Hard at work at the quote mine I see. Duane Gish would be proud of a gallop like this.
the only alternative [to evolution] is the doctrine of special creation, which may be true, but is irrational.
(LT More)
Quote from 1925, not a biologist, written before the development of DNA or the modern evolutionary synthesis.
We find that while ID arguments may be true, ... ID is not science.
(US Dist Judge, John Jones)
Judge, not a scientist. Quote mine. Blatant in its distortion to create a dishonest impression of its intent.
Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between [naturalistic] science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs ... because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for we can not allow a Divine Foot in the door.
(Richard Lewontin, "Billions and billions of Demons," the New York Review, Januari 9, 1997,p. 31)
First scientist! An a evolutionary biologist to boot. But,
it's a horrible quote mine. All those elipses... And
[insertions]. If I was your editor, you'd be resubmitting a re-write by now. I'd also be pulling you into my office to discus honesty in reporting.
Lets see what the quote actually states. Excised bits in
bold
Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door. The eminent Kant scholar Lewis Beck used to say that anyone who could believe in God could believe in anything. To appeal to an omnipotent deity is to allow that at any moment the regularities of nature may be ruptured, that miracles may happen.
Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such an hypothesis is excluded form science because it is not naturalistic.
(SD Todd, Nature 410(67520):423, September 30,1999)
Another quote mine. The full quote reads:
Most important, it should be made clear in the classroom that science, including evolution, has not disproved God's existence because it cannot be allowed to consider it (presumably). Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such an hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic. Of course the scientist, as an individual, is free to embrace a reality that transcends naturalism.
What do you know, a full reading of that paragraph reveals quote a different reading to the twisted creationist quotemine.
I'll keep going on some more when I have the opportunity. Fortunately, a lot of these are PRATTs that have already been debunked by the TalkOrigins QuoteMine project.