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138-575: The origin of the amendment can be traced back to 2000, when leading intelligent design (ID) proponents through the Discovery Institute , a conservative Christian think tank that is the hub of the intelligent design movement , held a congressional briefing in Washington, D.C. , to promote their agenda to lawmakers. Sen. Rick Santorum was one of intelligent design's most vocal supporters on Capitol Hill. One result of this briefing

276-472: A false dichotomy in the premise that evidence against evolution constitutes evidence for design. In 1910, evolution was not a topic of major religious controversy in America, but in the 1920s, the fundamentalist–modernist controversy in theology resulted in fundamentalist Christian opposition to teaching evolution and resulted in the origins of modern creationism. As a result, teaching of evolution

414-533: A tautology ; in his view, these arguments amount to the claim that life is able to exist because the Universe is able to support life. The claim of the improbability of a life-supporting universe has also been criticized as an argument by lack of imagination for assuming no other forms of life are possible: life as we know it might not exist if things were different, but a different sort of life might exist in its place. A number of critics also suggest that many of

552-531: A business founded by their grandfather Andy Boehner in 1938. He has lived in Southwest Ohio his entire life. Boehner attended Cincinnati's Moeller High School and was a linebacker on the school's football team, where he was coached by future Notre Dame coach Gerry Faust . Graduating from Moeller in 1968, when United States involvement in the Vietnam War was at its peak, Boehner enlisted in

690-497: A closed meeting with congressional leaders, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke , and was urged to craft legislation to help financially troubled banks. That same day (trade effective the next day), Congressman Boehner cashed out of an equity mutual fund. On October 3, 2008, Boehner voted in favor of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), believing that

828-513: A conference titled "Sources of Information Content in DNA" in Tacoma , Washington . Stephen C. Meyer was at the conference, and later recalled that "The term intelligent design came up..." In December 1988 Thaxton decided to use the label "intelligent design" for his new creationist movement. Of Pandas and People was published in 1989, and in addition to including all the current arguments for ID,

966-776: A less than 1 in 10 chance of occurring by (natural) chance. Critics say that this renders the argument a tautology : complex specified information cannot occur naturally because Dembski has defined it thus, so the real question becomes whether or not CSI actually exists in nature. The conceptual soundness of Dembski's specified complexity/CSI argument has been discredited in the scientific and mathematical communities. Specified complexity has yet to be shown to have wide applications in other fields, as Dembski asserts. John Wilkins and Wesley R. Elsberry characterize Dembski's "explanatory filter" as eliminative because it eliminates explanations sequentially: first regularity, then chance, finally defaulting to design. They argue that this procedure

1104-530: A letter to this effect to the conference committee, urging that the amendment be stricken from the final bill, which it was, but intelligent design supporters on the conference committee preserved it in the bill's legislative history. While the amendment did not become law, a version of it appears in the Conference Report as an explanatory text about the legislative history and purposes of the bill. However, it has no legal force per se. The final text of

1242-550: A logical proof." Irreducible complexity has remained a popular argument among advocates of intelligent design; in the Dover trial , the court held that "Professor Behe's claim for irreducible complexity has been refuted in peer-reviewed research papers and has been rejected by the scientific community at large." In 1986, Charles B. Thaxton, a physical chemist and creationist, used the term "specified complexity" from information theory when claiming that messages transmitted by DNA in

1380-674: A misunderstanding as to whether the rules allowed Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño to vote. After the Republicans lost control of the House in the 2006 elections, the House Republican Conference chose Boehner as the minority leader. While as Majority Leader he was second-in-command behind Speaker Dennis Hastert, as minority leader he was the leader of the House Republicans. As such, he

1518-415: A new lexicon of creationist terminology to oppose evolution without using religious language. It was the first place where the phrase "intelligent design" appeared in its primary present use, as stated both by its publisher Jon A. Buell, and by William A. Dembski in his expert witness report for Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District . The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) has criticized

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1656-454: A non-existent national security policy that sheepishly dismisses the challenges of a post- 9/11 world and is all too willing to concede defeat on the battlefield in Iraq ." Boehner is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform 's Taxpayer Protection Pledge . In June 2013, Boehner labeled former NSA contractor Edward Snowden a traitor after his leaks went public. "I'm not qualified to debate

1794-428: A perfect Creation and proposes that designers do not necessarily produce the best design they can. Behe suggests that, like a parent not wanting to spoil a child with extravagant toys, the designer can have multiple motives for not giving priority to excellence in engineering. He says that "Another problem with the argument from imperfection is that it critically depends on a psychoanalysis of the unidentified designer. Yet

1932-559: A policymaker driven by small-government economic concerns, not theirs." Boehner opposes same-sex marriage , as evidenced by his vote for the Federal Marriage Amendment in both 2004 and 2006. In a letter to the Human Rights Campaign , Boehner stated, "I oppose any legislation that would provide special rights for homosexuals ... Please be assured that I will continue to work to protect the idea of

2070-519: A powerful force or intelligent being to help create them." Although Zogby polls commissioned by the Discovery Institute show more support, these polls suffer from considerable flaws, such as having a low response rate (248 out of 16,000), being conducted on behalf of an organization with an expressed interest in the outcome of the poll, and containing leading questions . The 2017 Gallup creationism survey found that 38% of adults in

2208-519: A practice that's gone on here for a long time that we're trying to stop and I know I'll never do it again." Boehner eventually led the effort to change House rules and prohibit campaign contributions from being distributed on the House floor. A September 2010 story in The New York Times said Boehner was "Tightly Bound to Lobbyists" and that "He maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of

2346-410: A proponent of Old Earth creationism , believes that the efforts of intelligent design proponents to divorce the concept from Biblical Christianity make its hypothesis too vague. In 2002, he wrote: "Winning the argument for design without identifying the designer yields, at best, a sketchy origins model. Such a model makes little if any positive impact on the community of scientists and other scholars. ...

