My brother sent me this fine article about the evolution vs. intelligent design non-argument. It contained this interesting passage:
Many who accept the fact of evolution cannot, however, on religious grounds, accept the operation of blind chance and the absence of divine purpose implicit in natural selection. They support the alternative explanation of intelligent design The reasoning they offer is not based on evidence but on the lack of it...It is in essence the following: There are some phenomena that have not yet been explained and that (and most importantly) the critics personally cannot imagine being explained; therefore there must be a supernatural designer at work. The designer is seldom specified, but in the canon of intelligent design it is most certainly not Satan and his angels, nor any god or gods conspicuously different from those accepted in the believer’s faith.
I like the formation of Intelligent Design with Satan and his angels as designers. Maybe that will be my new dogma...what a great contrarian position. It would go like this:
I.D. Believer: And because you haven't found the missing link in your so-called "fossil record," that's proof enough that there must have been a divine hand involved!
Me: Yes, I totally agree, and that divine hand was undoubtably the hand of SATAN!
That should be fun. But really, if this is such a neat way to wrap up the existence of a divine being, why haven't I heard an outcry from all religions of the world. I ask this seriously. Why is it just Christian Evangelicals that believe this? Do Sikhs, for example, believe in I.D.? Hindus or Jews? Are Christians the only major religion that has had to reconcile religion with modern science because Christian society tends to be more scientifically advanced? If that's the case, I'd expect to encounter some Rabbinical backing for I.D. somewhere.
I'd like to know the perspective from all the major religions in the world on evolution. Despite the solid base within the scientific and non-believer community, statistics tell us evolution hasn't caught on. How long can the masses of the world deny science? Are other religions trying to gin up some intellectual alchemy to marry God with science?
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3 comments:
Isn't it based on Genesis? In which case it's old testament, in which case it's both Christians and Jews.
You're suggesting Intelligent Design is based on Genesis? I don't think so. How would Adam and Eve fit into the I.D. picture?
As I understand it, I.D. seeks to acknowledge some evolution science while filling in the as yet unexplained gaps with God.
I did a quick google on Judaism and I.D. and it appears that most Rabbis are avoiding the debate...but not all. "(Rabbi) Lipskar met head-on the suggestions by some that intelligent design is meant as a "back door" to putting religion in schools. "It's not a back door, it's a front door!" he said. "But the objective is not to make people religious. It's to make them understand that the world was put into place by an intelligent being. We are not random chemical reactions." More here.
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