Have you noticed that heroes are often scoundrels too (at least in the movies)? Can we say Rhett Butler or Han Solo?
Recall this romantic scene from The Empire Strikes Back:
Scoundrel I like the sound of that
Han: Hey! Your worship, I’m only trying to help.
Leia: Would you please stop calling me that?Han: Sure…Leia.
Leia: You make it so difficult sometimes.Han: I do. I really do. You could be a little nicer, though. C’mon admit it, sometimes you think I’m alright.
Leia: Occasionally, maybe, when you aren’t acting like a scoundrel.Han: Scoundrel? Scoundrel…I like the sound of that.
Leia: Stop that. [as Han reaches for her hand]Han: Stop what?
Leia: Stop that. My hands are dirty.Han: My hands are dirty too. What are you afraid of?
Leia: Afraid?Han: You’re trembling.
Leia: I’m not trembling.Han: You like me because I’m a scoundrel. There aren’t enough scoundrels in your life.
Leia: I happen to like nice men.Han: I’m a nice man.
Leia: No, you’re not… [as she kisses Han]
How appropriate that one of the most recent pro-ID books (by Tom Woodward) is named after The Empire Strikes Back. How appropriate that ID proponents (the “scoundrels” if you will) are winning the hearts and minds of the public.
Some Darwinists (like Barbara Forrest) must wonder why it is their smear campaigns are having inadequate effect. Didn’t creationist Kent Hovind go to jail after all, and didn’t creationist Ted Haggard admit to drug deals and a double life? Surely, that would have given incentive for creationists to abandon their beliefs….
But what is really at issue? Is it motivations? Is it integrity? Not at all. Here is what is really at stake — it was so aptly put by Hannah Maxson last year:
It’s not a personality issue at all, it’s an issue of good math and rigorous science, and avoiding charlatan rebuttals…
Dembski’s character is not a matter of discussion on this thread; even if he is a vile scoundrel, that is perfectly irrelevant. The question here has to do with math, which, happily, is not relative and cannot be tarnished by unsavory associations
Unsavory associations? Reminds me of the “unsavory associates” mentioned here
Throughout my brief tenure as director of Baylor’s Michael Polanyi Center, adversaries as well as supporters of my work constantly pointed to my unsavory associates. I was treated like a political figure who is unwilling to renounce ties to organized crime. It was often put to me: “Dembski, you’ve done some respectable work, but look at the disreputable company you keep.” Repeatedly I’ve been asked to distance myself not only from the obstreperous likes of Phillip Johnson but especially from the even more scandalous young earth creationists.
Bill Dembski
The creationists were likened to The Godfather. [note: the picture in the link even has Brando wearing a tuxedo!]. I love it.
The Darwinists can attempt character assassination of ID proponents and creationists all they want. We can be likened to corrupt politicians in league with organized crime. But in the end, even if we are vile scoundrels, that is perfectly irrelevant to scientific truth. The inference remains that life and the universe were intelligently designed.
And this inference is becoming more and more widely accepted as hinted by this poll. 66% accept the idea that God created man only 10,000 years ago. This number is slightly higher than in previous polls. And let’s be clear, both Young Earth Creationists (YECs) and a good number of Old Earth Creationists (OECs) agree that modern man was specially created recently 10,000 years ago. Acceptance of special creation implies a growing acceptance also of ID.
Was it only 538 ago that judge John E. Jones’ kangaroo court ruled that criticisms of Darwin in the science classroom were unconstitutiona? At the time, Jones’ Dover ruling seemed like the end of ID. Hardly!
Now, regarding that poll, the specialness of the number 10,000 is not limited to YECs, but is subscribed to by many OECs, and ironically even by some anti-IDists!
Harold Morowitz (of Mclean vs. Arkansas fame and public critic of ID) wrote:
The rate of change has sped up from the earliest hominids onto the cultural domain. Throughout the Holocene, the changes have been anthropogenic, caused by Homo Sapiens. Something very major emerged about 10,000 years ago.
….
Homo Sapiens as a species is about 200,000 years old and has spread over much of the habitable world. Many groups have been isolated from others, as seen in the evolution of races. Yet within a 6,000-year window, agriculture seems to have been discovered (implemented) by seven very diverse and widely separated groups.
….
We have to reason from knowledge of modern humans in a variety of cultures and the historical record, which covers only about 6,000 years.…..The mind is much more of a primitive [a fundamental entity] than are atoms and quarks. For us, the mind and the universe are not separable….
We study God’s immanence through science…
Harold Morowitz
Emergence of Everything
Let the facts continue to prevail. And if an aspiring ID proponent is accused of being a scoundrel, let him respond, “Scoundrel? Scoundrel…I like the sound of that.”