Evolution Vs Intelligent Design
Darwinian Evolution: the process of life evolving through natural selection and random variation.
Chemical Evolution: A random variation of chemical interactions alone caused life to appear and evolve.
Intelligent Design: An hypothesis that some natural phenomena are best explained by reference to Intelligent Causes rather than to only Material Causes. Intelligent Design is portrayed as the scientific disagreement with the claims of Chemical and Darwinian Evolution that the apparent design of certain natural phenomena is just an illusion. Intelligent design is also referred to as the Science of design detection applied to natural phenomena.
Intelligent Design proponents usually distinguish themselves from Creationism in not following a literal interpretation of Genesis (i.e. earth is older than 6,000 years). Often, critics of ID claim it is a thinly-veiled version of creationism.
It seems we are being asked to choose an either/or answer. If we follow the scientific model, we know that life has evolved, the universe is evolving and in fact human beings are evolving. (we are taller than our ancestors, differently hairy, etc.) If we are people of faith who believe God is a reality in our world, then we are told that God is the one who formed heaven and earth, created everything that is so we should reject the claims of any kind of evolution – Darwinian or chemical. (We are not, however, often told which creation story we should believe, so people just tend to blend the stories, similar to what we do with the gospel Christmas stories.)
There has been a lot of debate. Natural History magazine did a series where they asked three Intelligent Design scientists to explain why they held to the theory of Intelligent Design and then they had three Evolutionary theory scientists respond. The Intelligent Design writers make some good points like the challenge of irreducible complexity – the concept that some things are so complex that if you take away any one piece, none of it works. The assumption is that something could not evolve into something so complex because all of the parts are needed. They talk about the specified complexity they claim only comes through some sort of intelligence instead of random happenstance. ID adherents also point to the way scientists in many fields use intelligent design as part of their work – forensics and archaeology, for example. They look for the pattern of intelligence to give them clues to information. The flaw, say ET theorists, is that chance, design and necessity are not mutually exclusive, that even complex organisms could survive in less complex forms and that the ID folks have produced nothing that can be scientifically measured to quantify their claims of a specified complexity of design.
I think good people can come down all across the spectrum on this one but here’s where I come down. When I think of God I envision a reality – not a reality easily measured but certainly one that is experienced. It is my experience that when this reality is present, complex complications can be resolved, difficult wounds are healed, stubborn attitudes melt away, and lives headed in a dead-end directions can be turned around. That is my experience of the reality I call God. I don’t know if the design is God at a molecular level or an ethereal level. I just know it is the reality that I call God. So when I look at the evolution of species and our planet, I see evidence of this God-reality. I used to say I can see God’s fingerprints on things, but people took that much too literally. In the breath-taking variety of species of animals, plants, flowers and natural wonders I see this God-reality. It fills me with wonder and joy. In the ability of my body to heal itself of wounds and disease I see this God-reality. In the kindness we extend to others even when it threatens our own self-interest, I see this God-reality. In the ability to lay aside our fear and allow ourselves to love our enemy, care for the leper, speak for the marginalized and create justice for the vulnerable, I see this God-reality. It certainly seems like the design of God. It certainly seems intelligent. It certainly seems to motivate the good in us and for us.
Being a Christian doesn’t mean you have to turn a blind eye to good science. Being a person of science doesn’t mean you don’t experience the reality of God.
The Praise Team is going to come to lead us in a worship song, “When I think about the Lord”. As we sing together ponder the experience you have of the God-reality and what it means to you. It might make you want to shout, “Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus!”
Sources:
http://www.intelligentdesignnetwork.org/Statement_of_Objectives_Feb_12_07.pdf http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/nhmag.html