Slamming Intelligent Design

In this NY Daily News column, Errol Louis vents more than a little frustration at “the loony right.” Louis is upset that “Religious conservatives are trying to upset Scopes vs. Tennessee, the 1925 “monkey trial” that struck down a law prohibiting the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution.” He then proceeds to cite a number of examples, and, in the process, terribly confuses certain concepts, including Biblical creationism and intelligent design.

Here’s his first example:

In Cobb County, a suburb of Atlanta, the school board is being sued in federal court for ordering stickers to be placed inside science textbooks reading: “Evolution is a theory, not a fact.” A ruling on the case is expected soon.

But for our culture’s indoctrination on these issues, Louis’s reaction would puzzle me. Is he upset with the statement that evolution is a theory or at its mandatory placement in the science textbooks? I’ve been reading quite a bit about the problems with Darwinism lately, as well as the increasing credibility of Intelligent Design theory. It amazes me how much disinformation has been taught in our public schools, universities, and our culture in general on evolution. See Jonathan Wells’ “Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What we Teach About Evolution is Wrong,” Michael Denton’s “Evolution: A Theory in Crisis,” Darwin on Trial,” by Phillip E. Johnson, and Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution,” by Michael J. Behe, for starters.

Lee Strobel’s latest book “The Case for a Creator” exposes many of the myths that have been perpetuated by a agenda-charged scientific and educational community. Yet in the face of these doubts, the liberal establishment insists that evolution be treated as established fact — not theory. We’re talking macro-evolution here, by the way, including the idea that man himself evolved from other lesser life forms. This very idea is taken as indisputable by Louis, who says:

Small wonder that a CBS poll last month showed 55% of Americans believe God created humans, more or less complete, sometime in the last 10,000 years.

Set aside the 10,000 years part. Louis seems perplexed that anyone could believe that God created humans, “more or less complete.” And, he’s blaming such insanity on the influence of Christians, presumably in our education system.

It doesn’t make much sense, does it, that since evolution, not Intelligent Design or Creationism is taught in our public schools, the examples Louis cites in our education system could explain why 55% of Americans believe God created humans… That is, since evolution, not creationism, is treated in our schools as established fact — not even open to debate or inquiry — it is inconceivable that the public’s belief in creation is attributable to our education system, Louis’s isolated anecdotal examples notwithstanding.

Given the wealth of material documenting the problems with Darwinism it’s amazing to me that Louis could make this statement:

Evolution and the literally exhaustive geologic records that establish the Earth’s multibillion-year age remain the most solid, well-proved science ever developed.

I certainly understand the geological point, which is very sensible, but lumping in “evolution” in the statement demonstrates the bias and ignorance of our society, which has been sheltered from the scientific evidence casting serious doubts on evolution theory.

The Intelligent Design movement is picking up steam and gaining credibility every day, despite the bias against it in the academic community. The Discovery Instituteis doing seminal work in this area. Stephen C. Meyer, Senior Research Fellow at the Discovery Institute, co-edited a fascinating work, “Darwinism, Design, and Public Education,” that sheds much light on this controversy.

I certainly understand Louis’s objection to the affirmative teaching of Biblical creation in public schools, but in almost all of the examples he cites, the issue was not Biblical creationism, but efforts to have public school science textbooks at least acknowledge that there are science-based doubts about evolution theory.

The Intelligent Design movement is interested in opening the debate and to letting science carry the day. But the popular culture and the education establishment, while holding themselves out as guardians of science, fact, and even reality, often refuse to allow any scientific objections to evolution to be discussed in the classroom. They are the real censors and opponents of science, all in the name of promoting science. You really should look into this scandal if you haven’t already, instead of just assuming the controversy is between superstitious anti-science Christians and enlightened, open-minded scientific academics.