The United Methodist Church has denied an application from the Discovery Institute to set up a table at their upcoming general conference. As you can imagine, the ID folks and their fellow travelers are having a collective freak out about this. Click here for a representative post about the sheer injustice of it all.
The basis for the rejection is that the Discovery Institute violates the UMC position on Evolution and Creationism:
WHEREAS, The United Methodist Church has for many years supported the separation of church and State;
Therefore, be it resolved, that the General Conference of The United Methodist Church go on record as opposing the introduction of any faith-based theories such as Creationism or Intelligent Design into the science curriculum of our public schools.
The ID folks are irate at being lumped in with the creationists, and they are repeating their standard lies about not wanting to bring ID into science classrooms. Whatever.
I think it took a lot of courage for the UMC to take this stand, since I suspect there is quite a bit of support for ID among their members. I can certainly understand why the UMC would find the Discovery Institute just too embarrassing to be associated with.
Mostly, though, I like this story because it gives me a chance to use this clip, from Blazing Saddles:
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how is it that wacko sites like the ID one you linked to do not ever allow comments?
mm, let me think..., wait, i'll get it...., um...,ah.........
p
I had to watch that clip twice to catch the reference.
The best part of theDI's site is that you can use the first link to send a congratulatory email to the UMC.
The Sensuous Curmudgeon has tallied 13 posts by the DI on this issue. What will they do if even the churches tell them to get lost? Who will be their audience?
"Could you repeat that Sir?"
One has to ask...why then identify with a discredited tradition? Is it felt that this is the only way to legitimize/justify values such as compassion? Surely there are other ways as in via Buddhism, etc. One can also appeal to certain Nash equilibriums...such as cooperation usually trumps conflict.