This is the part of the ID argument that is disingenuous. “It’s also true that the theory (evolution) lends itself to justify atheism, abortion, euthanasia, and eugenics” –as Stein points out. Here is another quote from Mr. Stein, “Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.
Basically, Expelled, or should I say Ben Stein, tarnishes all Darwinists and evolutionists as maniacal murderers responsible for the worst atrocities of man. Linking Hitler and Darwinism is basically a specious argument, after all how many Christian Germans prayed to God that Hitler would triumph? Should we equate Christianity with the Nazis too? That’s stupid and simplistic, right? Or do we just ignore the previous two thousand years of anti-Semitism in Europe and assume it had it had no impact on the holocaust or do we blame all Christians for the camps? Again, that’s a simplistic answer or do we assume the world was a Garden of Eden before Charles Darwin?
To quote the Anti-Defamation League: “The film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed misappropriates the Holocaust and its imagery as a part of its political effort to discredit the scientific community which rejects so-called intelligent design theory. Hitler did not need Darwin to devise his heinous plan to exterminate the Jewish people and Darwin and evolutionary theory cannot explain Hitler’s genocidal madness. Using the Holocaust in order to tarnish those who promote the theory of evolution is outrageous and trivializes the complex factors that led to the mass extermination of European Jewry.”
I believe that you can be a Christian and a Darwinist, too. To me, one is science and the other is faith and they each have their place in life, one in a class room, the other in a church. If ID is truly a valid scientific theory then win the debate within the scientific journals through peer review not in the court of public opinion (and please don’t give me that nonsense that the ID proponents lost their jobs, that was basically a Michael Moore liberty if I ever saw one.) This is how science advances and why should the mechanism change just because proponents of ID have lost the debate a 100 years ago? This is not about free speech, this is about science. To date, the arguments of irreducible complexity are not enough to allow ID to stand as a valid scientific theory. And even if it was what can you do with it as theory? What predictive models will come from ID other than to ask us to marvel at god’s handiwork?
Here’s a quote from my www.millenniumwriting.com site that Jason provided from St. Augustine:
“For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion. [1 Timothy 1.7]“
Erik John Bertel
Author of Flores Girl: The Children God Forgot and the MillenniumWriting.com Blog
Well written blog. I love Augustine’s quote! I will use that in church and Bible study very, very soon. I don’t mean to intrude but I wanted to respond to your comment to my blog on “Expelled” but was afraid you might not check back in. What follows I submit sincerely and respectfully. God’s best or Good Luck, galyn (author of “Hope for America’s Last Generation” available at http://www.lasthopebooks.com/):
“The only substantive part of ID is as a negative argument that diametrically opposed to evolution, otherwise it has nothing of substance to offer science.”
Response: False on three points. i) ID is a positive argument that intelligence preceded and caused the origin of life. ID is an independent theory that would not necessarily be true if evolution were proven false. ii) ID is not diametrically opposed to evolution, if “evolution” is defined as “change over time.” ID is diametrically opposed to the theory that living things originated from random events. iii) The goal of ID is not to “offer” something to “science,” the goal is the same as that of science. . .to seek the truth concerning our origins. ID is a testable theory that can be falsified in exactly the same way as the theory of evolution.
“Imagine teaching ecology in school without a fundamental understanding of Darwinism and evolution. What would ID tell these students, other than the showing and teaching these alleged students the incredible complexity of nature? What’s the explanation for these systems and their numerous interactions? God did it of course. Cool huh? Sorry, that’s not science”
Response: Straw-man argument. Both ID and Darwinism seeks to learn how these systems and their numerous interactions work. The only difference is ID says an intelligent being is responsible, Darwinism says random chance is responsible. If you push any Darwinist far enough, they will say “random chance did it.” Cool huh. . .But that’s not science either!
“I challenge any ID proponent to demonstrate a single predictive model that ID can make regarding living organisms and their present day ecosystems. There are no models, the ID proponents got nothing but faith.”
Response: Predictive model: Animals were designed by an intelligent designer and have genetic limits outside which they are no longer viable. These limits will constrain the fossil record to be composed of clearly delineated familial forms rather than transitional forms.
Experimental evidence: the fossil record.
Now it’s your turn. Please explain the cambrian explosion in purely Darwinian terms.
“I have my faith too but the difference is I don’t subject you to it.”
