Top Five Myths Christians (and Non-Christians) Often Believe About Intelligent Design
by Melissa Travis
There are few things more frustrating than hearing the same tired old myths and misconceptions over and over again, particularly when they directly relate to the subject you’ve devoted your education and career to. Intelligent Design theory suffers this plight, even at the hands of Christians who freely criticize it without doing their homework. In this short post, I would like to list and comment upon the untruths I hear most frequently.
MYTH #1: Intelligent Design (ID) is just a fancy name for Creationism.
The true story: Intelligent Design theory is not a form of, nor is it synonymous with “creationism.” Rather, it is an over-arching scientific theory that disputes wholly naturalistic/materialistic accounts of the origin of the universe and the origin of life. As such it is an indispensable ally for those who espouse various creation models. ID makes NO CLAIM about the age of the earth.
'Like' The Poached Egg on Facebook! Follow @ThePoachedEgg MYTH #2: ID has been dis-proven by the fossil record, which supports common descent.
The true story: ID does not rule out the theory of common descent, nor does it support it. It is true that some advocates of ID also doubt the integrity of the theory of common descent, but that question is completely separate from ID theory, strictly speaking. One of the leading scientists in the ID movement, biochemist Michael Behe, Ph.D., is comfortable with the theory of common descent. Other ID scientists are more skeptical of common descent, such as biologist Jonathan Wells, Ph.D…
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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RESOURCES FOR FURTHER READING:
The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions About Intelligent Design
Intelligent Design Uncensored: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to the Controversy
This way of stating ID is much better than those I usually encounter. My continuing beef with ID is that it seems to set out on the assumption that God's manner of designing may be detected via science--something with which I whole-heartedly disagree. It assumes that God does things our way, in a way that we can detect, while the Bible suggests that God turns the hearts of kings as if directing a river, and that not one sparrow falls without His allowance. Yet we cannot detect these things, and never could, by any science. For me, ID is the modern form of "demanding a sign," so-to-speak.
Posted by: Mark | 02/02/2013 at 11:18 PM