deb1:
My son was researching an essay on Intelligent Design and we are both now utterly confused. I thought that all ID was the belief that God created the universe using evolution. My son, looking for views for and against ID, has found several websites that say that proponents of ID are actually creationists under a different name. Can anyone tell me the difference between creationist and Intelligent Design?
You don’t say how old your son is, so I cannot be sure if what I say is at the right level for him. No doubt you can check it first for suitability.
Intelligent Design can mean two things:
ID1: The universe and its laws were set up by an intelligent designer in such a way that life could begin and evolve.
ID2: Design can be scientifically detected in certain biological structures. Hence these structures cannot have evolved and must have been made by an intelligent designer.
The first of these is not very controversial and is pretty much identical to theistic evolution: evolution is God’s way of creating man. The second of these is much more controversial.
Like ID, creationism can mean many things. It ranges all the way from theistic evolution to Young Earth Creationism: a 6,000 year old earth and all “kinds” created as they are now. For a survey of the different typees of creationism see
this webpage.
In 1987 the US Supreme Court decided that Young Earth Creationism, it called itself “creation science”, could not be taught in science classes in public schools. ID2 is a development of “creation science”. It has taken out the more explicit religious references and tried to beef up its scientific side. For instance it does not talk about God but only refers to an Intelligent Designer. It follows a “big tent” strategy, trying to include as many creationists as possible, both young earth and old earth. Hence it remains silent on the more YEC-specific points such as the age of the earth - different ID2 proponents will give different answers to that question. It is controversial because it is seen as an attempt to get a particular religious viewpoint taught in science classes. The political agenda behind ID2 is laid out in the
Wedge Document which helps account for the controversy around it.
Your own view, ID1, is not controversial because it has no effect on school science classes. School science just looks at the laws of the universe. It does not deal with why the laws are the way they are and not some other way; those questions are much to deep to be taught at High School level science.
In short both “Intelligent Design” and “creationism” cover a wide range of views. The controversy is attached to a particular version of Intelligent Design that is being used in a politically motivated attempt to get religion taught in US public school science classes.
deb1:
Also, do you have any good websites that discuss these differences?
People’s recommendations may be biased by their views on the controversy; I am anti-ID2. ID2 is mainly the work of the Discovery Institute’s
Center for Science and Culture, for an opposing view see
here. For a general history of creationism see
here. There is a set of general creationism and evolution links on TalkOrigins,
here. Google will give you a lot more hits.
HTH
rossum
