Naturally, I've been thinking about ID a lot over the last few months. My
original opinion--that it's propaganda with no visible means of
support--has remained unchanged, but I had an idea about it recently and I
thought I'd share it with the list.
There are three main ideas about intelligent design: 1. nothing is designed
by an intelligent agent; 2. some things are designed by an intelligent
agent and some things are formed by natural forces; 3. *everything* is
designed by an intelligent agent.
#1 obviously is the naturalistic evolutionist position. It seems that most
of the ID proponents adhere to #2 and I've always been a little astonished
at that. You'd think that a group of people who want their god to be
omnipotent would say that he/she/it had designed *everything*. It finally
occurred to me that creationists *can't* take that position because that
means that everything simply is as it is. God made the Big Bang, evolution
and all the rest and the natural sciences merely examine God's handiwork.
That doesn't leave Genesis as a science text.
I mean, the whole point of creationism is to not only keep Genesis as
literally true, but to preserve the idea of original sin, the fall, and the
ultimate redemption from sin by the sacrifice of Jesus. If God made
*everything* and the natural sciences are true as scientists have
discovered them, then that might leave you as a theist, but it doesn't
leave you as a Christian--exactly. (Of course, you can remain Christian and
be an evolutionist. I know Unitarians who are atheists and who think of
themselves as Christian because they follow the example and leadership of
Christ--they merely think the man, Christ, was mistaken about the existence
of a deity.)
I don't have any idea where all this leads, but I had a feeling a few of
you might have some comments!
Susan
----------
For if there is a sin against life, it consists not so much in despairing
of life as in hoping for another and in eluding the implacable grandeur of
this one.
--Albert Camus
http://www.telepath.com/susanb/
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