Open Letter to NPR

I did something unprecedented today. I wrote a letter of complaint to NPR News. They aired a commentary by Joe Loconte supporting the teaching of the "Theory" of Intelligent Design in high school classrooms, and it contained a completely absurd comparison of ID to the Big Bang Theory. You can listen to the original commentary at the NPR website.

I don't know if NPR will actually air my remarks, so I thought I'd share them with my readers here, as well. I wrote...

With all due respect to the commentator, Joe Loconte has no idea what he's talking about. His comparison of the "Theory" of Intelligent Design to the Big Bang Theory is completely off base. True, the Big Bang Theory did meet with strong opposition when first proposed, but its proponents didn't try to gain acceptance by rail-roading it into high school science classrooms. They defined their theory, stated what it predicted, and then gathered data to either prove or falsify their predictions. They took their research to peer-reviewed scientific journals and let the evidence make their case instead of trying to manipulate an uninformed public into legislating their beliefs. The Big Bang Theory gained the acceptance of the scientific community before it filtered down to high school science classes. The tactics of the ID lobby are nothing like those of real scientists trying to promote a theory. NPR should be exposing the duplicity of the ID movement instead of pandering to them.