Readers Write: Jews Say 'Feh' to Darwin

By Evan Derkacz, AlterNet. Posted January 10, 2006.

As regular AlterNet readers are well aware, few topics have the power to spleen readers like Bush, racism or religion. Mariah Blake's recent story on a debate within Florida's Orthodox Jewish community over intelligent design, Jews Say 'Feh' to Darwin, was certainly no exception, drawing over 200 comments, many of which were thoughtful, witty and wise. Others, not so much.

Because of the article's focus, and the tendency for any discussion of ID and evolution to devolve into the same old debate over which more accurately describes "reality," this Readers Write will focus on the issues directly raised in the article.

We've seen debate begin with the first line of a story, but seldom with the title, which several readers took issue with (conveniently, I happen to be the editor responsible). Alan Sharavsky, who kvells before kvetching, notes: "In your zeal to [be] brief and clever, your headline was completely misleading. Jews in general DO NOT endorse Intelligent Design. Orthodox Jews may, and perhaps not all of them"

Calling it "irresponsible journalism," ruthmarcia writes: "It is important to know that ONLY 5 PERCENT of American Jews consider themselves 'Orthodox' -- with an undetermined number of this 5 percent adhering to 'Intelligent Design.'"

gary_7vn responds at least as well as I could've: "At no point did my reading of the article lead me to conclude that 'all Jews' had abandoned evolutionary theory, and it was also pretty clear that even within the Orthodox community, ID is a very contentious theory. I think they did get it right, a headline is a headline, not the whole story."

AlterNet's own Josh Holland chimes in with a little headline writing 101: "Editors are looking for titles that attract your attention as a reader. How closely they reflect the substance of the article varies, but that's always going to be job #2."

"Which is not to dismiss your comment. It's just that this piece has a lot of traffic and a lot of discussion, so the headline was a good one as far as its purpose goes."

jfreed, writing "as a Jew," has mixed feelings about the fact that the ID debate is touching Judaism at all: "I'm kind of ashamed to hear about fellow Jews who support intelligent design On the other hand, I am relieved that the Orthodox community is debating the issue, rather than pushing one particular viewpoint. Debate (read: disagreement) over religious and ethical principles is a cornerstone of Judaism."

Arolem responds: "As a Jew, you might remember that we're not a centralized, single-voiced religious body. Rather than accept the headline's false premise that these few men represent all Jews, why not simply speak up for the overwhelming majority of us who do NOT support the teaching of ID in schools, public or Jewish?"

"As a Jew, I'm ashamed that you're ashamed."

Doubtom writes: "Most of the Jews I know are atheists, which might be the logical outcome of any group that dares to question all aspects of religion." Noting that religious bodies must constantly revise doctrine to suit the vicissitudes of contemporary culture, he writes: "Such elasticity in doctrine while very convenient for con men, should compel catholics to question the remainder of this doctrine, until finally, on some bright dawn, the revelation is completed; that all religions are pure bullshit, control devices of clever as well as pretentious con men. On that wonderful day, we can crawl out of our cave of ignorance and face reality."

TagsNOLA responds (albeit to an earlier iteration of that same argument): "Your question, 'Who knows were we might be today but for the stultifying effect off religion???' implies that it is religion that has been the root of all evil. Indeed, much evil has come from that quarter. But removal of the influence of organized religion did not make for particularly free or progressive societies in the USSR under Stalin, in the PRC under Mao or in DPRK under Kim Il Sung & Kim Jong Il. Notwithstanding removal of religion's 'stultifying effects' under these regimes, 'ignorance,' along with other evils, managed nevertheless to 'proliferate.'"

Evan Derkacz is AlterNet's associate editor and writer of Peek, the blog of blogs.

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