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Yesterday was a good day for the forces of rationalism. The judge in the Dover PA intelligent design trial issued a brilliant, thorough, and scathing decision in favor of the plaintiffs (and against the fabulists). Read the whole thing here (PDF). A few excerpts and comments, gathered from a variety of blogs and news stories: CNN quotes the decision:

We have concluded that it is not [science], and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents….

To be sure, Darwin’s theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions….

georgia10 comments on dailykos:

Having read my share of dry judicial opinions over the years, I can tell you that Judge Jones III’s verbal smackdown of “intelligent design” is a welcomed breath of fresh air. His opinion spans 139 pages of pure, razor- sharp analysis. It’s beautiful. It’s scathing….

Here are some facts you don’t hear about from the ID supporters:

1. The board members wanted a 50-50 ratio between the teaching of creationism and evolution in biology classes (p. 95)

2. The President also wanted to inject religion into social studies classes, and supplied the school with a book about the myth of the separation of church and state. (p. 96)

3. Another board member said “This country wasn’t founded on Muslim beliefs or evolution. This country was founded on Christianity and our students should be taught as such.” (p. 102)

4. At a meeting, a board member’s wife gave a speech, saying that “evolution teaches nothing but lies,” quoted from Genesis, asked “how can we allow anything else to be taught in our schools,” recited gospel verses telling people to become born again Christians, and stated that evolution violated the teachings of the Bible. (p. 103)

5. Other statements by board members included “Nowhere in the Constitution does it call for a separation of church and state,” and “liberals in black robes” are “taking away the rights of Christians, ” and “2,000 years ago someone died on a cross. Can’t someone take a stand for him?”

All this evidence was presented, and yet the defense still claimed that “intelligent design” was secular and they wanted it taught for secular purposes. They perjured themselves time and time again on the stand in an attempt to inject their religious beliefs into the public school system. Judge Jones, in the most riveting part of the opinion, calls them on their bullshit.

Kevin Drum pulls these two excerpts from the decision:

….The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of the Board who voted for the ID Policy. It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy.

….Those who disagree with our holding will likely mark it as the product of an activist judge. If so, they will have erred as this is manifestly not an activist Court. Rather, this case came to us as the result of the activism of an ill-informed faction on a school board, aided by a national public interest law firm eager to find a constitutional test case on ID, who in combination drove the Board to adopt an imprudent and ultimately unconstitutional policy. The breathtaking inanity of the Board’s decision is evident when considered against the factual backdrop which has now been fully revealed through this trial. The students, parents, and teachers of the Dover Area School District deserved better than to be dragged into this legal maelstrom, with its resulting utter waste of monetary and personal resources.

In other news, President Bush enlists in The War on Christmas! Courtesy of The Poor Man:

PRESIDENT BUSH. Last night [… blah blah blah everybody who thinks I shouldn’t wipe my ass with Constitution wants to gay marry Osama on a pile of aborted fetuses blah blah -ed. …]

And so I’m just going to keep doing my job, David. You can keep focusing on all these focus groups and polls and all that business. My job is to lead, to keep telling the American people what I believe, work to bring people together to achieve a common objective, stand on principle — and that’s the way I’m going to lead. I did so in 2005 and I’m going to do so in 2006.

Thank you all for coming. Happy holidays to you. Appreciate it.

I love the first comment on that entry: “The War on Christmas has become a quagmire.”