Intelligent Design

Deirdre Newman NEWPORT-MESA -- For the second time, trustee Wendy Leece has been denied the opportunity to present to her colleagues information about a scientific alternative to evolution. On April 23, the board was set to schedule a study session for Leece to provide fellow trustees with information on intelligent design, a movement that questions Darwinian evolution with research in biochemistry. The Newport-Mesa Unified school board voted 5 to 2 to delay the study session until it receives direction on the issue from the state.

Deirdre Newman One trustee is continuing her quest to have the district consider scientific alternatives to evolution. On Tuesday, Wendy Leece withheld her stamp of approval from a science textbook called "Life: The Science of Biology." Although the board ultimately approved the book for use in Advanced Placement Biology, the issue will be discussed further during an April 30 study session. Leece took issue with the textbook because it does not include information about intelligent design, which she describes as a movement that questions Darwinian evolution with research in biochemistry.

Intelligent design and evolution advocates, who squared off at UC Irvine last week, found that the chasm between the two theories may not be so great. UCI professors Walter Fitch, Gregory Weiss and Timothy Bradley argued in favor of evolution in nature without supernatural influences. Guest speakers Paul Nelson and Ralph Seelke argued for a designer in nature, although they conceded that minor forms of evolution can occur. "I was surprised and pleased that the other participants arguing for intelligent design felt that the world is 6 billion years old, and that evolution occurred, and that our differences were much narrower than I expected," Bradley said.

I am writing in response to James E. Young's letter about Trustee Wendy Leece's attempt to add intelligent design to school curriculum (Mailbag, Jan. 29). It is quite obvious that Young has never done any serious study on intelligent design before and is extremely biased. He is using circular thinking in trying to defeat Leece. He states that there is no empirical evidence for intelligent design. Well, how does he know? Evolution requires that life comes from nonlife and lizards turned into birds.

Rob Yardley I would find the resistance to teaching intelligent design in public school classrooms amusing if the subject wasn't so serious. Why such resistance to such a reasonable hypothesis? In the May 10 Daily Pilot, Mark Gleason wrote: "Evolution is the only creation science backed by a massive body of evidence." Really? Former evolutionist Colin Patterson, in a speech at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, said: "Question is: Can you tell me anything you know about evolution, any one thing, that is true?

The nation’s leading science organization is taking a firm stance against creationism as a legitimate alternative to evolution, according to a report released Friday by the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine. The report, significantly larger than its predecessors in 1999 and 1984, was headed by UCI evolutionary biologist and former Dominican priest Francisco Ayala. Former UCI Chancellor Ralph Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. “Despite the overwhelming evidence supporting evolution, opponents have repeatedly tried to introduce nonscientific views into public school science classes through the teaching of various forms of creationism or intelligent design,” according to the report.

Pilot columnist Joseph N. Bell takes off after Newport-Mesa Unified Trustee Wendy Leece again in his column regarding the teaching of evolution as opposed to intelligent design (The Bell Curve, "Answering the creationist challenge," Feb. 14). He trots out what he perceives to be a big gun to blast away -- a college professor. Hasn't anyone clued in Bell that college professors sacrificed their credibility at the alter of political correctness years ago?

Don't let all those doubters get you down I think the Kansas schools, along with the rest of the anti-Darwin crowd, are missing the boat. By obsessing on Darwin's theories alone, they are abandoning younger students whose beliefs are being trod on in the early years. I get very discouraged when I hear my 10-year-old daughter talk about being teased by her classmates for her beliefs. I tell her that faith is believing in something when reason tells you not to and don't let all the doubters get you down.

Now that we have all read the ad hominem arguments (e.g. marked by an attack on an opponent's character rather than by an answer to the contentions made) and straw man arguments (e.g. an imaginary opposition set up only to be easily confuted), let's focus on the argument (Readers Respond, March 5). First let's define the terms: 1. Intelligent design theorist: Someone who believes that the empirical, scientific evidence shows that there is design to life and to the universe; therefore, there is a designer.

