The Discovery Institute Stoops to the Level of Plainclothes Creationists

Hi Readers!

You may remember a post I made a while back about True.Origin misquoting Darwin. A fellow reader named Jere had caught them, and corresponded with T.O.'s site owner, Tim Wallace. Well, now the Discovery Institute is doing the exact same thing. I actually thought the IDists were just a tad more sophisticated than the inbred losers at True.Origin. Apparently not. Click here and scroll past the cover to the first page.

There is the same misquote. Here is the way the quote should be:

"For I am well aware that scarcely a single point is discussed in this volume on which facts cannot be adduced, often apparently leading to conclusions directly opposite to those at which I have arrived. A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question; and this cannot possibly be here done."

If you'll notice, D.I. changed the semicolon to a period and left off the last bit. It's pretty clear from the context that Darwin did not envision folks arguing over the validity of his dangerous theory 150 years later. We must remember that it would take another several hundred page book to defend his interpretation of the evidence against all other ones. This was his advice to his colleagues for the time being, not a permanent declaration. As Pharyngula author PZ Meyers said, "What they neglect to mention is the importance of that word "balancing": we have been balancing the arguments, and the scientific side weighs tons while the creationist side is a puff of air."

That's why 99% of scientists support evolution.