This article, written on July 12, 2009 is the last in a series of articles dealing with intelligent design. See also Parts One and Two
It should be clear by now that intelligent design is, in fact, religious in nature. This can be seen throughout the writings of some in the movement. In my article Intelligent Design: Giving Science a Wedgie I demonstrated how Phillip E. Johnson used religious language in one of his books; he used the word “Creator”; in the Wedge document the Discovery Institute made references to God, and in the first sentence it says very clearly,
“The proposition that human beings are created in the image of God is one of the bedrock principles on which Western civilization was built.”
The pseudo-science textbook Of Pandas and People has been proven to originally be a creationism textbook. The co author, Percival Davis, who as I mentioned in my article What is Creationism and Intelligent design? admitted the religious nature of intelligent design is more proof of the religious nature of I.D.. This is proof of the I.D. movement’s goal to get religion in schools in order to fight the tide of “materialism” and “godlessness” that’s supposedly being forced on all our children. However, this isn’t just about religion but some of the founding principals of our government, namely the separation of church and state, since there are many Christians who could rightfully be called historical revisionists. They rewrite history claiming that the U.S. was founded as a “Christian Nation” so they can more easily get religion in schools. Their thinking is to convince people that it was never the intention of the Founding Fathers to have a separation of church and state so it’s perfectly OK to have religion in our schools. [1]
The fact that intelligent design is creationism (and hence religion) was brutally exposed during research for the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial when original drafts of Of Pandas and People were subpoenaed and The National Center for Science Education found the “missing link” proving that intelligent design was creationism. Here is a short video about the find:
That video amply demonstrates the deceit of those in this movement, and as I’m fond of saying, how can people trust these individuals when they’ve been exposed for the hucksters they are?
Now that the term for their religious beliefs, intelligent design, has once again been exposed, it’s been noted by some experts on I.D. that the movement has begun to back away from using the term intelligent design, and instead use terms like “academic freedom” or “critical analysis of evolution” when writing policy proposals for science standards in various schools across the country. [2] Some might be familiar with the term “academic freedom” if you’ve watched the poorly made 2008 documentary called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed [3] about intelligent design (though they don’t say this explicitly), the main theme being that teachers’ “academic freedoms” are being threatened when they are disciplined and disallowed to teach “evidence against” evolution, which is actually I.D. trying to pass under the radar.
Due to the evolving nature of the intelligent design movement we must be more diligent than ever because I fear these ideologically driven individuals will not stop and all of us who stand for science and the founding principals of this country must come together to continue to expose and discredit this deceptive and unethical movement.
1. arizonaatheist.blogspot.com/2009/04/more-lies-from-christian-revisionists.html
2. Inside Creationism’s Trojan Horse – Video with Barbara Forrest, presented Saturday June 16th 2007 at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst N.Y.
3. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Super Trailer) ; accessed 2-8-13
