It would be an understatement to claim that the realms of faith and reason rarely conflict. Since the earliest days of scientific inquiry, these two spheres of thought have been locked in a vicious battle, only letting up as religion has gradually modernized to accommodate newer understandings of the universe. But, as is the nature of any age-old debate, the fires fueling this conflict have once again been fed, this time with the controversy surrounding the teaching of Intelligent Design in public schools. The proponents of this alternative “theory” to the origins of life claim that they have been silenced by the Darwinian establishment and support integrating their ideas into the classroom through such means as textbook disclaimers or expressions of doubt as to evolution’s legitimacy. However, this issue is not the suppression of scientific innovation which supporters of ID claim it to be, but only a dismissal of an inherently religious pseudoscientific idea with no concrete evidence to scrutinize. This is not an issue of teaching the controversy, but teaching the facts.
What exactly is Intelligent Design? Anyone with a subscription to cable television is probably aware of the role that this topic plays in the political climate of the day. With the recent resurgence of religious fundamentalism and the ever-present conflict between faith and reason, it’s no wonder that an idea so attractive to those in the Religious Right would be receiving so much attention and so much support for implementation into public schools. But what are the arguments supporting this alternative “theory,” and what is it about it that gets the Darwinists so riled up? Are our nation’s students not getting the whole truth? Are biologists such as Richard Daw...
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..."Neither intelligent nor designed." Skeptical Inquirer.
01 Nov 2003. 45. eLibrary. ProQuest LLC. GULF-COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE.
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Peters, Shawn F. "40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS: DARWIN, INTELLIGENT DESIGN, GOD, OXYCONTIN, AND OTHER ODDITIES ON TRIAL IN PENNSYLVANIA/THE PANDA'S BLACK BOX: OPENING UP THE INTELLIGENT DESIGN CONTROVERSY/CREATIONISM'S TROJAN HORSE: THE WEDGE OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN.." Journal of Law & Religion24.2 (2008): 703-712. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 28 Oct. 2009.
Peterson, Dan. "The Little Engine That Could... Undo Darwinism." American Spectator.
01 Jun 2005. 34. eLibrary. ProQuest LLC. GULF-COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE.
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"INTELLIGENT DESIGN CREATIONISM'S TROJAN HORSE." Church & State 58.2 (2005): 9-11. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 29 Oct. 2009.
Robert Root-Bernstein and Donald L. McEachron, “Teaching Theories: The Evolution-Creation Controversy,” The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 44, No. 7 (Oct…1982). This article, written by Robert Root-Bernstein and Donald L. McEachron sheds light on the controversy of evolution vs creationism in schools and the validity of each being called a scientific theory. The work was created to answer the questions, “Which of these theories is truly scientific and which is a religious belief? Which should be taught in schools?” The article concluded in favor of evolution as a valid scientific theory that should be taught rather than creationism, but also mentioned the worth of understanding the latter.
The Dover Area School District of Dover, Pennsylvania is seeking approval from the General Assembly of Pennsylvania House to include the theory of intelligent design in the instruction of biology. Intelligent design, also known as I.D., is a theory that seeks to refute the widely-accepted and scientifically-supported evolution theory. It proposes that the complexity of living things and all of their functioning parts hints at the role of an unspecified source of intelligence in their creation (Orr). For all intents and purposes, the evidence cited by I.D. supporters consists only of the holes or missing links in evolutionary theory; it is a widely-debate proposal, not because ?of the significant weight of its evidence,? but because ?of the implications of its evidence? (IDnet).
The concept of creationism has a strong religious history and very deep religious overtones, and the constitutionality of teaching the subject in a public school immediately was questioned. Called to preside over the resulting legal case was U.S. District Judge William Overton. Thu...
Sarfati, Jonathan D. Refuting Evolution: A Response to the National Academy of Sciences' Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science. Green Forest, AR: Master, 1999. Print.
Justice Felix Frankfurter stated in his opinion in McCollum v. Board of Education, "We have staked the very existence of our country on the faith that complete separation between the state and religion is best for the state and best for religion. If nowhere else, in the relation between Church and State, good fences make good neighbors." (Moore 1) For the last century in America and ideological war has been fought in our legislatures, courts, and schools. Some parts of the fundamentalist Christian movement have tried repeatedly to prevent the teaching of the Darwinian theory of evolution in public schools because they see it as a threat to their religious beliefs. Darwin's theory posits that species evolve over eons of time, changing in ancestor-descendant relationships from one species to another. This is often perceived as standing in direct conflict with the Bible account of the creation of the world as told in Genesis, which states that the world is only a few millennia old and that god created man and all of the species of animals in a single epoch. The latest battle in this conflict is over the theory of Intelligent Design (ID). Robert Weitzel states that "IDers maintain that life is too complex to have developed solely by evolutionary mechanisms. They believe this complexity could only have been engineered by an intelligent designer. Strategically, they refrain from identifying the nature of the designer. This tactic is designed to give their notion of creation a patina of scientific credibility and protection from First Amendment challenges" (1). Intelligent Design advocates have pushed forward on many fronts to try and introduce it into school curricula all over the country and they are meeting with a measure of success and a good deal of popular support. While the ID movement enjoys wide support from the populace, especially in traditionally conservative areas, it is imperative that the teaching of Intelligent Design is kept out of public school curricula because of the separation that must be maintained between religion and state.
