The Kansas Board of Education will soon be voting to determine whether or not Intelligent Design should be taught side-by-side with the theory of evolution in their schools. Obviously, such a decision is highly important, as it affects whether or not science teaching in the United States continues to go to Hell in a handbasket. To whit, I present a excerpt from one of the letters that the Board has received:

I am writing you with much concern after having read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design should be taught along with the theory of Evolution. I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them. I am concerned, however, that students will only hear one theory of Intelligent Design.

Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him.

Take this seriously, please. Go learn more about FSM and Pastafarianism and why we should all address this important educational issue. Science is, as Wikipedia defines it, “Reasoned investigation or study of nature, aimed at finding out the truth. Such an investigation is normally felt to be necessarily methodical, or according to scientific method – a process for evaluating empirical knowledge”. Faith, on the other hand, is “as the affirmation of belief without an ongoing test of evidence, and even despite evidence apparently to the contrary”.

If we’re going to teach our students that science=faith, we might as well choose the stupidest possible faith to set equal to science, because we’re already destroying their ability to reason and think.