Jindal: Intelligent Design "The Very Best Science" (VIDEO)

Bobby Jindal, Louisiana Governor, exorcist, and potential McCain running mate, was interviewed on CBS's Face The Nation on Father's Day. Among the topics covered, Jindal was asked about his opinions on the debate over intelligent design's place in the public school curriculum. Jindal supports teaching intelligent design alongside evolution in the classroom, saying:

I personally think that the life, human life and the world we live in wasn't created accidentally. I do think that there's a creator. I'm a Christian. I do think that God played a role in creating not only earth, but mankind. Now, the way that he did it, I'd certainly want my kids to be exposed to the very best science. I don't want them to be-I don't want any facts or theories or explanations to be withheld from them because of political correctness. The way we're going to have smart, intelligent kids is exposing them to the very best science and let them not only decide, but also let them contribute to that body of knowledge.

Most scientists argue that intelligent design doesn't qualify as science.

Watch:

Comments

[livesimply]

He can believe whatever he believes, or he can just play to the religious right in hopes of getting the VP nomination. It's a free country so who cares? I don't agree, but so what? With schools strapped for money the way they are, it's doubtful the right could get "Intellegent" Design in the public schools anyway, especially with NCLB being such a disaster.

[vejzagic]

Isn't he a secret Muslim?

[SayLessDoMore]

Secret Hindu.

[mike53]

The best way to argue about intelligent design with someone on the religious right is to ask them one question. If intelligent design is real, how do you explain the existence of liberals?

[livesimply]

Har, har. You are such a card...

[marijam]

He is too young to be in honest consideration for a John McCain V.P. candidate. John McCain would be wise to select Mike Huckabee.

[brighterside]

"who created us then? And who then created our creator and their creator and so on?"

I don't know and can't answer that. But would you like to really find out? If we shun ID that we weren't created by an intelligent being, then we won't ever find out.

We once believe that the world was flat and it took hundreds of years before it was proven wrong.

We also once believed that the world was the center of the universe. Many great minds went to jail and for hundreds of years we stuck to this as truth because we couldn't or wouldn't want to go against this premise.

Now when we talk Intelligent Design people say its religious and its about God and that your sons and daughter don't want to learn about witchcraft and God stuff.

Listen. I think this guy is a nuts. I don't like the religious right because their whacked. But I think that ID should be discussed openly in a dialog.

Like I mentioned its not about religion. There is too many holes in evolutionary process to say that is the de facto truth. I just don't think so.

[WindmillSlayer]

Brighterside, I don't think anybody is against dialogue. The issue is: where should that conversation take place? ID does not belong in the classroom. It fits better in a philosophy or religion classroom.

The problem is that ID proponents are adamantly opposed to any viewpoint that contradicts their interpretation of the Bible. In order to really teach ID, one must promote the Biblical creation story. And the Bible is a religious text -- not a scientific one. ID = creation science = creationism, and teaching that as science is unconstitutional.

And the very last thing that ID proponents want to discover is who created the creator. That would render the Bible's God less than omnipotent. The author of the Golden Compass series already got in trouble for suggesting that God (aka The Authority) was simply an angel with a Napoleon complex.

[dugan45]

Scientists know what basic elements go into the making of RNA. They are experimenting with how to energize life. Once we unlock the combination, we shall make whatever we want. Then Creationists can refer to scientists as God. Their god-concept is as accurate as Zeus or Christ being God.

Were those on the right decent, humane, and compassionate, none of which they are as a group, I wouldn't give a care what they discuss. They can worship rocks and stones, planets and stars, or a transistor radio for all I care. Just don't institute archaic belief into education where it becomes equal to experimentation that leads to provable theories.

[brighterside]

Im not against the theory of evolution and I do want it taught as a theory of where human kind evolved. But in my opinion is that we should look towards the chance that a higher being was able to create us as well. Yet I get the notion that evolutionary theory is the end all and nothing else theory. Science should be open minded to researching the truth. And for that ID might be the answer to where we came from.

