INTELLIGENT DESIGN IN DOVER, PA.

We actually have a Michigan connection with the trial in Dover, PA between the Dover School Board wanting to include Intelligent Design (ID) as part of their science curriculum and student's parents that oppose that move.

The school board is represented by Richard Thompson, Oakland County, Michigan, who was voted out as County Prosecutor for going after Dr. Death (Dr. Kevorkian) a little too diligently. He now works for another Michigan guy, Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza and rabid Catholic. Monaghan also founded the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, MI where Thompson works.

The Law Center reflects the far right, Catholic fundamentalist thinking of Tom Monaghan. He has the money to push his thinking onto our society and culture. The ACLU is trying to prevent him from doing too much damage.

Anyway, I have talked about Intelligent Design (ID) before but in this case we can narrow the discussion to a few basic points.

We are not talking "evolution" here. Evolution is a fact that can be demonstrated and proven through scientific method.

The "theory" part of Darwinism is "natural selection" or "survival of the fittest". The theory is very plausible and applies to many cases but not in all cases - sometimes evolution occurs by chance / chaos theory.

The BIG point in the trial is "ORIGIN OF LIFE / MATTER". Evolution / science cannot answer how life began, how the universe began, how matter was created, etc. right now and may never be able to answer those questions but scientists will keep trying / searching (through scientific means).

The Intelligent Design people want the science teachers to state that an intelligent designer / planner / God may have been responsible for the beginning of all things. This statement would be totally based on FAITH and have NO scientific or factual basis. It is also a belief that cannot be proven by science unless GOD comes down and shows himself and explains how he did it all.

Intelligent Design advocates tell us that simple logic would lead us to a need for an intelligent designer (life is too complex to have just evolved). That is not true; science has already made some strides into explaining just how our complex systems have evolved through the ages.

Religious people can believe that God created life / universe and not be told they are wrong because nobody really knows BUT they should not promote their beliefs as if they were true and factual either because they cannot prove them.

In this way scientists can still be religious and religious people still can be scientists without conflict. They can use their faith where science cannot go - for now.

Janusz