The backstory, which you’ll know if you’ve been reading here, is this: President Jo Ann Gora of Ball State University (BSU) in Muncie, Indiana convened an investigatory panel after the Freedom From Religion Foundation informed her that one of the science classes in the Physics and Astronomy Department was teaching ID creationism and plumping for Jesus. After the panel’s report, Gora then deep-sixed that course, taught by Professor Eric Hedin, because the course pushed not only intelligent design (“ID,” which Gora characterized, correctly, as not credible science), but also Christianity, whose teaching violated the First Amendment (BSU is a public university).

The creationist Discovery Institute (DI) of Seattle went into a tizzy, decrying this as “censorship” even though Gora said that ID could be discussed in philosophy or non-science classes. The DI then leaned on four Republican Indiana State legislators, who wrote a letter to Gora asking her to make public the records of the investigatory panel, and to investigate other possible instances of atheism being proselytized (one by a Catholic teacher!) at BSU. They (and the Discovery Institute) issued an implicit threat to BSU: do our bidding or we’ll cut your university funding. This was in the form of a letter to Gora, and the legislators demanded a written response by last Monday. (I suspect their letter was drafted by the DI.)

Now, according to the Muncie Star-Press, Gora has responded to the legislators individually, saying that a face-to-face meeting with the legislators would be better than a written response, and inviting them to visit BSU for a chat, lunch, and also a campus tour. I’ve obtained a copy of Gora’s letter, which is below.

The Discovery Institute sees this as their big opportunity to get ID taught in science classes in public universities (it’s illegal to do that in secondary schools, but the First Amendment may not apply so strictly in universities). Gora—who will retire in June—is a tough person, I think, and I doubt she’ll give in. I also doubt whether four Republican legislators, one of whom is a creationist who keeps trying to get school prayer bills passed in Indiana, can have significant influence in cutting funds to a state university because they don’t like what it’s teaching.

I will refrain from calling those legislators names, but I have to say that as sympathizers to creationism who are threatening university funding if ID is not given sympathetic treatment, they’re looking like_________ (you fill in the blank).

Professor Ceiling Cat’s Prediction: the Discovery Institute will lose this one; Gora will not back down and the Indiana legislature won’t go to the mat for creationism lest they look really stupid. And that means we can expect an endless series of whiny posts from DI flack David Klinghoffer, kvetching about censorship (I’m their “Censor of the Year,” an award which brings me endless pleasure) and calling me names.

But I have a question for the DI: when are you going to produce the scientific evidence for Intelligent Design that you’ve been saying is “right around the corner”? It’s been nearly a decade now, and you’ve come up with nothing. I’m waiting, but all I see is endless carping about evolution and complaining about ID being “censored.” If you have some science, bring it on! Otherwise, admit that you’re just a bunch of religious creationists who are trying to implement the Wedge Strategy. According to that strategy, ID should by now be well ensconced within mainstream science. LOL!