Isn't the proof that Intelligent Design is Creationism by another name

[Spinzonner]

the fact that creationists haven't criticized it for taking God out of the explanation for life ?

[tk2kewl]

1. or that creationists created it

as they did god

[WritingIsMyReligion]

2. LOL!

Funny :D :D :D

[electropop]

3. To prove that Intelligent Design is false,

take one look at the people who promote it.

[mikelewis]

9. I believe in Intelligent Design...

I also believe in the Big Bang Theory and Evolution. I believe that studying how the universe works brings us closer to a better understanding of why things work the way they do.

[neoteric lefty]

4. Last night's West Wing summed it up best

I.D. is all about faith. Faith only exists when proof of it is impossible. If folks wanna talk about God's version of evolution, creation, or whatever, that's fine. Do it on Sunday in a House of Worship. It has no place in a classroom of science.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

5. "West" was awesome last night!

I knew CJ wasn't the leaker!

[neoteric lefty]

6. Shhhhh!!!

Don't spoil it for those who missed it. That was quite a twist at the end. I actually got my GF to watch West Wing last night (She loathes politics). She was on the edge of her seat. Great Episode!

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

7. It boils down to this:

something is so beautiful/perfect/etc. that it could have only been designed by an entity.

That is not science. It's just a search for meaning for things we don't understand yet. To teach ID is, in my opinion, akin to teaching alchemy instead of chemistry for chemical reactions or elements we do not know of yet.

ID is just a cop out. Part of what makes science fascinating is its search for the unknown, to find out how things are the way the are, not to just say "well, it was created by ." That, to me, effectively negates the spirit of scientific inquiry.

[MaineYooper]

8. ID also includes a standard mis-representation of evolution:

"It couldn't happen just by chance alone."

This statement betrays a naivete and/or willful misunderstanding.

Life has not evolved "by chance alone." The events that change life (for example, DNA mutations) are random, or at least not designed or driven. However, whether or not these changes propagate is selection, and selection is far from random.

Selection is an exceedingly complex relationship of both the current environment and the previous evolutionary history. Add to this the additional mechanism of recombination, which allows adaptations/mutations from different individuals to be mixed and matched in the next generation, and we get a complete process capable of vetting a staggeringly large number of possible configurations. In this context, well adapted proteins or protein complexes are not surprising, but somewhat rather to be expected.

Selection gives rise to the illusion of design.

One ends up through the amazing filter of evolution with organisms (and their components) that are remarkably well adapted to their surroundings. Deleterious or negative changes are eliminated in the process of selection.