It is very irritating to me to see so many knee-jerk responses to teaching Intelligent Design in schools along with Evolution. Many people who strike me as sensible and fair-minded assume that the purpose is to advance Biblical Creationism and *gasp* religion!
I have recently come across two blogs, MuD & PHuD and A Physicist's Perspective who are debating the issue. From what I have read so far, Perspective is the commentary which most closely represents what I believe. MuD & PHuD has many good points, but I still find the reasoning dissatisfactory.
For more reading, Perspective has posts here, here, and here (in reverse order), and MuD & PHuD has a handy round-up of links on the right margin of their blog.
To return to the initial paragraph of my post, although I would love to have Biblical Creationism taught in schools, I see no practical way of doing so without causing the next world war. Also, although I am Christian, it does seem to me that it would be shoving my religion down someone's throat, and that is not the way Christ calls us to represent Him. Frankly, I am blessed with the ability to avoid the public school system when choosing where my child goes to school.
If evolution were taught fully, with the problems and difficulties of the theory taught openly, I would not be as concerned with this issue. However, schoolchildren are not taught the deficiencies of evolution. They are often given faulty, disproven, or discredited examples and sources as proof of the theory. From what I have read, Intelligent Design gives excellent challenges to evolution, and often has persuasive alternative explanations.
I feel that it would be more productive to teach children how to carefully evaluate the pros and cons of differing theories and decide on the evidence which theory fits reality better. Evolution-as-fact has been spoon fed like pablum to children since I was in school, and it is past time to allow more debate on the issue.
Thanks for the link. I agree with you. In discussing this a bit on blogs, I've been surprised again by how much vitriol any opposition to evolution produces. As a physicist, there are a lot of different theories in physics, and many of them (for example, string theory or big bang theory) people would have no problem at all admitting "It's just a theory", and admitting where their weak points are. This is (in my opinion) part of good science.
I think evolution is really a stark contrast, as anyone who dares to say "it's just a theory" is considered stupid or ignorant.
I suspect ultimately it may come down to Romans 1. God 's existence is made manifest to everyone through creation, but people really hate to admit this (and try to persuade themselves otherwise), so they are rather quick to oppose anyone who reminds them of this.
I know that was the case for me: I grew up believing evolution, and though I knew deep down inside God really existed, I would argue with everyone who said that He did, and would try to convince people how science had proven evolution, etc. Fortunately, God had mercy on me, and now I find myself on the other side of things.
Best wishes,
David
Posted by: David M. | November 16, 2004 at 10:29 AM
Thanks for the link to my blog as well. Sorry that you find my reasoning dissatisfactory =).
I agree 100% that evolution (as with everything that is taught) should be presented as it really is and not a Fact. However, I would be interested to hear your response to the challenge that Intelligent Design (or Creationism) does not fall into the realm of Science. That is the reason that I fight so hard against ID. For my part, I am a Catholic and I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. I do not, however, think that Science should be set aside whenever we feel like it. Either we believe that we can find answers to questions about the world around us, or we do not.
When push comes to shove I will choose Science to answer questions of physical reality and Religion to answer questions of morality. Everyone is free to choose, but I think we should be very careful of endangering Science's domination of the physical and Religion's domination of morality. To do either has drastic consequences.
Posted by: Tom | November 16, 2004 at 12:26 PM
Hello, Tom! Thanks for stopping by.
I guess my main problem with evolution vs. ID, in this context, would be that ID at least has a(an?) hypothesis for where we get the initial information. Now, I will agree that the actual beginnings of the world are out of scientific query, since we cannot duplicate it. Of course, if we could, I think that alone would argue for ID.
Now, I am not a scientist, nor do I claim to be one, so I do know that my understanding is imperfect. However, doesn't the Theory of Evolution argue for things getting more and more complex without any outside intervention? From what I understand of the Law of Thermodynamics, that's impossible. *shrug* Speaking as a laywoman, here...
As to the Bible being the inspired Word of God, and I'm not trying to be flippant, don't you think He isable to put down exactly how He did it? If the Genesis account is not true, then the Bible is not the Word of God, and/or God is a liar.
I think that the science vs. religion issue is a false dilemma. If God is Who He says He is, He is Lord over all science as much as He is Lord over everything else.
Yes, I am a strict Biblical Creationist. No, I will not shun, disfellowship, or otherwise insult my brothers or sisters in Christ who don't agree - that's just plain stupid, as well as a sin. I simply believe that to take God's Word in part is among the worst of sins. (And, He knows that my actions everyday are hardly perfect in His sight.)
What was that quote? "Science is the art of thinking God's thoughts after Him..." or some such. The Bible does not speak to all the issues of science, I agree. But science cannot disagree with the One who created everything, either.
So, if God says "six days, personal, fiat creation," and fallible humans say "no, no, no - billions of years and no outside influence," I'm going to have to side with the Omnipotent Know It All.
I really enjoy the discussion, and I learn a lot from both sides. There's a lot out there I don't know, and I'm sure you'll be teaching me quite a bit. But in this case, "Here I stand; I can do no other."
Posted by: Romeocat | November 16, 2004 at 01:26 PM