Politicans in Germany, more specifically in Hessen where I live, want to [add the biblical story about the creation of the world to biology class](http://www.welt.de/politik/article999798/Schoepfungsgeschichte_im_Biologieunterricht.html) (Link in German). At first glance their intentions are dressed up to look innocent or even productive: They are not trying to present Creationism as a competition to evolution, but rather that the biblical creation story “complements” evolution as an “allegorical explanation”.

Of course it’s easy to read between the lines, and the opposition has successfully done so: They criticize that the proposing politician (Karin Wolff) noted “strong analogies” between evolutionary theory and creationism. They also warned that the constitution of Hessen guarantees the freedom of religion, which includes the right for parents to excempt their children from religion class. Biology, on the other hand, is a mandatory class.

The attempt by Mrs. Wolff to establish religion in a science class can only be considered to be the first attempt to bring the “debate” over Intelligent Design to Germany. I put “debate” in quotes, because there really is no debate: Intelligent Design is religious, pseudo-scientific humbug and not a valid scientific theory. The “debate” only exists because Christian fundamentalists are trying to turn the USA into a religious nation.

We must guard against this in Germany, and in all of Europe: We must not allow the fundamentalists to start this unproductive campaign here. We must end this nonsense before it can take root. Therefore, I call upon Mrs. Wolff to immediately resign from her post.

A lot of people make such a fuss about freedom. Freedom to do whatever they please. But seriously, now, for a moment, have you ever considered what the consequences of freedom are? If you allow people to do as they please, law, order, and civilization will break down. Chaos and anarchy will invariably follow, and people will do all kinds of natsy, evil, and utterly immoral things.

Take Malaysia, for example. A good, modern nation. Quiet, civilized, and you never hear a bad thing about them. But now a tremendous scandal is rocking their peaceful nation: A [satirical image](http://www.tianchua.net/en/2007/07/02/french-dinner-for-3/) of the deputy prime minister has been published on the Internet. We cannot have that, and Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein [quickly pointed out](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6283056.stm) why this would set a very dangerous precedent if left unpunished:

>Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that if people are allowed to make fun of Malaysia’s leaders they would use the same freedoms to insult the Prophet Muhammad as, he said, is done in the West.

And we can’t have that now – if people start to criticize religion and begin to think for themselves then all that is good and holy and pure would break down. Clearly, the Malaysians, the Muslims, no, the entirety of mankind must be saved from this dangerous path! Of course, Mr. Hussein put his foot where his mouth is, and was himself criticized for this statement. Not, as you might hope because freedom of speech is sacred, but because the Prophet is sacred and mere humans aren’t:

>Mr Hishammuddin stressed that he was not trying to put Malaysia’s leaders on the same level as the Prophet.
>
>However senior members of the conservative Islamic party, PAS, said that by linking the two, he had in effect done just that.

So that just proved again that freedom of speech will always be used to insult the Prophet Mohammad. It would probably best just to forbid people from speaking altogether, lest they commit heresy.

The BBC has an article about [alien crabs invading Norway](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4775155.stm). The giant red king crabs were introduced to the Russian Barents Sea near the border with Norway in 1960; and since they have no natural enemies in the region they’ve spread wide and far. Norway’s fishermen are calling for increased quotas to fish the crabs, something that doesn’t sound like it would hurt at first glance.

However, the point of the story is that if you mess with nature you’re going to have unintended consequences. Do it very, very carefully.