Some of life’s issues that affect all of us in varying degrees are as predictably repetitive as they are seemingly insoluble. The 3-2 votes of the Costa Mesa City Council, for example. The steadily increasing noise over our homes of departing flights from John Wayne Airport. The rising price of parking at Dodger Stadium. And the cyclical debates between science and fundamentalist thinking. We have just experienced the annual visit of two of these latter issues, and we will experience them again.

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences recently issued a report arguing that evolution, not creationism, should be taught in public schools. The report’s authors argued that teaching creationism alongside evolution confuses students as to what constitutes science. Do you think creationism — or the theory of “intelligent design,” which argues that biological creatures are so complex they couldn’t have come about through natural processes — should be taught in public schools along with evolution so students can make up their own minds as to which explanation to accept?

Congratulations to the Wyndham Orange County Hotel and its general manager for acknowledging and supporting gay couples’ rights to civil unions and domestic partnerships. While it may be a smart business decision to provide access for public ceremonies, why does the pastor of Beacon Church need to condemn and trivialize what can be the most important event in many people’s lives? Isn’t passing judgment something only his “god” is supposed to do?

The nation’s leading science organization is taking a firm stance against creationism as a legitimate alternative to evolution, according to a report released Friday by the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine. The report, significantly larger than its predecessors in 1999 and 1984, was headed by UCI evolutionary biologist and former Dominican priest Francisco Ayala. Former UCI Chancellor Ralph Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. “Despite the overwhelming evidence supporting evolution, opponents have repeatedly tried to introduce nonscientific views into public school science classes through the teaching of various forms of creationism or intelligent design,” according to the report.

Intelligent design and evolution advocates, who squared off at UC Irvine last week, found that the chasm between the two theories may not be so great. UCI professors Walter Fitch, Gregory Weiss and Timothy Bradley argued in favor of evolution in nature without supernatural influences. Guest speakers Paul Nelson and Ralph Seelke argued for a designer in nature, although they conceded that minor forms of evolution can occur. "I was surprised and pleased that the other participants arguing for intelligent design felt that the world is 6 billion years old, and that evolution occurred, and that our differences were much narrower than I expected," Bradley said.

Pat Robertson made news when he said that residents of a Pennsylvanian town had rejected God by voting out of office school board members who supported the teaching of intelligent design. He also warned residents not to be surprised if disaster struck them. How do such statements and the ensuing controversies influence people's faith and their attitude toward religion? Pat Robertson needs to speak less off-the-cuff and use a script writer who has some intelligent design. His on-the-spot commentary without prayerfully considering those comments often get him into trouble.

Rob Yardley I would find the resistance to teaching intelligent design in public school classrooms amusing if the subject wasn't so serious. Why such resistance to such a reasonable hypothesis? In the May 10 Daily Pilot, Mark Gleason wrote: "Evolution is the only creation science backed by a massive body of evidence." Really? Former evolutionist Colin Patterson, in a speech at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, said: "Question is: Can you tell me anything you know about evolution, any one thing, that is true?

Don't let all those doubters get you down I think the Kansas schools, along with the rest of the anti-Darwin crowd, are missing the boat. By obsessing on Darwin's theories alone, they are abandoning younger students whose beliefs are being trod on in the early years. I get very discouraged when I hear my 10-year-old daughter talk about being teased by her classmates for her beliefs. I tell her that faith is believing in something when reason tells you not to and don't let all the doubters get you down.

Tom Titus Whether your taste runs to popular musicals or absurdist dramas, there's something coming up for you at a college in Costa Mesa. Orange Coast College's Repertory Theater Company returns to the spotlight tonight, opening a two-weekend visit to Eugene Ionesco, one of the theater's most famous absurdist playwrights, for three of the Romanian author's most celebrated short plays. Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Vanguard University is preparing a somewhat more ambitious undertaking -- mounting the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" on the limited dimensions of the college's Lyceum Theater, also for two weekends, albeit for 10 performances.

It isn't often in this era of poll-watching and fuzzy political positions that voters have the opportunity to make a clear choice on issues. But the upcoming Newport-Mesa Unified School Board election provides such an opportunity in the contest between Wendy Leece and Tom Egan. Leece is on record more copiously than any other local officeholder. About one-third of my "Education" file is devoted to issues she has introduced or public statements she has made.