Because I got busy, I never really responded to the Courage Monkey in our comment exchange on the case of a Canadian professor having a rejected federal grant request to investigate whether the notoriety of ID has proved detrimental to Canadians.
Based on part of his argument, I will amend my statement that this was probably not a money-grabbing publicity stunt, rather it is just a publicity stunt. He is correct. $40k (particularly Canadian) is not very much, and it probably wouldn't prove to be a very meaningful study. Having dealt indirectly with administrative boards similar in nature to this one, although nowhere near a federal level, and knowing their "zeal" for filling out their forms correctly, I take the board member at her word when she indicates the rejection was not based on a question of whether evolution is scientific "fact." Therefore, I still disagree respectfully that the board's rejection is proof (ironic, or otherwise) of the professor's thesis.
As to the assertion that my point about the legitimate science component of ID being rhetorical, I still disagree. However, the Monkey is not the first person to say something like that, so I think I am going to have to revisit this in the future.
[posted by e-mail]
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