Saturday, June 04, 2005
Holland's Kathy Martin
Holland's Science and Education Minister, Maria van der Hoeven, started an uproar when she announced plans to stimulate an academic debate about intelligent design. According to a report in Science:
Perhaps the unkindest cut of all was delivered during hostile questioning in the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament -- Van der Hoeven was compared to Kansas school board members who want to introduce ID in the classroom.
"Does she want to go back to the Dark Ages?" the Science article quotes the usually sober daily NRC Handelsblad as having lamented in an editorial.
Van der Hoeven's plan came to light in March, after she had what she called a "fascinating conversation" with Cees Dekker, a renowned nanophysicist at Delft University of Technology who believes that the idea of design in nature is "almost inescapable." ID could be a tool to promote dialogue between the religions, Van der Hoeven wrote in her Web log that week: "What unites Muslims, Jews, and Christians is the notion that there is a creator. ... If we succeed in connecting scientists from different religions, it might even be applied in schools and lessons. A few of my civil servants will talk further with Dekker about how to shape this debate."
Perhaps the unkindest cut of all was delivered during hostile questioning in the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament -- Van der Hoeven was compared to Kansas school board members who want to introduce ID in the classroom.
"Does she want to go back to the Dark Ages?" the Science article quotes the usually sober daily NRC Handelsblad as having lamented in an editorial.
