Unintelligent debate: time to leave behind the ID Twilight Zone.

Always on shaky ground scientifically, advocates of the intelligent-design movement officially entered the Twilight Zone after a federal court ruled against them in Dover, Pa. It looks like they'll be taking up permanent residence there.

Appearing on Fox News Channel's "Hannity and Colmes" Dec. 22, prominent ID advocate Michael Behe was pressed by co-host Alan Colmes to identify who the "designer" could be if not God.

Behe replied, "Well, you know, other things that would strike us as, you know, pretty exotic, you know space aliens or time travelers or something strange."

You know, that is pretty strange. Behe and his ID cohorts have been shopping space aliens around as possible designer candidates for some time. The time travelers are relatively new contenders.

Of course all of this begs a question: Who designed the space aliens and the time travelers? The fact is, Behe has no plausible candidates for the designer other than God. The fact that he has to resort to nonsense like this proves it. Either that or Behe has simply overdosed on too many "Star Trek" reruns.

Out in Lebec, Calif., creationist advocate and soccer coach Sharon Lemburg had her own brush with the paranormal. Lemburg conceived a course she called "Philosophy of Design." It was really traditional creationism, based mainly on a series of videos produced by fundamentalist Christian ministries that claim to be scientific groups.

In an attempt to claim that the course was balanced, Lemburg proposed having "Francis Krich" as a speaker. She apparently meant Francis Crick, who helped unravel the secrets of DNA. There is one problem: Crick died in July of 2004. (Perhaps Behe's time travelers could go pick him up and bring him to class.)

ID advocates seem to be increasingly desperate. Slapped down by the courts, they continue to promote their ideas through the media via slick public-relations campaigns. None of this is science, and they know it. The more they talk about little men from Mars and time-traveling cell biologists, the more they discredit themselves. It's time to stop pretending they even have a point.

Americans United has covered the modern ID movement since its inception. When people like Phillip Johnson discuss ID before friendly Religious Right audiences, they use the language of tent revivals, not the laboratory. Johnson, Behe and the rest of the ID crowd seem to believe that evolution is inherently anti-religious. That's nonsense.

During the Dover trial, AU put scientists on the stand who explained why evolution does not conflict with faith. Among them was Dr. Kenneth R. Miller of Brown University, author of a highly acclaimed biology textbook that emphasizes evolution.

"I deeply care about my own religious beliefs and my faith, and I also deeply care about science, and I wanted to explain to a general audience how I understand the intersection of those two beliefs, not just to reconcile them, but to confirm and enhance both beliefs," Miller said.

Amen. In that brief statement, Miller said more of value and made more sense than Behe and the rest of the ID gang--including their space aliens and time traveling pals--have in years.