How Is Intelligent Design A Religion

The two-hour special documentary, Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, features the Kitzmiller v. Dover School District case in 2004. It captures the turmoil that tore apart the community of Dover, Pennsylvania in one of the latest battles over teaching evolution in public schools. Some members of the community believed that not only Darwinism, but also a so called theory, Intelligent Design, should be taught in their public high school. It was a battle between the two theories. It forced neighbor against neighbor and friend against friend. The community itself was broken half and half on the controversial issue.

In chapter two of the book “Problems from Philosophy”, by James Rachels, the author guided us through the process in which the topic of God and the origin of the universe was discussed and argued. There were many arguments many arguments towards this topic from both a religious belivers view point, and a non-believer. The main points in this chapter were the arguments, like the argument from design, the best-explanation argument, the same-evidence argument, the theory of Natural selection, and the first cause argument.

The question whether creation or Intelligent Design should be taught in public schools is applicable to America’s society today. Most school districts would rather avoid both topics due to causing arguments among students and teachers and leading to uncomfortable conversations. Evolution is the belief that one form of life gives rise to the next, like a tree with branches and twigs. Darwin called it “descent with modification” which is now called “natural selection”. Natural Selection, in the film, is said to be small changes occurring over time that can result in new speciations. If you think about it, evolution does not say anything about the creation of life. It only

Thesis: It is patently absurd to argue that creationism and / or intelligent design deserve a place in public school textbooks in the "science" chapter or in any way near to the chapter on evolution. The United States Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and freedom of expression, so all faiths and denominations have the absolute right to worship and believe as they

The Court is now confronted with the responsibility of determining if Dover?s proposition, and the implications of its implementation are constitutional, or whether they would violate fundamental personal freedoms. In order to make its decision, the court must contemplate many facets of the issue, including: if the religious origins of intelligent design permeate the theory too strongly, if teaching I.D. in schools would violate statutes regarding state funding for public schools, and even if the theory provides sufficient factual scientific evidence to be taught as a scientific theory in a school?s biology curriculum.

The argument has been going on for years and years. Should schools be allowed to teach evolution without teaching creationism? The courts have ruled, the answer is no, the theory of creationism cannot be included in a public school’s academic curriculum. With the court’s decision, it has been made clear there is no place for faith based theories to be taught in our public schools. What if there was a different approach that took God out of the equation? Public high schools should allow a course in intelligent design to be included in the curriculum as a way of teaching both evolution and creationism without violating the separation of church and state. This is certainly easier said than done.

For as long as mankind has had the curiosity to gaze at the stars, we have been constantly questioning our origin and place in the universe. From simple, yet elegant solutions (like our world being on the back of a large tortoise) to the more complex pantheons of gods and heavens, humanity’s dedication to classifying and comprehending our universe has enabled us to weave rich and complex mythologies and beliefs. However, in America today there are two prominent paradigms that are shaping how we see the world—Christian creationism and scientific evolution. These two schools of thought, like many other conflicting models of the universe and its creation, have fueled passions and incited spirited rivalries among its most ardent followers and fanatics, but, again like many other opposing beliefs, at the same time it is easy to see how they can be reconciled both within and without oneself. However, many scientists and theologians believe that one of the two is blasphemous and the other is gospel (or textbook) truth. For example, in Scott D Sampson’s essay Evoliteracy, (2006) Sampson denounces Christianity and pushes for everyone to learn the theory of Evolution instead of creationism. While he is correct in wanting a more educated populace, Christianity is not an inherently wrong construct. Similarly, many of those pushing for intelligent design have similarly decried the evolutionary theory as

The Dover Area School Board passed a resolution offering Intelligent Design as an alternative theory to Darwin’s theory of evolution in public school. Tammy Kitzmiller sued the Dover school board in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The federal question brought to the court by the plaintiff was whether Intelligent Design was an offshoot policy of creationism. Moreover, does Intelligent Design constitute an establishment of religion, prohibited by the First Amendment, made applicable by the Fourteenth Amendment? Judge Jones presided over the case and held that Intelligent Design was not science, but religion. The Judge also ruled that the Dover School Board violated the Establishment Clause by implementing religion in public

Believers say that life is too complicated to have happened randomly, therefore a supernatural element must have been present. Intelligent design is said to be inclusive of all religions because it does not explicitly mention God. Intelligent design is a form of creationism that became more popular with the rise of education. Supporters of Intelligent design have been trying to get public schools to teach this idea alongside evolution, but have been unsuccessful. 38% of Americans believe that God had a part in the evolutionary process, which means more Americans believe that God had a role in evolution than those who don’t. This is true even among highly educated

Intelligent design is not an alternative theory to evolution. Intelligent design is the belief that organisms or other things did not evolve, but were created just as they are now. In the video, the science teachers of Dover High School refuse to read a one minute statement to their classes explaining that intelligent design is an alternative theory to Darwin’s theory of evolution. Their refuting argument were as follows,

The film “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design On Trial” directed by Gary Johnstone pose the question about creationism and evolution and how it should be taught in the public schools. Multiple members of the community were outraged on how the school board took its approach to how creationism and evolution should be taught. Johnstone states, “The Dover school board demanded that high science teachers read a one-minute statement claiming that there are gaps in the theory of evolution exist and putting forward Intelligent Design as an alternative” (Johnstone 4:29). The statement also directed students to an Intelligent design textbook called “Of Panda and People” that would be made available” (Johnstone 4:42). Multiple members of the community and

At this point in the modern world, there are two main sides of the scientific world; those that believe in intelligent design, or those that believe in physicalism. Intelligent design is the belief that the earth was intelligently designed. Physicalism is the belief that the real world only consists of only the physical world. This is a real world conflict and it is a very controversial topic. This conflicts creates other problems as well; including the problem that some people don’t really allow for others’ opinions on the topic. Especially those who believe in intelligent design being told they aren’t real scientists and even worst; being fired and blacklisted from having any position in their field of science

Hello, Savanna. Thank you for replying! I really do love this kind of discussion topic. Anyways, although we can't actually touch God I still be Intelligent Design is as scientific as Darwinian evolution. The beginnings of evolution can't be touched or proven either; however, both theories can claim scientific evidence. What I am trying to say is both theories require faith because no one was there to experience the beginning. I agree with you about how sad it is that a different theory can't be taught in public schools. Neither has been proven as fact, so both be presented and left to the students to decide what they believe.

Teaching Creationism or Intelligent Design to our youth can be done in a way that is neither opinion based nor completely fact based, but may hold some risk of personal interpretation. The first thing needed to be considered is how can children of the middle school age range grasp such a deep subject and have the capacity to reach their own conclusion. Information found regarding the development of children in this developmental range was found in the book titled "Characteristics of Middle Grade Students,” Caught in the Middle by the Sacramento Department of Education. It was found that students of this age hold a variety of learning attributes that support the belief that children can handle both sides of this controversial issue. Some

By having another aspect to think about can make a student see other theories as well. Evolution should not be the only thing getting credit for the way life is. Intelligent design can also explain the existence of how things are created if we actually think about it. I personally do not agree with the teaching of evolution to students. For example, I do not believe that we evolved from apes or monkeys. If that was the case, why is there still apes in the world if they evolved into human. If we actually think about it evolution was mentioned from a man’s theory. