Intelligent Design

1
Intelligent Design

• Vic Stenger
• Mark Spencer
• Scott McGlasson

2
The New Stealth Creationism

• Courts have ruled that creationism is religion
  and not science and so cannot be taught as
  science in public schools.
• A new creationism called Intelligent Design
  claims to be a scientific alternative to
  evolution.

But is it science?
3
Federal court ruling

• Arkansas Act 590 Balanced Treatment for
  Creation-Science and Evolution-Science.
• Little Rock, December, 1981, Judge William R.
  Overton presiding without a jury
• The statute amounted to "a religious crusade,
  coupled with a desire to conceal this fact.
• The evidence is overwhelming that both the
  purpose and effect of Act 590 is the advancement
  of religion in the public schools."

4
Lessons learned by creationists

• Do not appear to promote religion but simply
  present "evidence" for a generic creator.
• Avoid conflict with well-established science.
• Argue that conventional science has a built-in
  dogmatic attachment to naturalism.
• Argue that it is "censorship" to prevent
  intelligent design from being taught in public
  school science classes.

5
Claims of Intelligent Design

• Universe is fine-tuned for life.
• Some biological systems are irreducibly complex.
• Information cannot be generated naturally.
• Design can be detected scientifically.
• Natural selection can do no better than chance.

6
Intelligent Design is Provably Incorrect

• Natural explanations exist for fine-tuning.
• Examples of irreducible complexity are wrong.
• Information is generated naturally.
• Design has not been detected scientifically.
• Natural selection is not just chance.

7
What about Religion?

• Have not disproved intelligent design in general,
  just shown that current claims of the political
  movement called Intelligent Design are
  scientifically wrong.
• Many Christians and other believers see no
  conflict between evolution and faith.
• Then, why all the current conflict?

8
The Wedge Strategy of the Discovery Institute

• To defeat scientific materialism and its
  destructive moral, cultural and political
  legacies.
• To replace materialistic explanations with the
  theistic understanding that nature and human
  beings are created by God.
• To see intelligent design theory as the dominant
  perspective in science.

9
Is science dogmatic?

• True science can never be dogmatic.
• Scientists can be convinced.
• Let the evidence decide.

10
Conclusion

• Intelligent Design is motivated by purely
  sectarian, antiscientific goals.
• It should not be taught in science classes
  because it is wrong.

11

• Please join the Colorado Citizens for Science
• http//www.coloradocfs.org
• My web site
• http//spot.colorado.edu/vstenger
• Email vstenger_at_mindspring.com