intelligent design

Court Battle over Intelligent Design and Evolution

By Darla Sitton
CBN News Producer

CBN.com – (CBN News) - A landmark trial is underway in federal court. At issue is whether the theory of "intelligent design" should be taught in public schools.

The outcome of the case could affect what millions of kids learn in school about the origins of life on Earth.

The Dover, Pennsylvania school district is defending its policy that requires ninth-grade students to hear about "intelligent design" before their biology lessons on evolution.

Intelligent design teaches that life and the universe are too complex to have evolved by chance; a higher power or intelligent designer must have been involved.

A Seattle think tank called the Discovery Institute helped pioneer the intelligent design concept.

Stephen Meyer of the institute said, "If there are criticisms of the theory of evolution, why can't students learn about those?"

And more and more school boards are considering whether to allow teachers to teach views that challenge evolution.

Debates are now underway in 28 states.

Dad Ben Johnson commented, "Personally, I think there's too much emphasis on evolution, and it has negated any body else's opinion on any other form of creation."

But some scientists and parents take issue with the theory. With the help of the ACLU, 11 Dover parents are suing the school board for exposing students to intelligent design, which, they say, is more like religion than science.

"We expect to show the motivation here locally, was to undermine evolution and to teach a religious concept," explained legal director for Pennsylvania, Vic Witold Walczak.

In court, biologist Kenneth Miller slammed the intelligent design textbook...calling it, "inaccurate and in some cases, false."

But intelligent design proponents say evolution does not explain how life began, or how higher forms of life developed, while intelligent design does.

"The fundamental issue,” remarked science philosopher Dr. Stephen Meyer, “the scientific issue which is also a philosophical issue, (is): is there or is there not evidence for design in biology and in the universe generally? What we're excited about is that there is lots of evidence for design; in fact, evidence that can't be explained by the designer mechanism substitute of Darwin."

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