In this program, NOVA captures the turmoil that tore apart the community of Dover, Pennsylvania in one of the latest battles over teaching evolution in public schools. Featuring trial reenactments based on court transcripts and interviews with key participants, including expert scientists and Dover parents, teachers, and town officials, “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial” follows the celebrated federal case of Kitzmiller v. Dover School District. This two-hour special was coproduced with Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Productions, Inc.
Plus, they are now offering extras on their site such as a Preview and audio of “Hear seven experts briefly describe the essence of science and how it differs from religion.”
This is the money quote from Phillip Johnson, the father of Intelligent Design: “When people ask me whether this is creationism relabeled, one thing that always occurs to me is that the real creationist organizations are highly critical of intelligent design, because they say it doesn’t do the job that is the very essence of creationism. It doesn’t defend the Bible from the very first verse. It doesn’t defend the Bible at all, and it doesn’t even defend Christianity.
It’s saying that there’s an intelligence, but the intelligence could be natural as well as supernatural. And that if you assume it’s supernatural, what the God is—well, we have nothing to say about what kind of God it is. It isn’t limited to one particular kind of religion, to Christianity or to a particular kind of Christianity. If you want, it can be the Muslim god.”
And here is some quotes of Johnson’s from the Wedge:
* “Our strategy has been to change the subject a bit so that we can get the issue of intelligent design, which really means the reality of God, before the academic world and into the schools.” [11]
* “This isn’t really, and never has been a debate about science. Its about religion and philosophy.” [12]
* “The objective (of the wedge strategy) is to convince people that Darwinism is inherently atheistic, thus shifting the debate from creationism vs. evolution to the existence of God vs. the non-existence of God. From there people are introduced to ‘the truth’ of the Bible and then ‘the question of sin’ and finally ‘introduced to Jesus.’”
Just a friendly reminder.. this program airs tonight. Don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve followed this crapola for so long I’m eager to see how NOVA handles this trial. I like NOVA, enjoyed for a very long time and find they present science incredibly well.
Though, I must admit, if it wasn’t for the debate over ID, I probably wouldn’t know as much about evolution as I do now. So, thanks, Behe, Johnson, Dembski (just kidding - those bastards and their bullshit childish gonna kill science religious Leprechaun addicted morons.)
I just finished watching the show. It alternately made me laugh out loud and shout epitaphs at my television. Very well done.
I had a lot of favorite parts: The plaintiff’s witness using a mousetrap as a tie clip, the plaintiff’s attorney piling books in front of Michael Behe, the excellent explanation of how genetics confirmed evolution, etc etc.
Random thoughts:
Philip Johnson is a lying, duplicitous scumbag.
Michael Behe is an idiot.
Judge Jones can come to dinner at my house any time.
We still have a lot of work to do keeping IDiots from taking over our country.
I watched it as well. It was awesome. The evidence for evolution was overwhelming and the obvious repackaging of creationism into intelligent design was exposed.
The evidence must have made it easy for the judge to make his decision even though he was appointed by Bush.
Behe sounded like that woman on the TNG episode where Data lost his memory and the people on the planet got radiation sickness. They “killed” him due to superstition when he put the cure in the drinking water. I forget the title, but the woman was an ignorant scientist/teacher/doctor. Behe sounded just like her. I couldn’t help but laugh, esp when that episode came to mind and this woman is talking prehistoric science.
I agree with everyone so far. I tell ya, Johnson comes off as a real whack job. My main impression is one of knowing they will lie for the cause (already knew that, but now everyone can see for themselves). Watching the process of uncovering their (IDer’s) deceit was quite the thrill for me - meticulous and beautifully done.
I enjoyed the fact that they took you through the arguments for evolution with very clear graphic demonstrations, field work and in the lab. So, not only could we watch the uncovering of their lies and attempts to redefine science, but we also got to learn about evolution from leaders in the field with visual aids assisting and with very clear educational voice over.
If I have a complaint, it is about the introductory 5 minutes.
To be honest, I was expecting much more bias in favor of creationism. It was excellent- informative, objective, and respectful. The only thing that the creationists on the show can possibly complain about is the absurdity of how they themselves came across. And, they can’t pass it on to the filmmakers. Kudos to PBS for not pandering.
I enjoyed the documentary, too. Behe cornered into admitting that he hadn’t really looked at the scientific literature on the evolution of the immune system. How he had to admit that Astrology would be science according to his definition? I’ve looked at a couple of Johnson’s books, and he writes with such a smug, know-it-all tone, as if it were just so obvious that evolution was stupid. most scientists are aware of it, and it was only a matter of time before everybody realized it. It was worth it just so see him admit, towards the end, that the “paradigm shift” probably wasn’t going to happen in his lifetime!
What an excellent show. I am grateful to Nova for taking on this controversial topic. The evidence for evolution is blindingly obvious.
The hardest part of the show to stomach was how malicious some people of faith appear. I can’t believe Kitzmiller & the Judge received death threats for their views. That is horrible. I think the ugliest personality was definitely Bill Buckingham. Even after the trial spent 3 weeks explaining the science in easy to digest bites, Buckingham dismisses this evidence and continues to slander the proponents of evolution and especially the Judge, in his personal interviews. His view of reality is unwavered by evidence. This is extremely disturbing. Hopefully this program will go a long way in lowering the present stat that 48% of Americans question the theory of evolution. I am optimistic that the stubborn faith based personality trait, Buckingham represents, is as timeless as the orange & brown afghan draped over the chair in his interviews.
For those of you who haven’t seen the documentary (I haven’t, they didn’t show it in Canada)
I hate to break this to you George, but they did INDEED show it here in Canada! In fact, the PBS affiliate where I am (WPBS) aired it THREE times during the night. I guess it depends on which PBS affiliate you have access to :(