2484-483: A real-life example of an extraterrestrial intelligent designer view that "make[s] many of the same bad arguments against evolutionary theory as creationists". The authoritative description of intelligent design, however, explicitly states that the Universe displays features of having been designed. Acknowledging the paradox , Dembski concludes that "no intelligent agent who is strictly physical could have presided over

2622-460: A reform candidate who wanted to reform the so-called " earmark " process and rein in government spending. In the second round of voting by the House Republican Conference, Boehner defeated Blunt with 122 to 109 votes. Blunt kept his previous position as majority whip, the no. 3 leadership positions in the House. There was some confusion on the first ballot for majority leader when the first count showed one more vote cast than Republicans present, due to

2760-556: A science curriculum. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has stated that "creationism, intelligent design, and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life or of species are not science because they are not testable by the methods of science ." The U.S. National Science Teachers Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science have termed it pseudoscience . Others in

2898-501: A scientific concept that has implications with which their personal religious beliefs happen to coincide. She writes that the leading proponents of intelligent design are closely allied with the ultra-conservative Christian Reconstructionism movement. She lists connections of (current and former) Discovery Institute Fellows Phillip E. Johnson, Charles B. Thaxton, Michael Behe, Richard Weikart , Jonathan Wells and Francis J. Beckwith to leading Christian Reconstructionist organizations, and

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3036-595: A substantial margin. Boehner's closest races were those in: During his freshman year, Boehner was a member of the Gang of Seven which was involved in bringing media attention to the House banking scandal . The group also investigated the Congressional Post Office , leading to the indictment of Congressman Dan Rostenkowski . Later, he, along with Newt Gingrich and several other Republican lawmakers,

3174-499: A system, rather than by adding them. This is sometimes called the "scaffolding objection" by an analogy with scaffolding, which can support an "irreducibly complex" building until it is complete and able to stand on its own. In the case of Behe's mousetrap analogy, it has been shown that a mousetrap can be created with increasingly fewer parts and that even a single part is sufficient. Behe has acknowledged using "sloppy prose", and that his "argument against Darwinism does not add up to

3312-410: Is natural theology , while still presenting ID as supporting the argument for the existence of God. While intelligent design proponents have pointed out past examples of the phrase intelligent design that they said were not creationist and faith-based, they have failed to show that these usages had any influence on those who introduced the label in the intelligent design movement. Variations on

3450-563: Is a Roman Catholic ; Paul Nelson supports young Earth creationism; and Jonathan Wells is a member of the Unification Church . Non-Christian proponents include David Klinghoffer , who is Jewish , Michael Denton and David Berlinski , who are agnostic , and Muzaffar Iqbal , a Pakistani-Canadian Muslim . Phillip E. Johnson has stated that cultivating ambiguity by employing secular language in arguments that are carefully crafted to avoid overtones of theistic creationism

3588-561: Is a form of creationism that lacks empirical support and offers no testable or tenable hypotheses, and is therefore not science. The leading proponents of ID are associated with the Discovery Institute , a Christian, politically conservative think tank based in the United States. Although the phrase intelligent design had featured previously in theological discussions of the argument from design , its first publication in its present use as an alternative term for creationism

3726-523: Is a necessary first step for ultimately reintroducing the Christian concept of God as the designer. Johnson explicitly calls for intelligent design proponents to obfuscate their religious motivations so as to avoid having intelligent design identified "as just another way of packaging the Christian evangelical message." Johnson emphasizes that "...the first thing that has to be done is to get the Bible out of

3864-726: Is an American retired politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party , he served 13 terms as the U.S. representative for Ohio's 8th congressional district from 1991 to 2015. The district included several rural and suburban areas near Cincinnati and Dayton . Boehner previously served as the House Minority Leader from 2007 until 2011, and House Majority Leader from 2006 until 2007. In January 2011, he

4002-493: Is based upon "foundational assumptions" of naturalism that were as much a matter of faith as those of "creation theory". In November of that year, Thaxton described his reasoning as a more sophisticated form of Paley's argument from design. At a conference that Thaxton held in 1988 ("Sources of Information Content in DNA"), he said that his intelligent cause view was compatible with both metaphysical naturalism and supernaturalism . Intelligent design avoids identifying or naming

4140-544: Is better able to explain the observed complexity, as is evident from the use of selective evolution to design certain electronic, aeronautic and automotive systems that are considered problems too complex for human "intelligent designers". Intelligent design proponents have also occasionally appealed to broader teleological arguments outside of biology, most notably an argument based on the fine-tuning of universal constants that make matter and life possible and that are argued not to be solely attributable to chance. These include

4278-558: Is flawed as a model for scientific inference because the asymmetric way it treats the different possible explanations renders it prone to making false conclusions. Richard Dawkins , evolutionary biologist and religion critic, argues in The God Delusion (2006) that allowing for an intelligent designer to account for unlikely complexity only postpones the problem, as such a designer would need to be at least as complex. Other scientists have argued that evolution through selection

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4416-611: Is not absolute, obviously. We continue to test theories. Over the centuries there were theories that were once presumed to be true and have been proven, through further revelation of scientific investigation and testing, to be not true. Santorum then went on to quote David DeWolf, a Senior Fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, as how the Institute's agenda was justified and would benefit students. Phillip E. Johnson , retired UC Berkeley law professor, leading proponent of intelligent design, founding advisor of

4554-502: Is part of God's general revelation ... Not only does intelligent design rid us of this ideology [ materialism ], which suffocates the human spirit, but, in my personal experience, I've found that it opens the path for people to come to Christ." Both Johnson and Dembski cite the Bible's Gospel of John as the foundation of intelligent design. Barbara Forrest contends such statements reveal that leading proponents see intelligent design as essentially religious in nature, not merely

4692-464: Is religious in nature and thus cannot be taught in public school science classrooms. Intelligent design is also presented as science and shares other arguments with "creation science" but avoids literal Biblical references to such topics as the biblical flood story or using Bible verses to estimate the age of the Earth . Barbara Forrest writes that the intelligent design movement began in 1984 with

