Intelligent Design (ID)

The phrase "Intelligent Design" has become fairly well known in the last few years.
However, there are many who have not heard about ID and its ramifications.

Phillip Johnson is a strong ID proponent and calls it the "wedge." He says ID will likely replace Darwinism in the near future because the evidence no longer supports the theory of evolution. With the ability for science to analyze molecular biology, the probability of accidental organization is negligible. Johnson considers ID the "wedge" because it is a non-religious theory driving a wedge into what has become the religion of evolution. </TD

Dr Werner Gitt approaches ID from the perspective that information cannot exist without intelligence. Energy and matter are considered to be basic universal quantities. However, the concept of information has become just as fundamental and far-reaching, justifying its categorisation as the third fundamental quantity. One of the intrinsic characteristics of life is information. A rigorous analysis of the characteristics of information demonstrates that living things intrinsically reflect both the mind and will of their Creator.

Michael Behe, Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Lehigh University, argues that the most convincing evidence for design is not to be found in the stars or the fossils, but in biochemical systems. In this very readable layman's guide to biochemistry, Behe uses examples such as vision, blood-clotting, and cellular transport to demonstrate that life comprises an astonishing array of chemical machines, made up of finely calibrated, interdependent parts tht defy current naturalistic explanations. Behe serveys professional science literature and shows that it is completely silent on the subject, stymied by the elegance of the foundation of life.

Accident or Design - You Decide

"A man from a primitive culture who sees an automobile might guess that it was powered by the wind or by an antelope hidden under the car, but when he opens up the hood and sees the engine he immediately realizes that it was designed. In the same way biochemistry has opened up the cell to examine what makes it run and we see that it, too, was designed." - Michael Behe


Mathematical Precision
When a snail grows up, it makes its room in the shell. The size of new room is k times as large as adjacent room. If it repeats this operation, the shape of the shell becomes as log clock. The radius = a x exp (b x angle).

What is ID?

If you read the newspapers, you've probably heard about intelligent design, but what exactly is it? Intelligent design is rooted in the observation, which goes back at least as far as ancient Greece, that the world looks very much as if it was created by an intelligent being. Intelligent design contends that living organisms appear designed because they are designed, exhibiting features that natural processes cannot mimic. That impression has only been strengthened by scientific advances, especially in biology.

Some Problems With ID.

ID is a great wedge to eventually rid our education system of a theory grown beyond its supporting evidence. However, ID can lead to new age philosophies. Although fictional, Dean Koontz' Sole Survivor is a gripping tale of life after death. Like most good science fiction, it includes factual references to historic and modern science. It makes several references to ID but concludes that all religions are equal and that heaven is guaranteed for everyone. Unfortunately, this makes Jesus' sacrifice and atonement unnecessary. Then the kicker is that God wants us to become His "equals." Seems like Satan tried that!

Some exerpts from Sole Survivor.

"... many of the sciences, through research facilitated by new generations of superfast computers, are approaching discoveries that will bring us face-to-face with the reality of a Creator. ... there's a whole movement of modern physics that sees evidence of a created universe. ... Chaos theory doesn't say the universe is random and chaotic. It's an extremely broad theory that among many other things notes strangely complex relationships in apparently chaotic systems - like the weather. Look deeply enough in any chaos, and you find hidden regularities. ... just eighty years ago, science mocked religion's assertion that the universe was created ex nihilo, out of nothing. Everyone knew something couldn't be created from nothing - a violation of all the laws of physics. Now we understand more about molecular structure - and particle physicists create matter ex nihilo all the time. ... physics and biology are the disciplines that most fascinate ... - especially molecular biology."

"... the more we understand living things on a molecular level, the clearer it becomes that everything is intelligently designed. You, me, mammals, fish, insects, plants, everything. ... Are you tossing away evolution here? Not entirely. Wherever molecular biology takes us, there might still be a place for Darwin's theory of evolution - in some form. You're not one of those strict fundamentalists who believe we were created exactly 5,000 years ago in the Garden of Eden. Hardly. But Darwin's theory was put forth in 1859, before he had any knowledge of atomic structure. He thought the smallest unit of a living creature was the cell - which he saw as just a lump of adaptable albumen. ... The orgin of this basic living matter ... was most likely an accident of chemistry - and the origin of all species was explained through evolution. But we now know cells are enormously complex structures of such clockwork design that it's impossible to believe they are accidental in nature. ... Even in the matter of the species ... Well, the two axioms of Darwinian theory - the continuity of nature and adaptable design - have never been validated by a single empirical discovery in nearly a 150 years."

