December 2005, Posts of the Month

Now that isn't something which we need to debate, but nevertheless, it is something which I regard as symptomatic of a more fundamental problem which exists in the intelligent design movement -- and this is a tension between its attempt to appear scientific and the essentially religious nature of the ideology.In essence, the old earth creationists (who are willing to admit that the earth is perhaps as old as 4.5 billion years) are being pulled in the direction of science -- at least in comparison to the young earth creationists (who hold that the earth is not much older than roughly 10,000 years) who are holding firm with a more literal interpretation of the Bible.Now this is not to say that the old earth creationists are actually being scientific, but rather, they are permitting science to determine more of the content of their beliefs. The real tension, however, is between the objectivity required by science and the faith required by religion. This tension is created by the very attempt to make God an object of both domains. For the belief in this God to be scientific, it must be falsifiable by reference to evidence. However, for the belief in this God to be a matter of faith, it must be something which one believes in independently of evidence. The standards of science and standards of religion must necessarily come into conflict to the extent that God belongs to both domains.

Now that isn't something which we need to debate, but nevertheless, it is something which I regard as symptomatic of a more fundamental problem which exists in the intelligent design movement...

As someone who has been a lurker, but not a poster, for many months let me tell you that this board serves a great purpose.

It seems to me that being against sexual education and birth control is to directly support unwanted pregnancy and to indirectly support an increased number of abortions.If you are REALLY pro-life life then you MUST be pro birth-control.

Science is NOT atheist, it is non-theist. Science has no opinion on god. The existence or non-existence of god is completely irrelevant to science.