Im with most of you here. I don't think its right for the government to teach religion and God in public schools. Just that my thoughts to this creation theory ideology is that we all evolved accidentally and that no other theory matters.

[3dtrix]

God bless you, Brighterside, but the whole ID phenomenon is merely the seeking of comforting, simple answers to complex (and for some, troubling) questions. First, there are no "holes" in evolutionary theory - none. What look to some like "holes" are gaps in the fossil record (a stunning percentage of which have been "filled" in the present generation alone) and as-yet unanswered questions of chemistry and physics. DNA science is hot on the trail of those.

Second, are you aware that among developed nations, ours is alone in having more than a few percent of the general population doubt the primacy of evolution theory? A recent poll of European theologians - including Catholic priests - illustrated that approximately 85% accept evolution as settled science, and close to 75% of those same theologians doubt the existence of a literal Adam and Eve? Clearly they, as opposed to many of us, see no conflict between the rigor of science and the mysteries of religion.

You seem like a thoughtful person with no intent to antagonize; I challenge you to examine your beliefs more stringently and would gladly welcome you among the rational - we need all the help we can get.

[brighterside]

I've written a something before here explaining my conclusion that we should look into ID and figure out where we really come from. The reason for this is because the theory of evolution has many holes and has not been answered and proven to be absolute. Secondly, ID is not about science and its also not about religion. You don't have to go to church to believe in ID. ID is basically the belief that an intelligent being created us and nothing more. Now where does religion fit in this picture?

Here are my questions about evolution:

Why does mammal monkeys have 26 chromosomes compared to the human being that has only 24?

How will it possible to pile a bunch of rock, stone, sticks, and iron together and wait a million years and it will by magic turn into a shining building with electricity, plumbing, etc.?

How can man be the only being in our planet to be able to speak, write, and have the ability to know about existence but not other being but ourselves?

Monkeys have been on this planet longer than man. Why then have they not been able to read, write, talk and have the same intelligence as humans?

Please if you can answer them and don't call me names like some religious fanatic. Science is a way for us to search for the truth. Lets not use Evolution as the ONLY truth of where we came from. I beg for a dialog instead.

[Bongborg]

After rereading this post several times, it is fairly obvious that not only do you not understand science and what a theory is, but also that you have issues with English grammar and making yourself comprehensible when expressing your opinion.

"Lets not use Evolution as the ONLY truth of where we came from. I beg for a dialog instead. "

Here is my part of our dialogue: shut up until you have some actual evidence to present and until you increase your educational level above Jethro Bodine's.

[turkeyfish]

First it important to understand, science is not about dialog. It is about establishing facts, how we come to know these facts, and how we can explain them (theories). Evolution by means of natural selection is a fact. a fact that has not been in dispute in the scientific community in the last 150 years. The theory of evolution is no more controversial than the theory of gravity and ironically, it is far better supported by evidence than existing theories of gravitation. Many of your statements, are simply wrong. We are not the only organisms that can speak, or know about the existence f other beings.

There's nothing wrong with being ignorant, if you are willing to learn. Such learning is important lest you bear false witness as to how the diversity of life we see on our planet arose.

There is a very good summary of the voluminous evidence concerning the indisputable facts of evolution at the following website:

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/section1.html#nested_hierarchy

To fully understand the issues you do need to take the time to buy yourself a basic Biology text and study it in earnest.
This is important reading, particularly when the ignorance of the kind you demonstrate is shared by far too many other world citizens, who fail to realize that the consequences of their living their lives in such ignorance is that it places our fragile planet in peril and with it all of humanity.