The Intelligent Design Theory says that intelligent causes are necessary to explain the complicated structures of biology and that these causes are analytically evident. Certain biological features defy the random-chance explanation because they appear to have been designed. Since design logically requires an intelligent designer, the appearance of design means there is evidence for a designer.
Evolution is the theory that different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed from earlier forms during the history of the earth. In 1986 the supreme court mandated that evolution was to be taught in the public school system. It was also at this time that intelligent design was banned from being taught in public schools because it was determined that it was a violation of the 1st amendment because it would favor a certain religion (Lac, Hemovich, Himelfarb 2009). Intelligent design is the theory that life, or the universe could not have arisen by chance and was designed and created by some intelligent entity. Intelligent design should be allowed to be taught as an alternative theory in science classes in public schools.
One way to address the question is whether or not creationism, in itself, is a valid idea to be taught in public schools. The answer to this can be yes. Not only should a student in American public schools learn and acquire knowledge in empirical sciences, and other tangible facts both in history and other courses, but he should also learn how to think and make decisions for himself. Unfortunately, as it turns out, creationism is in direct conflict with the biological theory of evolution. Many fundamentalist propose that creationism should replace, or at least be offered as an alternative to Darwin’s theory of evolution.
The twentieth century has witnessed the escalation of the creation - evolution debate through famous court cases and Supreme Court decisions on the teaching of evolution in public schools, culminating most recently in a Kansas Board of Education decision. As this highly controversial issue of the teaching of evolution in American classrooms rages on, it may be difficult for some individuals of Christian faith to form an alternative belief other than the extremes of creationism and evolutionism. Before discussing this issue any further, when I refer to strict beliefs in creationism or evolution as extreme views I am not necessarily implying that they are wrong, but are simply two views on completely opposite sides of the creation - evolution debate spectrum. For some creationists, accepting God as Creator as told in the Book of Genesis means the simultaneous rejection of evolutionary theory. For some evolution believers, accepting evolution ultimately results in the replacement of God as Creator with the process of evolution.
Miller, Kenneth R, and Gould, Stephen Jay. (1984) Science and Creationism. Ed. Ashley Montagu. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Branch, Glenn. "Intelligent Design is not Science, and Should not Join Evolution in the Classroom." usnews.com. U.S.News & World Report, 2 Feb. 2009. Web. 21 Mar. 2012.
What is Intelligent Design? This new famous theory “is the academic assertion that the order of living things comes from an intelligent source and cannot be explained by chance and natural processes alone.”(Waltzer). In others words, intelligent design is the theory that says that everything has been design instead of just come to existence by chance. Intelligent design can explain things like new information and complex systems of life. These complex systems of life are calling irreducibly complex system (ICS) and they are “composed of several interacting parts, where the r...
Evolution and Intelligent Design being taught in public schools is a growing controversy. Both supporters and augmenters have been clashing over different perspectives on wither intelligent design should replace evolution as part of the scientific curriculum. The controversy has lead to multiple court cases and religious dispute. The main issue when it comes to teaching this idea of science in our schools is the idea of conforming to an idea without solid evidence. Students whom are required to learn intelligent design rather than Darwin’s idea of evolution will be directly confronted on their moral and religious beliefs. In addition, students will develop a less understanding of science.
Creationism being taught in public schools has always been a very controversial topic. The only options for any “creation science” classes are in private schools. If we take a look back to when public schools were first created, the church and state have always been separate. There have been public schools that try to bring God back into schools, but the parents of many students have complained about “religion” being taught to the children. With God taken out of the school system, there are students who do not see a point in life. From being taught that we are here by a cosmic explosion to evolving from apes. With that thought in mind there isn’t a point to life. We are just here and then we are gone. With no meaning to life and no hope for life after death. “Resistance to teaching creationism is still very strong, however. Opposition usually centers around two related arguments.” First, evolution is widely claimed to be the only acceptable “scientific” theory of origins. Second, creation is assumed to be strictly a religious concept, which on that account has no place in a public school curriculum” (Morris). In hindsight, both of these disputes happen to be incorrect. Deal...
In the uncertainty that the modern world is, there is one law that stays petrified in stone no matter what happens: “Things change with age.” No matter if it is in history, science, or even Pokémon, things change as time passes by and this process is called evolution. The theory formulated by Charles Darwin is the belief that all organisms have come from earliest creatures because of external factors (“NSTA…”). School boards everywhere have accepted the theory of Evolution as fact making it essential to be in the curriculums of science classrooms. However, over the years, controversy has arisen as the fact that is evolution is still only a theory with flaws and setbacks, efficiently making other theories (i.e. intelligent design) a viable alternate in the classroom. The law, on the other hand, had a different idea about these other theories with numerous bans them from schools, claiming them to be against the second amendment. Despite the bitter debate of rather or not it is valid and right for teaching (primarily alone) the theory of evolution lies as being the most reliable and accurate way to teach how the modern world came to be.