4830-558: The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said, "On both sides of the aisle, Boehner earns praise for candor and an ability to listen." The Plain Dealer says Boehner "has perfected the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable." Boehner has been classified as a "hard-core conservative" by OnTheIssues . Although Boehner has a conservative voting record when he was running for House leadership, religious conservatives in

4968-560: The Discovery Institute contained the sentence "Undoubtedly this will change the face of the debate over the theories of evolution and intelligent design in America ... It also seems that the Darwinian monopoly on public science education, and perhaps the biological sciences in general, is ending." Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas cited the amendment as vindicating the 1999 Kansas school board decision (since overturned) to eliminate evolution questions from state tests. The House version of

5106-708: The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution . ID presents two main arguments against evolutionary explanations: irreducible complexity and specified complexity , asserting that certain biological and informational features of living things are too complex to be the result of natural selection. Detailed scientific examination has rebutted several examples for which evolutionary explanations are claimed to be impossible. ID seeks to challenge

5244-758: The Freedom to Farm Act that, among other provisions, revised and simplified direct payment programs for crops and eliminated milk price supports through direct government purchases. In the summer of 1997 several House Republicans, who saw Speaker Newt Gingrich 's public image as a liability, attempted to replace him as Speaker. The attempted "coup" began July 9 with a meeting between Republican conference chairman Boehner and Republican leadership chairman Bill Paxon of New York. According to their plan, House Majority Leader Dick Armey , House Majority Whip Tom DeLay , Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out. However, Armey balked at

5382-491: The United States Navy but was honorably discharged after eight weeks because of a bad back. He earned his B.A. in business administration from Xavier University in 1977, becoming the first person in his family to attend college, taking seven years as he held several jobs to pay for his education. Shortly after his graduation in 1977, Boehner accepted a position with Nucite Sales, a small sales business in

5520-434: The Universe , such as galaxies , to form. Thus, proponents argue, an intelligent designer of life was needed to ensure that the requisite features were present to achieve that particular outcome. Scientists have generally responded that these arguments are poorly supported by existing evidence. Victor J. Stenger and other critics say both intelligent design and the weak form of the anthropic principle are essentially

5658-470: The argument from design to explain complexity in nature as supposedly demonstrating the existence of God. The argument from design, also known as the teleological argument or "argument from intelligent design", has been presented by theologists for centuries. Thomas Aquinas presented ID in his fifth proof of God's existence as a syllogism . In 1802, William Paley 's Natural Theology presented examples of intricate purpose in organisms. His version of

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5796-445: The intelligent design movement (IDM), supported by the Discovery Institute, advocated inclusion of intelligent design in public school biology curricula. This led to the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial, which found that intelligent design was not science, that it "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents", and that the public school district's promotion of it therefore violated

5934-595: The intelligent designer —it merely states that one (or more) must exist—but leaders of the movement have said the designer is the Christian God. Whether this lack of specificity about the designer's identity in public discussions is a genuine feature of the concept – or just a posture taken to avoid alienating those who would separate religion from the teaching of science – has been a matter of great debate between supporters and critics of intelligent design. The Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District court ruling held

6072-460: The methodological naturalism inherent in modern science, though proponents concede that they have yet to produce a scientific theory. As a positive argument against evolution, ID proposes an analogy between natural systems and human artifacts , a version of the theological argument from design for the existence of God . ID proponents then conclude by analogy that the complex features, as defined by ID, are evidence of design. Critics of ID find

6210-464: The plastics industry . He was steadily promoted and eventually became president of the firm, resigning in 1990 when he was elected to Congress. From 1981 to 1984, Boehner served on the board of trustees of Union Township, Butler County, Ohio . He then served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1985 to 1990. In 1990, Boehner ran against incumbent Congressman Buz Lukens , who

6348-570: The watchmaker analogy argued that a watch has evidently been designed by a craftsman and that it is supposedly just as evident that the complexity and adaptation seen in nature must have been designed. He went on to argue that the perfection and diversity of these designs supposedly shows the designer to be omnipotent and that this can supposedly only be the Christian god . Like "creation science", intelligent design centers on Paley's religious argument from design, but while Paley's natural theology

6486-413: The 1993 revised edition of Of Pandas and People . Behe defines it as "a single system which is composed of several well-matched interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning". Behe uses the analogy of a mousetrap to illustrate this concept. A mousetrap consists of several interacting pieces—the base,

6624-536: The 2020 presidential election. Explaining his vote, he said: "At the end of the day, who gets nominated to the federal courts is the most important thing a President does." After the January 6 United States Capitol attack , Boehner called on Republicans to "awaken", saying: "The invasion of our Capitol by a mob, incited by lies from some entrusted with power, is a disgrace to all who sacrificed to build our Republic." Boehner later congratulated Biden on his victory after

6762-541: The Affordable Care Act and give it a different name as opposed to their stated intent to repeal and replace. On August 17, 2020, a spokesperson for Boehner stated that he would not endorse either President Trump or Joe Biden for the 2020 United States presidential election , saying: "The answer is no. I think he'd rather set himself on fire than get involved in the election. Nothing to see here." Despite his critiques, Boehner confirmed he voted for Trump in

6900-595: The American Dream". On November 17, 2010, Boehner was unanimously chosen by the House Republicans as their nominee for Speaker, all but assuring his formal election to the post when the new Congress convened with a Republican majority in January 2011. He received the gavel from outgoing Speaker Pelosi on Wednesday, January 5, 2011. He was the first Speaker from Ohio since fellow Republicans Nicholas Longworth (1925 to 1931) and J. Warren Keifer (1881 to 1883). He

7038-429: The Bible out of it'" and thereby unwittingly aided and abetted the modern rejection of the Bible. Wieland explained that "AiG's major 'strategy' is to boldly, but humbly, call the church back to its Biblical foundations ... [so] we neither count ourselves a part of this movement nor campaign against it." The unequivocal consensus in the scientific community is that intelligent design is not science and has no place in

