“Of course my motives were religious.”

Percival Davis

Creation science, like the fabled phoenix, has again risen from the ashes.  In its latest incarnation, terms like “God” and “the Creator” have vanished; replaced by what the Christian Right hopes will become a politically-correct and legally-acceptable surrogate, “intelligent design”.

This latest effort to interject biblical creation as a scientific alternative to the almost universally accepted, although still emerging, theories of evolution is only slightly more subtle than backdoor attempts to reintroduce school prayer under the guise of moments of silence. 

The leading work promoting intelligent design, “Of Pandas and People” is billed as a scientific reevaluation of evolutionary theories.  Its Texas-based publisher, the Foundation for Thought and Ethics consciously abandoned overtly religious jargon, substituting claims the world is far too complicated to have evolved from natural forces and, therefore, “must” be the work of an “intelligent designer”.  Interestingly, the Foundation’s founder previously worked for the fundamentalist Campus Crusades for Christ ministries, where a literal interpretation of the scriptures is gospel.

Intelligent design advocates parade forth scientists with apparently flawless credentials to speak on the veracity of intelligent design as did their creationist predecessors.  Panda’s publisher is fond of citing the academic and literary pedigrees of it authors.  One, Percival Davis, a professor of life sciences, includes a reference to his co-authorship of a mainstream text, “Biology”, despite being listed in only one edition after simply assisting in the revision of a few chapters.  Conveniently omitted is his shared authorship of “A Case for Creation“, for which he frankly admits, “Of course my motives were religious.”

Evolutionists acknowledge while the fossil record is incomplete it still provides ample evidence of transitional forms of life.  They concede there was not necessarily a smooth progression from species to species and note the chances of any life form becoming fossilized is extremely small; and of discovery during the past two centuries when its presence might have been scientifically noted infinitesimal minuscule.  Thus, it’s remarkable so many fossils have been uncovered and catalogued.  The molecular biology of infectious diseases provides additional scientific credibility for their Darwinian premises.  Evolution has stood the test of time and yet remains testable and open to modification as new evidence accumulates.

By contrast, the proponents of intelligent design rely on three arguments: (i) evolution has gaps and fails to answer all questions which can be posed; (ii) the complexity of our world could not occur by naturally but needed a guiding hand; and (iii) religious faith.  Unfortunately, incomplete information and holes in the fossil record are not proof of an alternative theory; there is no evidence, testable or otherwise, that the creation of the universe or today’s species were guided by a “helping hand”; and faith, by definition, is impossible to be independently verified.  In short, there is no evidence to support the theory of intelligent design!

In recent years Christian coalitions in 19 states, including Pennsylvania, have helped draft legislation and present petitions to local school boards mandating intelligent design be taught as a legitimate, scientific alternative evolution and frequently recommend “Pandas” for inclusion in science curriculums.  Most recently, the Kansas Department of Education voted to redefine “science” to provide cover for their newly ordered requirement to include the mystical tenets of intelligent design in all science courses in which evolution is presented. 

On a positive note, residents of Dover, Pennsylvania, far from a hotbed of liberalism, cashiered the six school board members who engineered an intelligent design requirement for their school’s biology curriculum.  Fortunately, their children’s education and ability to be scientifically successful in the 21st century were more important than furthering the underlying goals of the intelligent design advocates of transforming our secular society into a benevolent theocracy.

Despite popular myths to the contrary, the founding fathers who drafted of the Constitution and Bill of Rights were not, as a whole, a particularly religious lot.  Rather, most were deists and many fell into the now demonized category of secular humanists.  Yet, without their vision and tolerance, the freedoms which now enable religious conservatives to become open activists might not now exist.

It’s time to end the assaults on the secular nature of American increasingly diverse social fabric.  Our elected representatives should stop wasting their time and our money pontificating over ways to regulate individual behavior and further narrow religious agendas and get on with such mundane jobs as eliminating staggering budget deficits, protecting our borders, ensuring affordable health care for all and rebuilding our decaying pubic infrastructure.

Meantime, unprovable religiously-based, theories on the origins of life, as well as prayer, can, and should be taught and practiced in homes, churches, mosques and synagogues … but not in our schools.