Does Intelligent Design Have Merit?

 
Opposing Views has posted a debate on the question Does Intelligent Design Have Merit?. Here's the complete question ...

With about 70 billion stars and as many as 100 million life forms (at least here on Earth), the universe is a stunningly complex place. Did all of this matter evolve independently, or was it guided by a larger force – as proponents of intelligent design believe? With the debate raging in living rooms, classrooms and courtrooms, the stakes are high when it comes to determining intelligent design’s merit.

All the players are there so this is a good chance for everyone to see what the "debate" is all about. For the "yes" side we have the Discovery Institute (Casey Luskin), Michael Behe, and Jay Roberts. On the "no" side there's the National Center for Science Education, Americans United, and the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights.

Here's my take on some of the things that are being debated.

1. The question is whether intelligent design has merit and it presupposes that the formation of the universe was "guided by a larger force."¹ We all know that Intelligent Design Creationism is about religion and about God as a creator. That's not the question and any article that focus on whether IDC is religious and whether religious ideas should be taught in school are off topic. Same applies to whether IDC is unconstitutional in one country or another.


2. There are many definitions of "design" but it seems quite appropriate to use this word to describe at least some biological features. Richard Dawkins does it all the time. So the question isn't whether there is "design" in nature, it's how do you explain that design. Evolution is a perfectly reasonable explanation of "design" in nature. Any articles whose main point is that there is design in nature are completely useless. Let's stipulate that there is "design" in at least some parts of nature and get on with debating how best to explain that design.


3. In order for Intelligent Design Creationism to have merit it has to offer a reasonable explanation of design in nature. It's not sufficient to just say "God did it." We need to know when, where, and how God did it if it's going to count as an explanation for particular features. Any article that fails to do this isn't defending the proposition. Attacks on evolution do not count as Intelligent Design explanations for things like the bacterial flagella. If we don't see a single attempt on the "yes" side to offer a explanation, then IDC loses by default. It's just the same-old, same-old, cry-baby complaints about evolution that we've been hearing for decades.

I find it astonishing that after almost twenty years the Intelligent Design Creationists can't come up with any better arguments than what we see on this website. I find it mind-boggling that people like Casey Luskin are the best they can offer.

---

1. The opening article from NCSE tries to deal with this in the first paragraph by saying, "The notion that the universe was created by God may have merit as a religious idea, but it has no merit as science. To some people, the phrase “intelligent design” evokes the belief that the universe, and especially human beings, were crafted by the guiding hand of a loving God. This is a belief shared by many people, including many scientists. NCSE takes no position on the merits of these religious beliefs, except to say that these are not scientific statements, and should not be presented as such." This is pretty dangerous territory. It essentially concedes that IDC has merit and that many scientists agree with it.