The interesting thing about the creationists and Intelligent Design advocates is they are not very Christian. They use Christian rhetoric from time time and make explicit religious appeals to people, but they are not in line with Scripture. In fact, they are almost pagan in their beliefs. This story that has been kicking around the neo-Christian sites is a pretty good example. The first sentence is a good starting point.
LANDMARK Adelaide research showing that sperm and eggs appear to carry genetic memories of events well before conception, may force a rethink of the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin, scientists say.
Creationists and ID’ers look at evolution as a cult. They assume Darwin holds the same place in the hearts of “evolutionists” as Jesus or the Bible holds for them. If Darwin is proven to be wrong in some way, then everything he said is false and the whole religion of evolution comes crashing down. After all, if the prophet is proved false his religion is proved false. The result of this thinking is an obsession on the part of ID’ers with Darwin and trying to discredit him.
The trouble is science does not work like religion. Darwin was wrong about a lot of things and he guessed about a lot of other things. He was also not the only guy working on these ideas. Genetics and the cracking open of the human genome have added more to evolutionary biology than Darwin. Newton was wrong about plenty of things, but that does not mean math is a false god. Science is the process of trial and error, with error leading to new discoveries.
But, the ID’ers can’t think that way. Their interest in the subject is not to gain a better understanding of the natural world. it is to defend their faith. That’s where the paganism creeps into the story. Traditional Christianity contains two key elements. One is that God is rational and the other is God is unknowable. God created the laws of nature and enforces them. They don’t change. God could change those laws, but he doesn’t because he keeps his word, literally and figuratively.
The latter, the unknowable part is where the new breed of Christian wanders off the reservation. They think they are having a personal relationship with Jesus. Traditional Christianity does not view Jesus as divine in the same way Greeks viewed Zeus as divine. Jesus was the word, God’s word, made flesh. If God were so inclined, he could have used a stick or a rock as his covenant with man. Jesus is the symbol through which God communicated his new covenant with mankind.
The neo-Christians into the Intelligent Design cause hold a different view. They see Jesus as their personal God in the same way a Roman would have a personal relationship with Apollo. Like the pagan gods, Jesus can and does intercede on man’s behalf when asked. This is why the wide receiver looks up and thanks Jesus after he scores a touchdown. The result is an occasionalist view of nature. If Jesus were so inclined, he could make the sky green and the grass purple.
In this regard, creationists are more honest that ID’ers. The creationist simply says the world is as described in their version of Genesis. They are not interested in knowing anything about their version of Genesis or the science of evolution. ID’ers on the other hand are only interested in evolution in order to come up with the right ritual to persuade their god to smite the evolutionist. They dream of a time when Jesus will defeat Darwin at the end times. That’s not science and it it barely qualifies as Christianity.
Let’s assume evolution is true. ID arguments then offer the opportunity for trial and error to confirm evolution and flesh out the remaining areas of our understanding of it, which would be less likely to happen as quickly and completely, if the ID arguments were not there to push the process along. Now, let’s assume evolution is false. ID offers an alternative view from which to study and evaluate. ID may be wrong, too, but it offers a rich opportunity to perhaps find out what is really going on. Or…evolution is the best and most complete and empirical explanation we… Read more »
I believe Haldane was right, as right as we are going to get. The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine. That ironically makes one a believer.
@econ institute
Where do these secular believers in an intelligent Designer congregate? I’ve never seen one in the wild. I guess the 99.99% who came to it through religion must be making all the rest look bad.
Yeah, it has been my experience that the ID’ers are neo-Christians, the types to go to “non-denominational churches.” But, maybe Jews and Arabs have a lot of ID’er and I have just missed it. I tend to doubt that non-believers would go for ID.
Heh, you have been paying attention to climate science right? I’m not about to defend ID or creationists, but simply shouting ‘Science!’ is no vaccine against magical thinking.
No doubt. I’ve argued since the start that Climate Change is closer to witchcraft than chemistry, on the empiricism scale. The only thing that lack is animal sacrifice.
hmmm although the ID movement does have Christians , it’s mostly secular. Some ID people are proposing alternatives to evolution as well as pointing out evolution’s possible confusions. Some ID folk are obstinate but others are open to the possibility of being wrong. Besides the science, maybe Derb likes evolution maybe because he sees himself and others like him as the most evolved alpha smart humanoids.