The Connection Between Intelligent Design & Anti-Gay Bigotry

Those of us who have studied the intelligent design controversy know well that it is a political and religious movement, not a scientific one.

Here is yet more evidence. This ridiculous "pledge" against gay marriage was signed by two major figures of the intelligent design movement: Jay Richards and Jonathan Witt.

Jay Richards and Jonathan Witt are both senior fellows of the Discovery Institute, the principal propaganda arm of the intelligent design movement. Neither of them, of course, has any advanced scientific training. That lack of knowledge doesn't prevent them from writing, at great length, about the supposed flaws of evolution, and the virtues of intelligent design.

Denialism is a principle part of the worldview of the signers. When they write things like

• "We affirm that marriage and family have been inscribed by the Divine Architect into the order of Creation."
• "Marriage is ontologically between one man and one woman"
• "the truth that marriage can exist only between one man and one woman is not based on religion or revelation alone, but on the Natural Law, written on the human heart and discernible through the exercise of reason"
• "No civil institution, including the United States Supreme Court or any court, has authority to redefine marriage."
• "Neither the United States Supreme Court nor any court has authority to redefine marriage"
• "marriage intrinsically involves a man and a woman"

one can only recall that exactly the same kinds of things were said when Loving v. Virginia was decided, and then roll one's eyes.

Judge Leon Bazile wrote, when he upheld Virginia's anti-miscegenation law, "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix." Is the congruence between Bazile's decision and the statement that Richards and Witt signed not completely obvious to everyone?

Denialism of social change like gay marriage and denialism of scientific theories like evolution are just two sides of the same coin. Both are essentially rooted in mindless adherence to religious dogma and the fear that if one does not adhere to the same principles, then chaos is the result. They were wrong about Loving and they're wrong today.