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7176-539: The Congress: This is an amendment that is a sense of the Senate. It is a sense of the Senate that deals with the subject of intellectual freedom with respect to the teaching of science in the classroom, in primary and secondary education. It is a sense of the Senate that does not try to dictate curriculum to anybody; quite the contrary, it says there should be freedom to discuss and air good scientific debate within

7314-551: The Controversy " approach is viewed by some academics as a threat to academic freedom . Intelligent design Intelligent design ( ID ) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God , presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Proponents claim that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection ." ID

7452-467: The Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture , and "father" of the intelligent design movement, assisted Santorum in phrasing the amendment. Johnson says that he is the author of the original amendment. On June 14, 2001, the amendment was passed as part of the education funding bill by the Senate on a vote of 91-8. This was hailed as a major victory by proponents of intelligent design and other creationists ; for instance an email newsletter by

7590-593: The GOP expressed that they were not satisfied with his positions. According to The Washington Post : "From illegal immigration to sanctions on China to an overhaul of the pension system, Boehner, as chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, took ardently pro-business positions that were contrary to those of many in his party. Religious conservatives – examining his voting record – see him as

7728-636: The GOP needs to "move on" from Trump during a June interview with CBS News . Boehner's political memoir, titled On the House: A Washington Memoir , was published by St. Martin's Press on April 13, 2021. Excerpts began appearing early in April. In this memoir, he lambasts Cruz, Michele Bachmann , Sean Hannity , Rush Limbaugh , and Trump. It also covers how the Tea Party movement , which forced him into retirement, later morphed into Trumpism . In response to

7866-459: The House floor as House members were weighing how to vote on tobacco subsidies. In a 1996 documentary by PBS called The People and the Power Game , Boehner said "They asked me to give out a half dozen checks quickly before we got to the end of the month and I complied. And I did it on the House floor, which I regret. I should not have done so. It's not a violation of the House rules, but it's

8004-740: The House of Representatives in the 2010 elections, they would do whatever it takes to stop the act. One option would be to defund the administrative aspect of the Act, not paying "one dime" of the salaries of the workers who would administer the plan. He also led opposition to the 2009 stimulus and to Obama's first budget proposal, promoting instead an alternative economic recovery plan and a Republican budget (authored by Ranking Rep. Paul Ryan , R- WI ). He advocated for an across-the-board spending freeze , including entitlement programs . Boehner favored making changes in Social Security , such as by raising

8142-415: The Institute affirms its Christian, evangelistic orientation: Alongside a focus on influential opinion-makers, we also seek to build up a popular base of support among our natural constituency, namely, Christians. We will do this primarily through apologetics seminars. We intend these to encourage and equip believers with new scientific evidences that support the faith, as well as to "popularize" our ideas in

8280-526: The Institute claimed the increasing number of signatures indicated mounting doubts about evolution among scientists. The statement formed a key component of Discovery Institute campaigns to present intelligent design as scientifically valid by claiming that evolution lacks broad scientific support, with Institute members continuing to cite the list through at least 2011. As part of a strategy to counter these claims, scientists organised Project Steve , which gained more signatories named Steve (or variants) than

8418-583: The Institute's petition, and a counter-petition, " A Scientific Support for Darwinism ", which quickly gained similar numbers of signatories. Several surveys were conducted prior to the December 2005 decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover School District , which sought to determine the level of support for intelligent design among certain groups. According to a 2005 Harris poll , 10% of adults in the United States viewed human beings as "so complex that they required

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8556-489: The Santorum Amendment as included in the Conference Report reads: "The Conferees recognize that a quality science education should prepare students to distinguish the data and testable theories of science from religious or philosophical claims that are made in the name of science. Where topics are taught that may generate controversy (such as biological evolution), the curriculum should help students to understand

8694-502: The United States hold the view that "God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years" when asked for their views on the origin and development of human beings, which was noted as being at the lowest level in 35 years. Previously, a series of Gallup polls in the United States from 1982 through 2014 on "Evolution, Creationism, Intelligent Design" found support for "human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced formed of life, but God guided

8832-483: The amendment cite the stated agenda of the Discovery Institute's Phillip Johnson use of the " Wedge strategy " to "affirm the reality of God by challenging the domination of materialism and naturalism in the world of the mind" and thereby return Christian creationism in the guise of intelligent design to public school classrooms. Along with the Academic Bill of Rights , the Santorum Amendment and its " Teach

8970-407: The amendment was a federal education policy requiring inclusion of alternatives to evolution be taught, which it was not, in 2003 intelligent design's three most prominent legislators, John Boehner , Judd Gregg and Santorum provided a letter to the Discovery Institute giving it the go ahead to invoke the amendment as evidence of "Congress's rejection of the idea that students only need to learn about

9108-407: The assertion that the designer does not need to be explained as a thought-terminating cliché . In the absence of observable, measurable evidence, the question "What designed the designer?" leads to an infinite regression from which intelligent design proponents can only escape by resorting to religious creationism or logical contradiction. The intelligent design movement is a direct outgrowth of

9246-525: The bacterial flagellum of E. coli , the blood clotting cascade , cilia , and the adaptive immune system . Critics point out that the irreducible complexity argument assumes that the necessary parts of a system have always been necessary and therefore could not have been added sequentially. They argue that something that is at first merely advantageous can later become necessary as other components change. Furthermore, they argue, evolution often proceeds by altering preexisting parts or by removing them from

9384-459: The bill H.R. 1 did not contain the amendment, which meant that a conference committee had to decide its ultimate fate. Scientists and educators feared that by singling out biological evolution as very controversial, the amendment could create the impression that a substantial scientific controversy about evolution exists, leading to a lessening of academic rigor in science curricula. A coalition of 96 scientific and educational organizations signed

9522-426: The bill. Many Republicans were ready for a new House of Representatives Chairman following the 2014 mid-term elections. EMC Research reported 60% of participants in their telephone survey wanted a new chairman. In the end there were a total of 25 votes against Boehner; 29 were needed in order to choose a new speaker. Boehner responded by removing those who opposed him from influential committees. A profile in

