Intelligent Design Creationism
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Our congregation is planning to have a program about the controversy
surrounding the teaching of Intelligent Design in public schools.
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I am on the Board of Michigan Citizens for Science and would be happy to
discuss this issue off-line with interested people. Meanwhile, the head of
our group is Professor Rob Pennock, whose books have been very well
reviewed.
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Robert T. Pennock E-mail: pennock5{at}msu.edu
Professor Web: http://www.msu.edu/~pennock5
Lyman Briggs School of Science E-30 Holmes Hall
& Dept. of Philosophy East Lansing MI 48825-1107
Michigan State University Office: (517)
432-7701
Tower of Babel: The Evidence against the New Creationism.
".the most important philosophical evaluation of the intelligent design
movement available"--National Center for Science Education Reports
For more info <www.msu.edu/~pennock5/research/Tower_of_Babel_Reviews.htm>
Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics: Philosophical,
Theological and Scientific Perspectives.
"Pennock's book defines, as no other book so far has,
the present state of play" - Endeavour
For more info <www.msu.edu/~pennock5/research/IDC&CReviews.htm>
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I have also taken the liberty of attaching a recent VIEWPOINT I wrote for
the local newspaper. This was published in the Lansing (Michigan) State
Journal on June 20, 2005.
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Published June 20, 2005
Donald J. Weinshank: 'Intelligent design' advocates want to have it both
Ways Creationists prove unfaithful to science, and to their faith, too
Science can tell you how quickly things fall, but not why you shouldn't kick
canes out from under old ladies. If you want to answer THAT question, look
to your religion and your system of ethics and morals.
When people - all people anywhere - talk about "religion," they mean that
they believe in some being who is utterly beyond full human understanding.
They come to "know" the being with the absolute truth of faith, rather than
by scientific discovery that uses the tools of this world: the microscope,
the telescope or the particle accelerator.
Sadly, for "intelligent design" creationists, religious truth is not enough.
They want to use the "this world" tools to prove that the being exists. They
draw a line in the sand and say, "Up to here, it is science; beyond this
line, science cannot work, and only an intelligent designer can explain
things."
Once scientists demolish their arguments, as they already have done, in "15
Answers to Creationist Nonsense" (which you can download free from
www.sciam.com), the very people who would "buy into" the I.D. argument feel
their belief in God is under attack.
Fifty years ago, the great theologian Paul Tillich warned us in "The
Dynamics of Faith" not to fall into this trap: "The distinction between the
truth of faith and the truth of science leads to a warning, directed to
theologians, not to use recent scientific discoveries to confirm the truth
of faith. ... Theology, in using physical theories in this way (i.e., to
prove religion from science) confuses the dimension of science with the
dimension of faith. The truth of faith cannot be confirmed by latest
physical or biological or psychological discoveries - as it cannot be denied
by them."
Those "intelligent design" people who are Christians - as most of them are -
also commit a deadly sin by being unfaithful to their obligation to witness
openly.
They are descendants of the early Christians who were thrown to the lions by
Rome for witnessing to their belief in Jesus as the Messiah. But the
"intelligent design" folks hide behind terms like "intelligent designer."
They want to escape court challenges to their efforts to introduce their
brand of religion into the public schools.
They talk glibly about the "intelligent designer" but refuse to attach a
name ("God" or "R2D2" or any other).
See my Web site at www.cse.msu.edu/~weinshan/ for my debate with Professor
Tom Woodward of Trinity College of Florida, where he flatly refuses to name
the designer.
The "intelligent design" creationists are "neither fish nor foul." They are
not scientists because they don't abide by rules of science, which require
that you explain "this world" problems using only "this world" techniques
and solutions.
They are not faithful Christians because they use "smoke and mirrors" to
hide their religious position instead of witnessing to their faith.
They should have no place in our schools and no place in any religion for
which a forthright belief in God is central to making sense of the world.
Donald J. Weinshank lives in East Lansing.
_________________________________________________
Dr. Don Weinshank Professor Emeritus Comp. Sci. & Eng.
1520 Sherwood Ave., East Lansing MI 48823-1885
Ph. 517.337.1545 FAX 517.337.1665
http://www.cse.msu.edu/~weinshan
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