[brighterside]

hello turkeyfish. Thank you for you response. I have actually taken up Biology myself and have studied the theory of evolution. My studies in biology was the reasoning why I do believe that we are created from an intelligent being. No I was not exposed to intelligent design from a church or from some crazy christian. But through the process of the basis of life and DNA which I found too fascinating to ignore. DNA is like a set of codes governing or controlling each and every organism in our planet. They are similar to the computer codes that is used to write computer programs and software. So you think that these sets of complex instructions are able to manifest through some accident over millions of years? Its like putting together a bunch of letters and waiting millions of years to rearrange itself into a book.

Secondly, did we all evolve out of nothing? Where would the theory of evolution fit in if we evolved from nothing?

[zigzag1]

Viruses mutate in a matter of hours!

[laborgrunt]

This guy is the biggest token Ruthuglican hack. The man was handed the role of heading the Health and Human Svcs agency of LA which had about 40% of the state's budget when he was only 24. Meritocracy i think not, the Rethugs have been grooming him for a while.
Also his mother is the Director of IT at the Louisiana Dept. of Labor ( I know, I know, i didnt think LA had Labor standards too), can you say nepotism.

Piyush Jindal is a joke, I hope McCain picks him as a VP running mate.

[Johnagain]

Jindal comes across as a fundementalist nutbag, and he surely is. However here in Louisiana, one of the deepest, darkest, most corrupt and twisted places on America's political landscape, he is comparatively an open-minded intellectual. The average white Louisianian is a Biblical literalist, with the reasoning ability and level of intellectual curiosity of a bag of rocks. This is a fact, and I say this without no satisfaction. Those who figure out what a load of mythical BS they've been taught from birth, leave the state. Those left behind are utterly incapable of sorting out the specifics of what constitutes true science, vs. fraudulent gibberish like ID. Jindal simply reflects the views of the vast majority of white voters in this state. Sadly, he is the best we could hope for for governor. And a google search of past Louisiana governors will make it obvious why this is so.

[ZimboChick]

someone's chap ati is calling

[OriginalScreenName]

It's too bad for his kids that Jindal has no clue what science is, or what defines a scientific theory, hypothesis, observation, and experiment. These definitions are the foundations of science. Any one who "believes" in ID does not understand science at all, and should in no way have any say whatsoever in science policy.

Put another way, do you want a priest or a doctor operating on you? I think we all know what the answer to that is, and I think Jindal should leave the science to the scientists.

[tsloan]

Bobby....this is God....the world is older than you think....

[NotMcCain]

I think one of the reasons some Independents and Democrats have liked McCain (and some in his party don't) is because organized religion, and proselytizing for Christianity in schools or the media, never seems very important to him.

He may pander to it--as in his still-controversial visit to Liberty University, and the embrace of various evangelical Christians in what seems an effort to get votes.

But his heart doesn't seem in it and he seems hard-pressed to speak on the topic. Do we know where and how often McCain and Cindy go to church? Are they members of a congregation who participate regularly? If pressed, could he discuss religion at length?

I don't think it was a coincidence that he was left out of CNN's "Forum on Religion" that Hillary and Obama were grilled in. I think, as usual, CNN gave him a "pass" from answering tough questions in an area he would be uncomfortable with.

It looks like he's going to find someone more "religious" for his VP spot (also someone younger and more typically conservative). This, very likely, will be a hindrance, rather than a help--because of underscoring the contrast (and possibly the hypocrisy) with the man at the top of the ticket.

[ChristopherLib]

Man he was just rambling off gibberish. He wants his kids to have the best science, and then says he believes we are designed intelligently. Then he says we should allow kids to make decisions for themselve. WTF? Science isn't about pushing unsubstatiated theories so we can have kids guess the right answer like they're on some kind of game show. Evolution is science. ID is not. That is not debated within the scientific community.

[BushBites]

Didn't Huffpo have a story on this guy being involved in witchcraft and exorcisms.

Let's be honest: this guy's a fruit loop.

[BushBites]

Bobby Jindal: Faith Healer And Exorcist

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/12/bobby-jindal-faith-healer_n_106716.html

[BushBites]

Ha, ha, ha.

About what I'd expect from a man who abandoned his religion to make it in politics.