#551: John Calvert

John Calvert (not the magician, though he shares the name) may not be the most famous Intelligent Design Creationism advocates in the US, but he has historically been one of the most influential and dangerous. Calvert is (or at least was) a representative for the Kansas Intelligent Design Network, founder of IDNet, and one of the main architects behind the push for including creationism in the public school curriculum in Kansas back in 2006; he wrote the (later removed) amendments with William Harris, and was the de facto legal counsel for the moron side. He was later involved in an attempt to do the same thing in Ohio (and elsewhere). Among other charming, science-related things he distributed pamphlets attempting to ad hominem Kansas Citizens for Science by claiming, in true Orwellian fashion, that they were employing ”Character Assassination and Denigration of Theism.”  His claims wereinaccurate, to put it mildly, but that should come as no surprise.

His argument is generally that is that we are on the verge of both fascism and communism because the courts won't let schools teach creationism (featured in this interesting survey), and he presents his points by way of incoherent screaming (also here). And atheism is a religion as welll, as if that had anything to do with the matter even if it made sense. You can see Randy Olson slam Calvert, Jonathan Wells and the Discovery Institute here, as well as a breathtaking but typical example of Discovery Institute dishonesty (augmented in Wells’s response here).

Calvert is also apparently an amateur playwright (with one Daniel Schwabauer), but should probably not quite his day job quite yet.

The reaction of fundies to the loss in Kansas makes for an … interesting read, by the way. Chuck Colson bemoaned the “censorship” of not mandating the instruction of “Intelligent Design” creationism in public schools. Wichita pastor Terry Fox called evolution a “cult” and “the mother of all liberalism,” which stands in an interesting relation to a point. Board member Connie Morris, who called evolution a “fairytale”, blamed the “lying liberal media” for her defeat, and Calvert himself complained about a “propaganda” campaign of “systematic misinformation.” Phyllis Schlafly weighed in as well.

Diagnosis: Ardent fundie who likes to howl with rage at reason, sanity, and reality, and seems to get confused whenever reality wins. Still got some bite, though, so he shouldn’t be discounted quite yet.