Judgment Day praised in Nature

Posted 12 November 2007 by PvM

The NCSE reports that Nature has reviewed "Judgment day" and praised it

"Judgment Day gracefully avoids ridiculing intelligent design for the pseudo-intellectual fundamentalist fig-leaf that it is, by simply showing how the protagonists shot themselves in the foot," Rutherford adds. Acknowledging that the "intelligent design" movement is still alive in the wake of the trial, he nevertheless concludes that "the Kitzmiller vs Dover verdict, matched this September with the outlawing of intelligent design in the UK national curriculum, marked the official neutering of this unpleasant, sneaky movement in much of the western world. Judgment Day is just the sort of thoughtful programming that celebrates how sensible people -- faithful and otherwise -- can use science and reason to combat fundamentalism."

No wonder the Discovery Institute is running scared.

6 Comments

Frank J · 12 November 2007

No wonder the Discovery Institute is running scared.
— PvM

So was Roy Orbison, but his song had a happy ending - in ironically stark contrast to his personal life.

Jason F. · 12 November 2007

Acknowledging that the “intelligent design” movement is still alive in the wake of the trial

It is? Where exactly? The only thing I can think of is Behe's book EoE and the movie Expelled, but that's about it. And I hardly think one book and a straight-to-DVD-movie constitute being "alive". Heck, look at what's become of the PandasThumb. It's essentially been reduced to a reactionist "Look at what DaveScot/Demski/Behe/whomever said on their blog", as well as PvM's semi-personal blog. Certainly stay vigilant, but methinks "intelligent design" is largely dead. Our next battle is not "intelligent design", but "teach evolution" (the way creationists want it taught).

Peter · 12 November 2007

It is rather wonderful that ID has been castrated. However, it will surely create a test tube baby.

the pro from dover · 13 November 2007

I agree with Jason that the Pandas Thumb has dropped its position on commenting on the significance of new discoveries in paleontology/evolutionary biology that are being presented in the general news. Over the last several months there have been 2 new dinosaur discoveries, a large article in Time Magazine challenging the Alvarez' theory, and 400 million year old salamander fossils discovered, none of which seem as important as a geriatric athiest becoming a geriatric deist. What gives?

Paul G. Knox · 14 November 2007

First of all,I am not a scientist.I'm just a regular joe who finds scientific pursuits and discoveries endlessly fascinating and for the lack of a better term more religious than sticking one's head in the Bible and trying to make everything conform to what it says.My other observation about those pushing creationism and ID is why are they so pathetically insecure?

xander · 14 November 2007

For those of you that, like me, missed the original airing, the PBS website indicates that the entire program will be online on Friday. link

xander