Because the majority of people claiming to have evidence (or even good arguments) supporting "Intelligent Design" (aka Creationism) are lying sacks of sanctimonious shit, who simply will not rest. It’s that simple. The annoying irony is that because there is no God they will go to the grave never knowing just what utter douchebags they were in life, because He will not be there to tell them just how badly they misrepresented Him and what an awful job they did of obeying that frikking commandment about not bearing false witness.
Read the comments on this article about the Christian financier behind the hideous propaganda documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed and you can see a perfect example of the bullshit that gets spouted everywhere I look for anything approximating any honest debate or discussion on ID. It’s a classic example of lying for Jesus (Ray does it all the time, but he’s not half as convincing):
Anonymous – January 03, 2009 – 3:20 PM
I work in a genetics research lab and I can assure you… That if I mention that intelligent design by God is a possibility, I would get fired instantly. As reported in the movie, there is hyper-political correctness in the academic community. There is no mercy for dissenting views, especially on such fundamental issues like evolution. Everyone’s on the same bandwagon, just like in Nazi Germany… Half of my lab probably thinks about intelligent design, but no one dares mention it. The irony is that, when pressed, even the brightest geneticist cannot explain how it is possible that chimpanzees and humans have different chromosomal counts, when both species originate from the same ancestor. They have a fancy word for it, "chromosomal rearrangement", but in truth, no one knows how a population with 46 chromosomes can end up as a population with 48 chromosomes.
Wow, food for thought huh? At least if you didn’t already know that he was talking out of his ass it might be. Fortunately someone who has a clue about genetics calls out Mr Anonymous out in the very next comment:
Michael Thomas – January 03, 2009 – 4:22 PM
To Anonymous: Your post is the exact mix of lies, misrepresentations, and distortions standard in Creationist propaganda, including "Expelled." The reason for the differing chromosome numbers is well known. Chromosomes occur in pairs; the other great apes have 24, humans have 23. Human chromosome 2 is the result of fusion of two great ape chromosomes (#2 and #13). 24 pairs -1 pair = 23 pairs. There is no doubt that it is the result of fusion as it contains extra telomeres in the center where the two chromosomes fused (telomeres in normal chromosomes occur only at the ends). If you were really a geneticist you would know this.
Anonymous is just one of thousands online and in the media who care only about one thing: putting Jesus into government and public education. These are the morons (or close associates of the morons) who think that abstinence only education is a brilliant idea which only doesn’t work yet because we haven’t gone far enough, and who would withhold funding for AIDS assistance in poorer countries from agencies who would also promote the use of condoms. They are obsessed with dictating where other people stick their genitals, and think gayness is one of the biggest threats to civilization (even though civilization was practically invented by a rather queer friendly society). These people think that when something bad happens, it’s the fault of liberals and terrorists, and when something bad doesn’t happen, it’s all thanks to the mercy of the Lord! They think the world was designed for humans to have dominion over, that we only have death and disease and suffering because Adam and Eve ate a frikking apple (and that we all deserve to suffer for this "original" sin), and that soon it will all end with some kind of Armageddon and they’re looking forward to it! It’s collective insanity, and an amazingly dangerous and stupid distraction from the very real environmental, political and economic issues we all face.
In my ideal world there would be three questions about religion for anyone who wants to enter public office or education:
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Do you believe in any form of religious or supernatural prophecy (specifically that which is yet to be fulfilled)?
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Do you believe that any particular religious doctrine has a place in the making of policy or law (including the blocking of laws), or holds precedence over secular law?
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Do you or would you reject empirical evidence where such evidence contradicts a particular religious doctrine?
If someone answers yes to any of these they should be disqualified from any position of public authority. I think GW Bush would probably answer "maybe", "sometimes" and "it depends" respectively, and that this is no small part of how everything got as fucked up as it is right now in the world.
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If you’re interested in the chromosomes of chimps and humans, you can read more about them here