Friday, December 30, 2005

OpinionJournal - Faith in Theory

Why "intelligent design" simply isn't science. BY JAMES Q. WILSON

"When a federal judge in Pennsylvania struck down the efforts of a local school board to teach 'intelligent design,' he rightly criticized the wholly unscientific nature of that enterprise. Some people will disagree with his view, arguing that evolution is a 'theory' and intelligent design is a 'theory,' so students should look at both theories.

But this view confuses the meaning of the word 'theory.' In science, a theory states a relationship between two or more things (scientists like to call them 'variables') that can be tested by factual observations. We have a 'theory of gravity' that predicts the speed at which two objects will fall toward one another, the path on which a satellite must travel if it is to maintain a constant distance from the earth, and the position that a moon will keep with respect to its associated planet."

Now I believe in God and that He/She acts in our daily lives and shapes things. I also believe that we are created in God's image. So knowing these two facts, why can't fundies put these two together and say that "evolution is a tool of the divine" and have faith that humans are smart enough to understand the basic operating principles of God (albeit not how the common woodthrush has 16 different subspecies).

Another thought by Darwin, "Humans are almost exclusive in the fact that they can learn from another's experiences, but rarely do it."

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