An oldie, but goodie.
Stupid design
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Tag Archives: creationism
A Catholic critique of intelligent design
Professor Kleiner, our token Thomist, sent me an interesting link the other day. It’s a First Things article by Stephen M. Barr, a professor of physics at the University of Delaware and a Catholic. He makes a compelling case that not only is ID bad science, it’s also bad theology.
I think the article is worth reading in full, but here are some representative excerpts:
It is time to take stock: What has the intelligent design movement achieved? As science, nothing. The goal of science is to increase our understanding of the natural world, and there is not a single phenomenon that we understand better today or are likely to understand better in the future through the efforts of ID theorists. If we are to look for ID achievements, then, it must be in the realm of natural theology. And there, I think, the movement must be judged not only a failure, but a debacle.
The emphasis in early Christian writings was not on complexity, irreducible or otherwise, but on the beauty, order, lawfulness, and harmony found in the world that God had made. As science advances, it brings this beautiful order ever more clearly into view.
But whereas the advance of science continually strengthens the broader and more traditional version of the design argument, the ID movement’s version is hostage to every advance in biological science. Science must fail for ID to succeed. In the famous “explanatory filter” of William A. Dembski, one finds “design” by eliminating “law” and “chance” as explanations. This, in effect, makes it a zero-sum game between God and nature. What nature does and science can explain is crossed off the list, and what remains is the evidence for God. This conception of design plays right into the hands of atheists, whose caricature of religion has always been that it is a substitute for the scientific understanding of nature.
Amen.
Terry Pratchett — “I’d rather be a rising ape than a fallen angel”
This sums up my thoughts perfectly.
From my BIO 1610 Discussion Board
So while browsing my discussion board in class I came across this and I thought I’d share it…
Ok I’m not a Darwinist first of I have to say that. I take bio because I think I might be interested in it. Ill admit macro evolution is an interesting theory, but I do not find much sound fact in it. #1 your evidence mostly is DNA similarity, fossils, the life experiment with the RNA assembling together out of used to be believed atmospherics conditions, the micro evolution factor, and I think that sums it up, and if it does it’s not very much. So ye why do you believe in it. With the law of enthalpy, and the very complexity of are body’s. Lets not go the cell level they are at least as complex as us. Just the odds of it happening I mean 10 to the 300,000 power just for plant life. That’s not including the earth being created or something coming form nothing. So ye for those of you out there that don’t know I think the odds of scientific improbability are 10 to the 40,000. Mostly I just think the fact evolution is around is because of peoples reluctance to admit god. As for the saying what did the bible do for us. Well it taught us about see currents no serous the person that found see currents I heard found them because he said the bible said there are path ways in the sea I shall find them. Told the Israelite common practices that we would not discover till the 1800′s like washing you hands. Isolation circumcision, and even on the day when the baby’s blood clots best allowing so the best time to do it to. Ever read 100 scientific facts of the bible it’s a short book very interesting. Just remember also everything in old testament can be dated back to the dead sea scrolls some possibly even further to be what it is today. Also the bible has never been disproved archeologically. All the evolutionary gems you have to the best of my knowledge are micro evolution something you really don’t hear specified in class. Micro evolution is stuff like the peppered moth’s change in color and the gardener snakes gradual immunity to the newts poison. So ye we don’t even know half of how the brain works I mean seriously that thing in it’s self is immensely complex the way are blood clots and even are eyes are immensely complex. Every thing is extermaly complex. If evlotion is true then why do things like fish go together and form a more complex orginisem? Just a question. I mean sure you can create a nuclues, but can you go and give it life. There arn’t even enough transitional fossils in the ground to support your theory. Then what about fossil lake how that layers could have been piled up like that from just one volcano explosion in a few hours? I don’t know to me evolutions evidence seems to dicey and I find it a lot easier to believe that an all powerfully benevolent being created us then the fact that we evolved. Besides the bible hasn’t been disproved yet. Did you know some of the lord of the rings music is actually Celtic. Sorry just listing to Celtic Myst top 100 on the mp3 player and hearing the main theme of lord of the rings. I like this saying sunset god’s way of reminding us he’s there. I guess when I lay my chips down it ultimately comes to this which theory is the most sound and looks the best. Although we can not prove god and probably will never be able to on or own it’s the one that the stuff it tells hasn’t been disproved, and sounds sound to me.
If you can read it, feel free to comment on it.
A Grave Mistake
That is such a thoughtful chimpanzee.
A few weeks back, after having seen this, I thought “Hey, this will be funny. I’ll order one of these funny little booklets and have a funny laugh and everything will be funny.” So I order the damn thing.
Maybe two weeks later, after I’ve already forgotten about it, a huge fat envelope is sitting in my mailbox, labeled United Church of God. An uneasy weight settles in my stomach. Who is this and how did they get my address? Why is it stuffed so full? I open it.
As it slides out, a friendly chimpanzee thoughtfully considers me from his cover. “OHAI,” he seems to say. “Iz your frndely cretinist chimp, thottfully con’siderin’ the eveedence for evolootun.”
I’m not too good at lolcat speak.
Oh yeah, my fun pamphlet! This will be fun, and hilarious, and I will be entertained. Everything will be funny.
No. No the hell it will not.
When I opened this and read the table of contents, I simply vomited. Right there on my couch. As for the actual content, directly opposite the table of contents is some blather surrounding a picture of a cute little baby, with this for a caption: “If we are the pinnacle of an evolutionary process, why is a human infant so helpless, and for so long, compared to the newborn of other species?”
I couldn’t help it. I had no muscular control over it. But the next thing I knew, I had thrown the book across the room. It was pretty much an involuntary defensive reaction, much like the way one would jerk back after touching a hot pan. My highly evolved body continues to protect me.
But oh no, now I have a blog. With people who read it and everything, demanding entertainment. So, reluctantly, I went and fished it out of the corner of the living room. I am taking this bullet. Over the next *mumble* weeks, I’m going to be dissecting every nuance of this thing. Remember, this is for you.