9660-500: The book The Mystery of Life's Origin: Reassessing Current Theories , co-written by the creationist and chemist Charles B. Thaxton and two other authors and published by Jon A. Buell's Foundation for Thought and Ethics . In March 1986, Stephen C. Meyer published a review of this book, discussing how information theory could suggest that messages transmitted by DNA in the cell show "specified complexity" and must have been created by an intelligent agent. He also argued that science

9798-468: The book for presenting all of the basic arguments of intelligent design proponents and being actively promoted for use in public schools before any research had been done to support these arguments. Although presented as a scientific textbook, philosopher of science Michael Ruse considers the contents "worthless and dishonest". An American Civil Liberties Union lawyer described it as a political tool aimed at students who did not "know science or understand

9936-439: The broader culture. Barbara Forrest , an expert who has written extensively on the movement, describes this as being due to the Discovery Institute's obfuscating its agenda as a matter of policy. She has written that the movement's "activities betray an aggressive, systematic agenda for promoting not only intelligent design creationism, but the religious worldview that undergirds it." Although arguments for intelligent design by

10074-408: The catch, the spring and the hammer—all of which must be in place for the mousetrap to work. Removal of any one piece destroys the function of the mousetrap. Intelligent design advocates assert that natural selection could not create irreducibly complex systems, because the selectable function is present only when all parts are assembled. Behe argued that irreducibly complex biological mechanisms include

10212-442: The cell were specified by intelligence, and must have originated with an intelligent agent. The intelligent design concept of "specified complexity" was developed in the 1990s by mathematician, philosopher, and theologian William A. Dembski . Dembski states that when something exhibits specified complexity (i.e., is both complex and "specified", simultaneously), one can infer that it was produced by an intelligent cause (i.e., that it

10350-429: The classroom. In fact, students will do better and will learn more if there is this intellectual freedom to discuss. I will read this sense of the Senate. It is simply two sentences—frankly, two rather innocuous sentences—that hopefully this Senate will embrace: "It is the sense of the Senate that— It simply says there are disagreements in scientific theories out there that are continually tested. Our knowledge of science

10488-409: The controversy " campaign and their other related programs. Leading intelligent design proponents have made conflicting statements regarding intelligent design. In statements directed at the general public, they say intelligent design is not religious; when addressing conservative Christian supporters, they state that intelligent design has its foundation in the Bible. Recognizing the need for support,

10626-465: The controversy over evolution and creationism". One of the authors of the science framework used by California schools, Kevin Padian , condemned it for its "sub-text", "intolerance for honest science" and "incompetence". The term "irreducible complexity" was introduced by biochemist Michael Behe in his 1996 book Darwin's Black Box , though he had already described the concept in his contributions to

10764-482: The creationism of the 1980s. The scientific and academic communities, along with a U.S. federal court, view intelligent design as either a form of creationism or as a direct descendant that is closely intertwined with traditional creationism; and several authors explicitly refer to it as "intelligent design creationism". The movement is headquartered in the Center for Science and Culture, established in 1996 as

10902-651: The creationist insists that an intelligent design must have been there in the first place." The most common modern use of the words "intelligent design" as a term intended to describe a field of inquiry began after the United States Supreme Court ruled in June 1987 in the case of Edwards v. Aguillard that it is unconstitutional for a state to require the teaching of creationism in public school science curricula. A Discovery Institute report says that Charles B. Thaxton, editor of Pandas , had picked

11040-428: The creationist wing of the Discovery Institute to promote a religious agenda calling for broad social, academic and political changes. The Discovery Institute's intelligent design campaigns have been staged primarily in the United States, although efforts have been made in other countries to promote intelligent design. Leaders of the movement say intelligent design exposes the limitations of scientific orthodoxy and of

11178-541: The deficit with revenue increases. As Republican House Leader, Boehner was a Democratic target for criticism of Republican views and political positions. In July 2010, President Barack Obama began singling out Boehner for criticism during his speeches. In one speech, Obama mentioned Boehner's name nine times, and accused him of believing that police, firefighters, and teachers were jobs "not worth saving". Boehner made headlines in April 2016 when he referred to Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz as " Lucifer in

11316-529: The designer creates for a purpose, giving the example that in his view AIDS was created to punish immorality and is not caused by HIV , but such motives cannot be tested by scientific methods. Asserting the need for a designer of complexity also raises the question "What designed the designer?" Intelligent design proponents say that the question is irrelevant to or outside the scope of intelligent design. Richard Wein counters that "...scientific explanations often create new unanswered questions. But, in assessing

11454-543: The designer is often implicitly hypothesized to have intervened in a way that only a god could intervene. Dembski, in The Design Inference (1998), speculates that an alien culture could fulfill these requirements. Of Pandas and People proposes that SETI illustrates an appeal to intelligent design in science. In 2000, philosopher of science Robert T. Pennock suggested the Raëlian UFO religion as

11592-525: The discussion. ...This is not to say that the biblical issues are unimportant; the point is rather that the time to address them will be after we have separated materialist prejudice from scientific fact." The strategy of deliberately disguising the religious intent of intelligent design has been described by William A. Dembski in The Design Inference . In this work, Dembski lists a god or an " alien life force " as two possible options for

11730-531: The dominant scientific view of controversial topics". This letter was also sent to executives on the Ohio Board of Education and the Texas Board of Education, both of which were subject to Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns at the time. The position of scientists and science educators has been that although evolution has generated a great deal of political and philosophical debate it is, in

11868-774: The election of President George W. Bush , Boehner was elected as chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee , serving from 2001 until 2006. There he authored several reforms including the Pension Protection Act and a successful school choice voucher program for low-income children in Washington, D.C. Boehner and Senator Ted Kennedy authored the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 , which

12006-629: The enumerated powers grant Congress the authority to "purchase assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector." Boehner had been highly critical of several initiatives by the Democratic Congress and President Barack Obama , including the " cap and trade " plan that Boehner said would hurt job growth in his congressional district and elsewhere. He opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and said that, if Republicans took control of

