May 13, 2002
Intelligent design question tests Ohio school board
___By Patrick Rogers
___Religion News Service
___COLUMBUS, Ohio (RNS)--Is "intelligent design" theory just old-fashioned creationism dressed up as science, or is it a legitimate scientific challenge to Charles Darwin's evolutionary theories?
___That is the question facing the Ohio state school board.
___ Board members will vote this fall on whether to allow 10th grade high school teachers to tell students about the intelligent design theory. If Ohio approves intelligent design, the matter could be up for debate in other states, re-igniting the battle between evolutionists and creationists.
___Intelligentdesign proponents want Ohio's high school science teachers to be allowed to tell students about what they say is a scientific debate concerning alleged flaws in Darwinian theory.
This photo, taken April 2 by the newly installed Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope, shows the Cone Nebula, a giant pillar of gas and dust that resides in a turbulent star-forming region. This image shows only the upper 2.5 light years of the nebula, a height that equals 23 million roundtrips to the moon. The entire nebula is 7 light years long. It resides 2,500 light years away from Earth in the constellation Monoceros.
___They claim Darwin's evolutionary theories cannot explain the complexity in all Earth's biological systems. Intelligent design theory holds that some natural systems are too complex to have randomly evolved into their current form and that there is an intelligent designer at work.
___But intelligent design theorists are quick to point out they do not necessarily call that "intelligent designer" God. They do not tie their theory to any sacred text or the creation account in Genesis, although intelligent design theory includes some kind of divine spark.
___"I do think God is real and created the universe, but I don't know how," explained Jonathan Wells, author of "Icons of Evolution." In his book, Wells challenges some of Darwin's theories about natural selection and random mutation. He claims there are structures and natural systems that defy Darwin.
___Take, for example, flagellar motors, the mechanism that powers the flagellum, a tail-like structure that moves bacteria through water. Intelligent design proponents claim the motor has so many parts, and is so complex, that it could not work unless all the pieces are assembled in their proper places, all at the same time. That, they say, does not allow for a slow evolutionary process and makes room for some kind of unknown designer.
___"Scientists require that we focus all our attention on this physical world; well, I think this physical world is only part of the story," Wells said. "Students are often told that this physical world is all there is."
___Wells, who holds a doctorate in theology from Yale and a second doctorate in molecular biology from Berkeley, is one of the leaders of the intelligent design movement. He spoke to the Ohio school board in March about the controversy between intelligent design and evolution.
___He and other scientists, mostly from the Discovery Institute in Seattle, are not asking that intelligent design be given equal time in classrooms, or even that teachers be required to teach it. They say they are asking that teachers simply be allowed to tell students about what they call flaws in Darwinian theory.
___Intelligent design proponents say teachers who tell classes about the theory are often censored, punished or reassigned by school boards that want to avoid any controversy over the issue. "Are you even going to censor criticisms of Darwinian theory? There is this idea that you teach Darwin, only Darwin and nothing but Darwin," said the Discovery Institute's Mark Edwards.
___Meanwhile, evolutionists vow to stop teachers from telling students about the intelligent design theory; they claim it is nothing more than souped-up creationism.
___"Religious theories of creation should not be included in science classes because they are unconstitutional and are bad educational policy," said Steven Sheinberg, assistant director of legal affairs for the Anti-Defamation League. "Intelligent design is just another species of creationism. It seeks to bring God into the classroom."
___What's more, opponents say, intelligent design is bad science and isn't much of a theory when held up against Darwin. "As far as evolution is concerned, the debate is closed, as much as any debate in science can be closed," said Skip Evans, network project director for the Oakland, Calif.-based National Center for Science Education.
___Evans said he suspects intelligent design proponents are not being honest about their true beliefs and aims.
___"It is not only a way to talk about God, it is a way to bring a very narrow version of God into science class for the purpose of proselytizing to students. If they admitted that is what they were doing, the door would be slammed in their face," Evans said.
___But if intelligent design is creationism masquerading as science, it is well disguised because creationists don't like it.
___"It doesn't go far enough," said Kenn Hamm, leader of Answers in Genesis. Hamm and his organization believe in a strict, literal reading of the Genesis creation account.
___"To me, they don't have the same foundation. I think there is value in getting people to think about a creator and intelligence behind things, but ultimately if we are not talking about the creator God of the Bible, what good is that?" Hamm asked.
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