his experience with ID and how his IDEA club impacted his university. Below is the interview. What is the history of the IDEA Club at your university? How long have you been involved? The IDEA Club was vibrant about five or six years ago, but died after its leadership graduated. Some of those students were still at OU in graduate school and told me about the club. I decided to start it last fall for the sole purpose of sponsoring speakers, but it turned into much more – it attracted a myriad of students who are deeply interested in the questions raised by scientists on both sides of the debate. I was only involved for a year, but the new leadership will be around for at least three. Does your club experience any hostilities from other classmates or faculty at your school? How do you respond? We asked several professors to give lectures, and were denied by some of them. Many professors attempted to force officials at the natural history museum to cancel one of our events scheduled to take place in one of the museum auditoriums. What recent activities has your club participated in? We hosted lectures by two scholars from the Discovery Institute – John West and Casey Luskin, and a debate between ID theorist William Dembski and philosopher of science Michael Ruse. We also held weekly meetings, co-sponsored a science and religion conference and passed out literature on campus. How has leading the IDEA Club impacted you personally? I received harsh treatment from a few zoology professors when I asked why they opposed a course taught by a professor at OU who attempted to teach on ID and evolution.