12144-465: The evidence, "either life resulted not from intelligent design, but from evolution; or the intelligent designer is a cosmic prankster who designed everything to make it look as though it had evolved." Intelligent design proponents such as Paul Nelson avoid the problem of poor design in nature by insisting that we have simply failed to understand the perfection of the design. Behe cites Paley as his inspiration, but he differs from Paley's expectation of

12282-713: The extent of the funding provided the Institute by Howard Ahmanson, Jr. , a leading figure in the Reconstructionist movement. Not all creationist organizations have embraced the intelligent design movement. According to Thomas Dixon, "Religious leaders have come out against ID too. An open letter affirming the compatibility of Christian faith and the teaching of evolution, first produced in response to controversies in Wisconsin in 2004, has now been signed by over ten thousand clergy from different Christian denominations across America." Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe ,

12420-405: The flesh" in an interview at Stanford University . On May 12, after Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, Boehner's support for him (while distancing himself from Trump on several policies) became public; he also expressed satisfaction with Cruz not securing the nomination: "Thank God the guy from Texas didn't win." On February 23, 2017, Boehner predicted Republicans would "fix"

12558-404: The full range of scientific views that exist, why such topics may generate controversy, and how scientific discoveries can profoundly affect society." Despite the amendment lacking the weight of law, the conference report is constantly cited by the Discovery Institute and other ID supporters as providing federal sanction for intelligent design. In response to criticisms of the Institute stating that

12696-411: The goal of intelligent design is to cast creationism as a scientific concept. All leading intelligent design proponents are fellows or staff of the Discovery Institute and its Center for Science and Culture. Nearly all intelligent design concepts and the associated movement are the products of the Discovery Institute, which guides the movement and follows its wedge strategy while conducting its " teach

12834-504: The heading " A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism ", with the claim that listed scientists had signed this statement expressing skepticism: We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged. The ambiguous statement did not exclude other known evolutionary mechanisms, and most signatories were not scientists in relevant fields, but starting in 2004

12972-563: The highest point in his legislative career. Sources in his office indicated he was stepping aside in the face of increasing discord while trying to manage the passage of a continuing resolution to fund the government. Conservative opposition to funding Planned Parenthood as part of the resolution, and stronger threats to Boehner's leadership on account of the controversy, prompted the resignation. Originally, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California had intended to run for Speaker and

13110-504: The identity of the designer; however, in his book Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science and Theology (1999), Dembski states: Christ is indispensable to any scientific theory, even if its practitioners don't have a clue about him. The pragmatics of a scientific theory can, to be sure, be pursued without recourse to Christ. But the conceptual soundness of the theory can in the end only be located in Christ. Dembski also stated, "ID

13248-456: The intelligent design movement are formulated in secular terms and intentionally avoid positing the identity of the designer, the majority of principal intelligent design advocates are publicly religious Christians who have stated that, in their view, the designer proposed in intelligent design is the Christian conception of God . Stuart Burgess, Phillip E. Johnson, William A. Dembski, and Stephen C. Meyer are evangelical Protestants ; Michael Behe

13386-484: The latter to be the case. Since the Middle Ages , discussion of the religious "argument from design" or "teleological argument" in theology, with its concept of "intelligent design", has persistently referred to the theistic Creator God. Although ID proponents chose this provocative label for their proposed alternative to evolutionary explanations, they have de-emphasized their religious antecedents and denied that ID

13524-549: The mistake and correct it, or be prepared to face tough scrutiny beginning in January when the new majority in the House moves [in]." On January 1, 2013, after passing the fiscal cliff deal , Boehner adjourned the House without passing the $ 60 million Hurricane Sandy relief bill . Some Representatives, especially from the Northeast and including Republicans as well as Democrats, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie harshly criticized Boehner. Boehner later promised to pass

13662-582: The most powerful Republican. As minority leader, Boehner served as an ex officio member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence . The Republicans won a majority in the House of Representatives during the 2010 midterm elections, with a net gain of 63 seats. During his solemn victory speech, Boehner broke into tears when talking about "economic freedom, individual liberty and personal responsibility...I hold these values dear because I've lived them...I've spent my whole life chasing

13800-683: The nation's biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R.J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS.". In November 2010, Boehner, along with Minority Whip Eric Cantor, called for the cancellation of an exhibit in the Smithsonian 's National Portrait Gallery after he learned that it featured a video by David Wojnarowicz , A Fire in My Belly , that contained an image of a crucifix with ants crawling on it. Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said, "Smithsonian officials should either acknowledge

13938-623: The nearest mainland, even when the environments are very different" as evidence that species were not placed there by a designer. Previously, in Darwin's Black Box , Behe had argued that we are simply incapable of understanding the designer's motives, so such questions cannot be answered definitively. Odd designs could, for example, "...have been placed there by the designer for a reason—for artistic reasons, for variety, to show off, for some as-yet-undetected practical purpose, or for some unguessable reason—or they might not." Coyne responds that in light of

14076-404: The origin of the universe or the origin of life." The leading proponents have made statements to their supporters that they believe the designer to be the Christian God, to the exclusion of all other religions. Beyond the debate over whether intelligent design is scientific, a number of critics argue that existing evidence makes the design hypothesis appear unlikely, irrespective of its status in

14214-550: The past and has failed, and it will fail today. The reason it won't work is because it is not the Biblical method." According to Morris: "The evidence of intelligent design ... must be either followed by or accompanied by a sound presentation of true Biblical creationism if it is to be meaningful and lasting." In 2002, Carl Wieland , then of Answers in Genesis (AiG), criticized design advocates who, though well-intentioned, "'left

14352-633: The phrase appeared in Young Earth creationist publications: a 1967 book co-written by Percival Davis referred to "design according to which basic organisms were created". In 1970, A. E. Wilder-Smith published The Creation of Life: A Cybernetic Approach to Evolution . The book defended Paley's design argument with computer calculations of the improbability of genetic sequences, which he said could not be explained by evolution but required "the abhorred necessity of divine intelligent activity behind nature", and that "the same problem would be expected to beset

