Seshna, you'll be pleased to know your guitar arrived in one piece. I know you have woken late at nights pining, and the wait is almost over - I have her, and have taken it on myself to put her through her paces.

Of course I've spent nights playing, hefting and standing in front of the mirror. I've plugged her in and strummed away many an hour. I've carefully polished the metal bridge plate so I could see the distortions the instrument of a Rock God would lend my reflection. But my concience would not allow me to let this guitar go without passing at least once through the careful rigors of a thoroughly planned stress-test Rock Gauntlet.

Enter Director Bob

The stress a full Rock Gauntlet puts on the body is not for the faint of heart. Not certain I could handle it, I enlisted the help of the Director 'Energiser Bunny' Bob[1]

You'll be pleased to know, Seshna, that the neck can withstand almost any strain you could put on it without warping permanently. Indeed, Bob here had a hernia before he managed to do serious truss-rod warping, and the neck didn't even fully separate from the body!

Of course we finished with the Hendrix Barbeque. Once again brother, flying colours. Only two strings snapped, and the face plate, while fused to the body and bubbling, did not actually drip from the guitar. This damaged my lounge room rug though, so we'll have to work out a payment plan for you (with brotherly low interest rates, never fear.)

Footnotes:
[1] I made this name up just now, though I'm certain many would vouch for him being an Energiser Bunny in many capacities.

The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance. - Herodotus

Intelligent Design is at the center of some steaming controversies in the U.S. (and no doubt soon in Australia) at the moment[1], and I think it's probably because people are less intellectually equipped to fend off the quasi-theologists.

Beginning

In summary: certain Christian groups claim that schools should recognise Creationism (the theory that humans are a result of an intelligent designer's intervention) as an alternative to the popular Darwinist theory of evolution.

The truth is that science and theology are not necessarily conflicting schools of thought. In fact, science and theology aren't even in the same playing field. In particular, the argument for natural selection doesn't preclude the existence of God. You'll find A Brief History of Time sprinkled very liberally with Hawking's assurances that God can exist alongside the theories espoused therein, and further, how theology and science have no business elbowing each other at all[3].

Middle
What is interesting is what seems to be a revisitation of anti-Darwinism, in the form of the 'controversies' surrounding Intelligent Design. ID proponents claim that the controversies are that ID is not represented in the schooling system. Modern scientists claim that ID is not a science at all[4] (and therefore there is no controversy), and that the supposed controversy is a veiled attempt to put God (one God in particular) back into the school agenda.

This speaks poorly of the level of education in schools, I think. In its most honest form, this is a group of people saying that Darwinism is an unlikely theory that is propagated by scientists because they have no better answers to Creationism. In essence, it is supposed to be a global scientific conspiracy. The fluff about schooling not providing an ample platter of scientific alternatives is merely a sugary coating that makes this pill easier for the central-American populace to swallow.

My thesis here is basically that this 'controversy' is a by-product of the general public (at least in the U.S.) getting less educated. The more confounding Darwin's theory is to the general population, the easier it will be for ID proponents to put forth their 'scientific conspiracy' theories. How many people will be taken by this idea, for example, when 20% of U.S. adults think the Sun revolves around the Earth, and fewer than a third know that heredity involves DNA[5]?

I'm sure there has always been body of people trying to get God incorporated into schools' agenda. The ID debate is merely these people taking advantage of a canny populace to dishonestly progress their agenda by attempting to discredit Darwin's theory of evolution. It is, in effect, a contrived debate; even if the theory of evolution was unlikely, it is still the prevailing scientific theory, and as such merits a place in the science class.

End
So here's the question: New revolutionary theories can be expected to be denounced by reigning powers that have an interest in maintaining the status quo. But what exactly does it mean when old skepticisms come back? Is it due to a lower rate of education, or could it be a rise in religious fundamentalism? Who's going to be next to try to seize the opportunity afforded by a dumber population?

Or has it already happened? The scientific community still seems to be at odds with a large portion of the general populace over the issue of whether human pollutants have lead to global warming; this skepticism must be coming from somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the countries most receptive to the "ID in schools" proponents provide the surest footholds for compromised conservative critics of global warming[6], or perhaps those who believe that middle-eastern nations are inherently more inclined towards terrorism.

Update 2005-09-30 - Controversy! Pennsylvania parents take their school to court for including ID in the science curriculum.

Footnotes:
[1] Controversy? Anti-evolution stickers on schoolbooks removed, Bush's endorsement, and Australia follows?!?
[2] Pastafarianism has gained followers as a result of this debate. Visit http://www.venganza.org/index.htm for more information/merchandise.
[3] Hawking explains that if there were a perfect creator who, for whatever reason, provided us with scientific evidence that allowed us to arrive at these conclusions (e.g., Darwinism) scientifically, one could not use science to prove that God exists, as his observed evidence is by definition infallible. Similarly, theologists cannot expect to disprove prevailent scientific theories.
[4] See http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge166.html for an essay on why ID is not a legitimate school of science.
[5] New York Times - Scientific Savvy? In U.S., Not Much
[6] This Boston Globe article not only links Hurricane Katrina with Global Warming, but outlines how much energy companies have spent to de-educate people to these links.