This is certainly an interesting little tidbit that I missed the first time around. A couple months ago, in Pennsylvania, a conference was held called "When Christians and Cultures Clash.” One of the presenters there was an attorney named Randy Wenger, who is affiliated with the Alliance Defense Fund, the religious right legal group behind the frivolous Steven Williams lawsuit in Cupertino, California and a close ally of the Discovery Institute. Wenger is also the attorney who filed amicus briefs on behalf of the DI and the Foundation for Thought and Ethics in the Dover case. Listen to what he had to say at this conference (link no longer works, unfortunately):
But even with God’s blessing, it’s helpful to consult a lawyer before joining the battle, the speakers said.
For instance, the Dover area school board might have had a better case for the intelligent design disclaimer they inserted into high school biology classes had they not mentioned a religious motivation at their meetings, Wenger said.
“Give us a call before you do something controversial like that,” he said.
“I think we need to do a better job at being clever as serpents,” Wenger added.
Isn't that interesting? The serpent, of course, is very important in Christian thinking as a symbol for lying. The serpent in the garden of Eden is said to have lied to Eve to get her to eat the apple. And here an ADF attorney is encouraging Christians to be deceitful in hiding their motivations for the good of their legal strategy. In other words, he wants them to lie. This comes as no surprise to those of us who have folllowed the ID movement over the years. We've documented their obvious attempts to cover up their past statements and wish them away ad nauseum. But it's nice to see one of them come right out and admit it like that.
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What is alluded to is actually in the Gospels, Matthew 10:16...
It's still not a justification for lying, though it seems that some see it that way.
The Steven Williams case (as you know) made me blow a gasket. Why? I'm not a parent in the district, I don't even live in the county....
But in California, our schools just don't have enough money to do the job posed by NCLB *and* the *other* incredible burden posed by the feds sans funding: educating kids who do not speak English, whose parents are also undereducated. (Why is this a fed burden? Because the federal government should be making sure the border isn't porous. They have failed miserably, and failed in such a way that whole families are coming to the US and staying forever, rather than having a de-facto guest worker program for young adult males, who will return to Latin America.)
Actually, I do not hold an animus towards Williams. As I read the case, he was a naive person who got caught up by a bigger, more sophisticated group: The Alliance Defense Fund, who saw a case that could generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations. Williams just provided an excuse to get the bus out of the barn, and then got on the bus; it was the ADF who bought the bus, fueled it, and drove on their merry way. I wish there was a way to force the ADF to reimburse the Cupertino school district for the entire cost of the Williams debacle. That would put a spoke in the wheel of these frivolous, baseless suits.
Hello Ed,
I believe you are way off base on this one. The Biblical imagery for "serpent" depends on the context of the passage (as it would in virtually any form of literature). Certainly the serpent, as related in Genesis 3, is found to be a liar; yet, the word serpent appears many other times in the Bible, and not every instance of its use attaches the same meaning as that of Genesis 3. Besides illustrating deceit, the serpent is also shown as being shrewd, potent, and skillful; as a parody of an Egyptian deity; as representative of a curse and an object of redemption; etc. The ADF attorney's comment appears to be referencing the saying, "be as clever as a serpent, and as harmless as a dove." While a liar may certainly be clever, being clever does not make one a liar. Also, as Mr. Elsberry states, the comment and saying appear to be a paraphrase of what is found in the 10th chapter of Matthew in which Jesus tells his disciples, "I am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."
Now the ADF attorney may, in fact, want other Christians to be deceitful; but such a fact is not evident based on the reasons you give.
- Rusty Lopez
Rusty-
If a school board seeks to pass a policy for religious reasons (because they think that evolution conflicts with their religious views and therefore they want their religious views to be presented to balance them off) and they are advised to cover up that motivation, is that not encouraging them to be dishonest?
Hi Ed,
My beef with your post has to do with the argument you present. If I understand you correctly, it goes something like this: 1) Christian tells fellow Christians to be "clever as a serpent", 2) In the Bible, "serpent" equates to deceit, 3) Christian is telling other Christians to lie.
I'm simply stating that your progression is incorrect. The saying in question refers to a serpent being "clever." The root of the saying, the Matthew account, also translates as the serpent being considered "wise." I've also mentioned that, in the Bible, the serpent is portrayed as "shrewd." Do a definition comparison of "clever" and "wise" and "shrewd" will show up. To attach "lie" or "deceit" with the saying "clever as a serpent," in it's root context, is incorrect.
As a debate champion, poker player, and potential lawyer, you should be very familiar with how careful one must be when approaching their opponent. Surely you must agree that the most skilled players, in those arenas, are those who have thought long and hard on their tactics and stategies? Indeed, being careful not to "show their hand" at the wrong time?
Now, as a Christian, I certainly believe that such "cleverness" should not normally include willful deceit*. But, as I stated, that wasn't the gist of my criticism of your post.
With regards to your question, as you've framed it, I would say that it would be dishonest. Of course, some of the key phrases in your question are "for religious reasons," "want their religious views," and "cover up." Rephrase the question in a more objective manner and the "dishonest" conclusion fizzles away. Note that I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with what this board or the ADF has done simply because I haven't been following the story. Again, that wasn't the point of my original comment.
Rusty Lopez
* What I mean by including "normally" is that I believe there are certain circumstances that justify willful deceit (e.g., the Allied forces engaged in the willful deception of the Nazi forces, prior to D-Day, in order to insure the success of the invasion). I don't believe that the evolution/creation debate justifies willful deceit by Christians.
Rusty-
The "clever as serpents" thing was actually a minor part of my argument. Even if you take out the last line of what Wegner said, my argument remains substantially the same:
Give them a call because they will tell you to cover up the honest motivations you would otherwise have expressed. The fact is that most people who oppose evolution do so solely on religious grounds. The Dover school board clearly was motivated by the desire to protect their religious views from what they viewed (incorrectly, I might add) as the anti-religious theory of evolution. They expressed that motivation clearly in the meetings that led up to the adoption of the policy. There is no doubt, given the Lemon test, that the policy would more easily pass a court test if, instead of expressing their religious motivations, the board had concealed them. And here is an attorney recommending that they do exactly that. Regardless of the Biblical allusion to serpents, how is that not encouraging a deceitful coverup?
Hi Ed,
Sorry for the duplicate comments (which you may have corrected by now)... I kept getting an error message that my comment did not post.
Whether or not the "clever as serpents" thing was a minor point of your argument, it remains seriously flawed. That is what my original comment was addressing.
Rusty Lopez
Rusty-
You may well be right about the Biblical allusion being inaccurate. But as I said, the point of the post was that the ADF is essentially encouraging school boards to be dishonest in order to achieve their political goals. Whether the comparison to serpents in the bible is valid or not, my argument remains true.
You're both wrong about Genesis. In Gen 2:16-17, God lied to Adam:
In Gen 3:1-5, the serpent told the truth to Eve:
To summarise the rest of the story, they ate the fruit, they became able to distinguish good from evil, and Adam didn't die that very day, he lived for several hundred years more.