14490-400: The phrase up from a NASA scientist. In two successive 1987 drafts of the book, over one hundred uses of the root word "creation", such as "creationism" and "Creation Science", were changed, almost without exception, to "intelligent design", while "creationists" was changed to "design proponents" or, in one instance, " cdesign proponentsists " [ sic ]. In June 1988, Thaxton held

14628-487: The previous year. The third law firm selected finally filed the suit in November 2014, after Boehner criticized Obama's unilateral moves on immigration policy. On September 25, 2015, Boehner announced that he would step down as Speaker and resign from Congress at the end of October 2015. Boehner's resignation took place after Pope Francis ' address to Congress the day before , an event considered by Boehner personally as

14766-531: The process" of between 31% and 40%, support for "God created human beings in pretty much their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so" varied from 40% to 47%, and support for "human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in the process" varied from 9% to 19%. The polls also noted answers to a series of more detailed questions. John Boehner John Andrew Boehner ( / ˈ b eɪ n ər / BAY -nər ; born November 17 , 1949)

14904-622: The proposal to make Paxon the new Speaker and told his chief of staff to warn Gingrich about the coup. On July 11, Gingrich met with senior Republican leadership to assess the situation. He explained that under no circumstance would he step down. If he was voted out, there would be a new election for Speaker, which would allow for the possibility that Democrats – along with dissenting Republicans – would vote in Dick Gephardt as Speaker. On July 16, Paxon offered to resign from his post, feeling that he had not handled

15042-399: The reasons that a designer would or would not do anything are virtually impossible to know unless the designer tells you specifically what those reasons are." This reliance on inexplicable motives of the designer makes intelligent design scientifically untestable. Retired UC Berkeley law professor, author and intelligent design advocate Phillip E. Johnson puts forward a core definition that

15180-748: The relationship between the designer behind nature and the intelligently designed part of nature known as man." In a 1984 article as well as in his affidavit to Edwards v. Aguillard , Dean H. Kenyon defended creation science by stating that "biomolecular systems require intelligent design and engineering know-how", citing Wilder-Smith. Creationist Richard B. Bliss used the phrase "creative design" in Origins: Two Models: Evolution, Creation (1976), and in Origins: Creation or Evolution (1988) wrote that "while evolutionists are trying to find non-intelligent ways for life to occur,

15318-517: The retirement age to 70 for people who have at least 20 years until retirement, as well as tying cost-of-living increases to the consumer price index rather than wage inflation , and limiting payments to those who need them. In 2011, Boehner called the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act "one of our highest legislative priorities." In 2013, Boehner led his caucus in a strategy to freeze Defense spending in order to avoid reducing

15456-771: The science over climate change ", Boehner said at a press conference on May 29, 2014, at which he criticized proposed federal regulations on coal-fired power plants . In 2011, Boehner opposed the NATO-led military intervention in Libya . In 2015, Boehner supported the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen , saying: "I applaud the Saudis for taking this action to protect their homeland and to protect their neighborhood." On September 18, 2008, Congressman Boehner attended

15594-546: The scientific community have denounced its tactics, accusing the ID movement of manufacturing false attacks against evolution, of engaging in misinformation and misrepresentation about science, and marginalizing those who teach it. More recently, in September 2012, Bill Nye warned that creationist views threaten science education and innovations in the United States. In 2001, the Discovery Institute published advertisements under

15732-404: The scientific fields, regarded as fact . They said that the amendment creates a misperception that evolution is not fully accepted in the scientific community , and thus weakens science curricula. As a response, a coalition of 96 scientific and educational organizations wrote a letter to the conference committee, urging that the amendment be stricken from the final bill. In addition, opponents of

15870-521: The secular philosophy of naturalism . Intelligent design proponents allege that science should not be limited to naturalism and should not demand the adoption of a naturalistic philosophy that dismisses out-of-hand any explanation that includes a supernatural cause. The overall goal of the movement is to "reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview " represented by the theory of evolution in favor of "a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions". Phillip E. Johnson stated that

16008-488: The situation correctly. Paxon was the only unelected member of the leadership group, having been appointed to his position by Gingrich. After Republicans lost seats in the 1998 elections , the House Republican leadership underwent a reorganization. Armey and DeLay kept their positions, but Gingrich was replaced by Dennis Hastert , and Boehner lost his position as conference chairman to J.C. Watts . Following

16146-412: The stated variables appear to be interconnected and that calculations made by mathematicians and physicists suggest that the emergence of a universe similar to ours is quite probable. The contemporary intelligent design movement formulates its arguments in secular terms and intentionally avoids identifying the intelligent agent (or agents) they posit. Although they do not state that God is the designer,

16284-573: The time is right for a direct approach, a single leap into the origins fray. Introducing a biblically based, scientifically verifiable creation model represents such a leap." Likewise, two of the most prominent YEC organizations in the world have attempted to distinguish their views from those of the intelligent design movement. Henry M. Morris of the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) wrote, in 1999, that ID, "even if well-meaning and effectively articulated, will not work! It has often been tried in

16422-409: The traditional family as one of the fundamental tenets of western civilization ." On May 25, 2006, Boehner issued a statement defending his agenda and attacking his "Democrat friends" such as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi . Boehner said regarding national security that voters "have a choice between a Republican Party that understands the stakes and is dedicated to victory and a Democrat Party with

16560-428: The value of an explanation, these questions are not irrelevant. They must be balanced against the improvements in our understanding which the explanation provides. Invoking an unexplained being to explain the origin of other beings (ourselves) is little more than question-begging . The new question raised by the explanation is as problematic as the question which the explanation purports to answer." Richard Dawkins sees

16698-477: The values of fundamental physical constants , the relative strength of nuclear forces , electromagnetism , and gravity between fundamental particles , as well as the ratios of masses of such particles. Intelligent design proponent and Center for Science and Culture fellow Guillermo Gonzalez argues that if any of these values were even slightly different, the universe would be dramatically different, making it impossible for many chemical elements and features of

