Intelligent Design vs. Evolution

It appears that President Bush caused quite a stir with these comments yesterday:

President Bush said Monday he believes schools should discuss ''intelligent design'' alongside evolution when teaching students about the creation of life.

During a round-table interview with reporters from five Texas newspapers, Bush declined to go into detail on his personal views of the origin of life. But he said students should learn about both theories, Knight Ridder Newspapers reported.

''I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought,'' Bush said. ''You're asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes.''

The theory of intelligent design says life on earth is too complex to have developed through evolution, implying that a higher power must have had a hand in creation.

So that there is no confusion as to where I stand on the matter: I am a Christian and make no apology for it. That means that I believe God created the Heavens and the Earth and it was not the result of a "big bang" or some other theory. If there was a bang, God fired the gun that caused it! That's what I believe. Based on a lot of what I've read in the blogosphere today, my statement above may create more enemies than allies. If that means that a lot of readers I have come to know and respect, stop visiting my site or delete me from their blogrolls, so be it. I believe what I believe. I feel I have been tolerant of opposing points of view and would hope they would be as well, but if they aren't, then it is a price I am willing to pay.

That said, I don't believe that Intelligent Design or Creationism should be taught in public schools. My personal reason is they won't teach it correctly. I much prefer my children learn it from their parents and their church. I also don't believe that Creationism is a science and it should not be taught as such. Creationism stems from faith, not from science.

The thing that is disappointing to me about the discussion of the President's comments, is the intolerance of opposing views to Evolution in the blogosphere today. I'm just talking about the center to right side of the blogosphere! I'm not naming names here because frankly, the vitriol is embarrasing. There are some who are lumping people who even fathom Creationism as a possibility, into the drooling idiot category. This is unbelievable to me! At times, it was as though I was visiting the discussion forums at Democratic Underground.

I believe in Creation, but that does not mean that I don't believe life forms have adapted to their environments over the ages. How many cavemen and dinosaurs have you seen lately? I believe that they existed and I don't believe fossils are some type of conspiracy dumped on us by scientists.

Because I believe God had a hand in these changes, am I to be looked upon as some sort of idiot? Is what I believe any more idiotic than thinking that everything appeared out of thin air? Where did the thin air come from that everything supposedly sprang from? Where did the first thing that evolved, evolve from? I believe someone set everything in motion, and unlike the Deists, I believe he stuck around afterwards. Is that supposed to make me more of a fool than those who believe it was all set in motion by some process of which the absolute beginning can't be pinpointed?

My intention is not to make waves here, but to demonstrate how pathetic it is to paint Creationists as idiotic, merely because their views are different than your own. We're not talking about political opinion here, we are talking about basic beliefs that make us each who we are as a person. There are opposing views as to how we all got here, and while I don't personally believe Evolution is the theory to end all theories, I can respect one's right to believe what they wish.

I believe President Bush was merely pointing out that there are theories other than Evolution , not promoting religious indoctrination in the public school system. Why should Evolution be accepted at face value as the only possibility for our existence? The fact that Evolution is a theory means that it has not yet been proven as fact.

Sure, there are findings that can be used to support Evolution to a certain point, just as there are findings that can be used to support events in the Bible. If either view is to be taught in our public schools, why shouldn't the other be presented in it's proper context? It doesn't have to be: God created the Heavens and the Earth. It could be as simple as: Other theories suggest that a higher power created the universe. Why is Evolution relevant while Intelligent Design is not? I think that is all that President Bush was trying to point out.

I guess the bottom line for me is this: On one hand, I don't think Intelligent Design should be taught in Public Schools because I don't believe it belongs in a science class. On the other hand, I don't believe the Theory of Evolution should be taught as if it is proven fact either. At the very least, students should be informed that Evolution is but one of many widely accepted views. What's wrong with that?

Tags:Intelligent Design,Evolution,Politics,Religion