"... Do you know who Francis Crick is? ... He's a molecular biologist. In 1962, he shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with Maurice Wilkins and James Watson for discovering the three-dimensional molecular structure of DNA - the double helix. Every advancement in genetics since then - and the countless revolutionary cures for diseases we're going to see over the next 20 years - spring directly from the work of Francis Crick and his colleagues. Crick is a scientist's scientist ... to no degree a spiritualist or mystic. But do you know what he suggested a few years ago? That life on earth may well have been designed by an extraterrestrial intelligence. ... The point is - Crick was unable to square what we now know of molecular biology's complexity with the theory of natural selection, but he was unwilling to suggest a Creator in any spiritual sense. ... Even if every form of life on this planet was designed by extraterrestrials ... who designed them?"

"... the purpose of science - is to increase our understanding of the universe, not just to give us better physical control of our environment or to satisfy curiosity, but to solve the puzzle of existence God has put before us. And by solving it to become like gods ourselves. ... we're living in the time when some key scientific breakthrough will prove there is a Creator. Something that is ... an interface with the infinite. This will bring the soul back to science - lifting humanity out of its fear and doubt, healing our divisions and hatreds, finally uniting our species on one quest that's both of the spirit and of the mind."

"... all religions are valid to the extent that they recognize the existence of a created universe and a Creator - but that then they bog down in elaborate interpretations of what God expects of us. What's wanted of us ... is to work together to learn, to understand, to peel the layers of the universe, to find God ... and in the process to become His equals."

ID in the News.

Cover story for Focus on the Family Citizen Magazine, Mar 2003
Loosening Darwin's Grip, By Clem Boyd

Federal legislation has given Christians nationwide a boost in their battle to allow evidence against Charles Darwin's controversial theory into public school classrooms. Larry Taylor had run his volunteers through public-speaking drills, and now he was seeing the fruit of his labor. Parents favoring a new science education policy in Cobb County, Ga., a policy that would allow evidence against evolution into classrooms long dominated by Darwin’s flawed theory, were gaining the upper hand at the county’s September board meeting. The parents were offering coherent and compelling arguments, each of them concluding their remarks within the board-imposed time limit. The other side wasn’t nearly as impressive.

...the rest of the story

October 23, 2002
"Teaching the Controversy" Wins in Ohio By Mark Hartwig, religion and society analyst
On Oct. 15, the Ohio Board of Education unanimously approved new science education standards that mandate "teaching the controversy" about biological origins. Instead of presenting a Darwin-only curriculum, Ohio schools will be required to teach students about the scientific controversies surrounding evolutionary theory. The new science standards also allow the state's school districts to decide for themselves whether or not to teach scientific alternatives to Darwin's theory of evolution.
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0022829.html

The NM State Board of Education (SBE) added the phrase "evidence for and against evolution" to the NM Science Standards approximately 1994. Since that time, the evolutionist Marshal Berman was elected to a position on the NM SBE. Berman stated before the election that he specifically intended to "strengthen evolution in the NM public school system." During his tenure as SBE member, he replaced the phrase "evidence for and against evolution" with "evidence for evolution" in the NM Science Standards. Marshall Berman was not reelected in 2002. Joe Renick with IDN NM has tirelessly challenged NM Science Standards for the last couple years. The SBE recently voted for changes to the NM Science Standards that included some radical changes due to Joe Renick's (and others) efforts. Representatives from Roswell and Hobbs added statements that alternative theories should not be silenced when evolution is being discussed. Evolution cannot stand when the scientific method is applied. The NM Science Standards are now organized into three parts - method, content, and history.

 
It's time for evolution to move over for a better theory.

ID Links.

CSFNM ID Disclaimer

The Intelligent Design (ID) movement provides thoughtful people a means for assessing the validity of evolution. ID is based on scientific discoveries and the principle of cause and effect. It does not explicitly honor any designer, including the God of the Bible who became incarnate to walk the earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Yet, ID may provide support for theistic belief. However, the movement’s choice to separate itself from religion is a strategic move intended to focus discussion on matters backed up by scientific principles alone. CSF does not endorse ID as a movement and neither encourages nor discourages participation in ID activities by members of CSF. When CSF announces an ID event, we do so only to inform our membership of the occurrence of the event, not to recommend participation in it. CSF strives to honor God by demonstrating from the revealed truth of Scripture that He is the designer and creator of the universe.

info@nmsciencefoundation.org

Updated 3/19/10