16836-556: The vote was certified. He has frequently reiterated his feelings, on one account noting how Trump "Incited That Bloody Insurrection", and called Ted Cruz "a reckless asshole who thinks he is smarter than everyone else". Boehner said that Trump should "consider resigning" and that President Trump had "violated his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Boehner continued to express his disdain for Trump through 2023, where he stated his belief that

16974-448: The world of science. For example, Jerry Coyne asks why a designer would "give us a pathway for making vitamin C , but then destroy it by disabling one of its enzymes" (see pseudogene ) and why a designer would not "stock oceanic islands with reptiles, mammals, amphibians, and freshwater fish, despite the suitability of such islands for these species". Coyne also points to the fact that "the flora and fauna on those islands resemble that of

17112-413: Was also the first Speaker who has served both as majority and minority floor leader for his party since Texas Democrat Sam Rayburn . As Speaker, he was still the leader of the House Republicans. However, by tradition, he normally did not take part in debate, although he had the right to do so, and rarely voted from the floor. He was not a member of any House committees during his Speakership. Boehner

17250-514: Was born in Reading, Ohio , the son of Mary Anne ( née  Hall ; 1926–1998) and Earl Henry Boehner (1925–1990), the second of twelve children. His father was of German descent and his mother had German and Irish ancestry. He grew up in modest circumstances, sharing one bathroom with his eleven siblings in a two-bedroom house in Cincinnati. He started working at his family's bar at age 8,

17388-539: Was designed) rather than being the result of natural processes. He provides the following examples: "A single letter of the alphabet is specified without being complex. A long sentence of random letters is complex without being specified. A Shakespearean sonnet is both complex and specified." He states that details of living things can be similarly characterized, especially the "patterns" of molecular sequences in functional biological molecules such as DNA. Dembski defines complex specified information (CSI) as anything with

17526-415: Was effectively suspended in U.S. public schools until the 1960s, and when evolution was then reintroduced into the curriculum, there was a series of court cases in which attempts were made to get creationism taught alongside evolution in science classes. Young Earth creationists (YECs) promoted "creation science" as "an alternative scientific explanation of the world in which we live". This frequently invoked

17664-519: Was first elected Speaker and then re-elected twice. Boehner resigned from the House of Representatives in October 2015 due to opposition from within the Republican conference . In September 2016, Squire Patton Boggs , the third-largest lobbying firm in the U.S., announced that Boehner would join their firm. It was also announced that he would become a board member of Reynolds American . Boehner

17802-459: Was in Of Pandas and People , a 1989 creationist textbook intended for high school biology classes. The term was substituted into drafts of the book, directly replacing references to creation science and creationism , after the 1987 Supreme Court 's Edwards v. Aguillard decision barred the teaching of creation science in public schools on constitutional grounds . From the mid-1990s,

17940-456: Was narrowly re-elected as Speaker of the House on January 3, 2013, at the beginning of the 113th United States Congress . He received 220 votes, needing 214 to win. In July 2014, Boehner moved forward on a lawsuit to force the President to impose penalties on companies who failed to provide healthcare coverage for their employees. Boehner had pressed for legislation to delay this mandate

18078-585: Was one of the engineers of the Contract with America in 1994 that politically helped Republicans during the 1994 elections during which they won the majority in Congress for the first time in four decades. From 1995 to 1999, Boehner served as House Republican Conference Chairman , making him fourth-ranking House Republican behind Gingrich, Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay . During his time as Conference Chairman, Boehner championed

18216-411: Was open to deistic design through God-given laws, intelligent design seeks scientific confirmation of repeated supposedly miraculous interventions in the history of life. "Creation science" prefigured the intelligent design arguments of irreducible complexity, even featuring the bacterial flagellum . In the United States, attempts to introduce "creation science" into schools led to court rulings that it

18354-827: Was seen as the prohibitive favorite. On October 8, 2015, McCarthy abruptly rescinded his candidacy, citing that he felt he could not effectively lead a fractured Republican Conference. After McCarthy's announcement, Boehner stayed on as Speaker until a successor was chosen. After initially turning down requests from Republican leaders, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Ways and Means Committee chairman and 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee , ran for Speaker with Boehner's blessing. On October 29, 2015, in his final act as Speaker, Boehner presided over Ryan's election. Boehner's resignation from Congress became official on October 31, 2015, at 11:59 p.m. In June 1995, Boehner distributed campaign contributions from tobacco industry lobbyists on

18492-479: Was signed by President George W. Bush in 2002. Boehner said that it was his "proudest achievement" in two decades of public service. Boehner was friends with Kennedy, also a Catholic, and every year they chaired fundraisers for cash-strapped Catholic schools. After DeLay resigned as majority leader in 2005, Boehner, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri , and Representative John Shadegg of Arizona , all sought to become Majority Leader. Boehner campaigned as

18630-481: Was that in 2001 Senator Santorum proposed incorporating pro-intelligent design language, crafted in part by the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture , into the No Child Left Behind bill. It portrayed evolution as generating "much continuing controversy" and not widely accepted, using the Discovery Institute's Teach the Controversy method. In proposing the amendment, Santorum addressed

18768-528: Was the Republican nominee for Speaker in 2006 and 2008, losing both times to Nancy Pelosi . According to the 2008 Congress.org Power Ranking, Boehner was the 6th most powerful congressman (preceded by Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander M. Levin , Dean of the House John Dingell , and Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey , all Democrats) and

18906-403: Was the first book to make systematic use of the terms "intelligent design" and "design proponents" as well as the phrase "design theory", defining the term intelligent design in a glossary and representing it as not being creationism. It thus represents the start of the modern intelligent design movement . "Intelligent design" was the most prominent of around fifteen new terms it introduced as

19044-468: Was under fire for having a sexual relationship with a minor. He was all but unknown when he entered a Republican primary that included Lukens and former Congressman Tom Kindness . Despite being dramatically outspent, Boehner won with 49 percent of the vote. He then handily beat his Democratic opponent, Greg Jolivette , in the November election . He was subsequently re-elected to Congress 12 times, each by

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