How should [Richard Dawkins] not be ‘strident,’ to see his discipline being attacked and defamed? To see attempts being made to drive it out of the academy? To have pseudo-scientific garbage taught under the rubric of “equal time”? In the old days, the fundamentalists, if they could ban something, did ban it. Losing that battle, they decided to go for “equal time,” America-way fairness. Now they want it to be a civil liberties and free speech issue. They even got President Bush at one point to say, “Let’s teach the debate.” By all means let us teach the debate—but only in History class, or perhaps in Civics. What we’re not going to have is, “Well, boys and girls, hope you enjoyed the Chemistry period. Be ready for Alchemy when you come after the break.” Up with this we will not put. This nonsense will not pass.