Response: False. We are constantly subjected to atheistic and naturalistic explanations of our origins even though these explanations require a great deal of faith. Moreover, you impose your faith on others in a condescending and arrogant manner suggesting you are unaware of the assumptions on which your faith is based.
“Science is not faith but a way of reasoning”
Response: True if by “science” you mean the scientific method. False if by “science” you mean currently accepted theories. Darwin’s theory of the origin of life requires a great deal of faith that foes far beyond simply “a way of reasoning.
“Simple question: sum up for me how ID describes the functionality and modeling of an ecosystem?”
Response: Simple answer. Almost exactly the same way evolutionists would describe the functionality and modeling of an ecosystem.
“[ID] can’t use competition and evolution to describe the changing ecosystem or fluctuating species populations.”
Response: Straw man argument. All ID theorists believe that competition and survival of the fittest occurs in a changing ecosystem. Long before ID or the theory of evolution, mankind was aware that populations could be manipulated through breeding and artificial selection-this is even part of Darwin’s premise in origins.
“What would ID have to say? Wow, this is so complex, forget about understanding this, this had to be an intelligent designer at work. And that’s fine but it’s not science and you can’t do anything with it.”
Response: Straw-man argument. The history of modern science rests on the backs of scientists who believed in ID. Complexity in nature did not lead them to say “forget about understanding this,” instead it drove them to understand it further because they believed the more the learned about nature, the more they were learning about the designer. Mendel, the father of modern genetics, was a monk!
“Reconciling your faith should never be an easy exercise and we don’t need to give people another excuse not to think.”
Response: True. What greater excuse is there to not think deeply about something than to believe it came about by an infinitesimally small, accidental, random event. In my experience human beings don’t spend a lot of time trying to understand random, rare events (might I get struck by lightning on a sunny day?), but take very seriously purposefully designed events (could I get electrocuted if I touch this live wire?). Evolutionists are the ones that don’t want to have to think. They prefer to make straw-man arguments, make false assumptions, and throw around condescending statements rather than wrestling with the faith they have placed in a dying theory.
Galyn,
First, I have to give credit to Jason for the St. Augustine quote. Secondly before I rebut your rebuttal, doesn’t sound right does it, I need to know what camp you are in. You obviously believe in ID but are your leanings more along the literal 6,000 year old bible type or do you believe in a 4 billion year old earth with the evolution of living creatures being guided or pre-designed? Your camp tends to be all over the place even more so that the Darwinists so this helps in a debate so I can keep the points pertinent to our discourse. For example, I am not going to argue about a Cambrian explosion if you only believe the earth is 6,000 years old. Or are you more logical like Einstein when you say god does not play dice with the universe?
One big disagreement with your argument: random gene changes, mutations and catastrophic events are measurable in their totality. Witness the recent Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet collision with Jupiter and these periodic disturbances within the Oort cloud. Now just imagine that was the Cretaceous extinction event, which by the way I disagree with the latest extinction mechanism theories but that is a whole another conversation. Was the collision a random event or guided by god? Most ID proponents would say god but this of course begs the issue where does god end and free will begin? In the ID world view is there such a thing as a random event or is everything choreographed by god?
By the way I am Christian Darwinist and unlike Dawkins, I do believe in faith and imaginary friends, but within Church walls and not school walls!
Erik
Erik,
I currently accept and teach what is known as the Gap Theory concerning the creation account. This is not embraced by many Christians and is radically rejected by the young earth crowd because it is seen as a compromise with evolution. I do not hold to it dogmatically but it fits with scripture and answers some questions. The Gap Theory sees an insertion of an unknown length of time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2. In 1:1 the physical universe is created and is assumed to be perfect but by 1:2 the earth is formless, empty and dark. In 1:2 the NIV even reads the verb “was” in the footnotes as “became” (“Now the earth became formless . . . “) Through out scripture formless, empty and dark are all the result of judgment and not a result of God’s perfect work. In Genesis 1:1 the word “bara” (create something out of nothing) is used for create which is different than the word “asah” (form out of existing material) that is used through out the six days of creation or according to the gap theory re-creation, or better, re-formation of a chaotic earth. This means the Bible does not say how old the earth is but it does say there was a traumatic event in the past before man appeared on the scene. I don’t expect you to accept this but it gives you an idea which Christian tribe I run with. I do respect your knowledge and wouldn’t mind some of your thoughts on the pros and cons of this questionable Gap Theory.
Thanks for your time,
galyn