Word: darwinian
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...implications of the "Evolution Wars" over teaching intelligent design along with Darwinian theory are primarily philosophical, not scientific [Aug. 15]. To suggest that stimulating debate about evolution would hamper U.S. leadership in science and technology is ridiculous. Teaching the controversy can challenge students like me to think analytically about what we are learning...
...debate over Darwinian evolution vs. intelligent design is not one of science vs. religion or of two competing theories. It is a debate of science vs. nonscience. Evolution is a scientific theory supported by scientific evidence. There is no evidence for intelligent design. It is an idea, not a theory. It cannot even be called a hypothesis since it is untestable. As such, intelligent design is better taught in a theology or social-studies class than in a science class...
...behavioral scientist and university professor, and I have always been dismayed that behavioral-science departments do not include major sections on the power of religious thought and belief. But the theory of "intelligent design" [which claims there is a supernatural influence in the origin of life, as opposed to Darwinian evolution] is neither good science nor good religion. How can well-meaning people genuinely think that our culture will advance by turning our backs on rational thought and empirical evidence? Whether it be fundamental questions like the origin of the species or such applied problems as HIV prevention, global warming...
Oddly enough, the President's remarks last week promoting intelligent design made Morris and many other Darwin doubters uncomfortable because they have a different timetable in mind. "His support is appreciated, but I plan to move forward on attempting to get criticism of Darwinian evolution in the science standards, not intelligent design," says Morris. Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, a leading voice on the religious right, seemed to be reading from the same script. "What we should be teaching are the problems and holes in the theory of evolution," he said in an interview with National Public Radio a few days...
...still not against Darwinian evolution on theological grounds. I'm against it on scientific grounds. I think God could have made life using apparently random mutation and natural selection. But my reading of the scientific evidence is that he did not do it that way, that there was a more active guiding. I think that we are all descended from some single cell in the distant past but that that cell and later parts of life were intentionally produced as the result of intelligent activity. As a Christian, I say that intelligence is very likely...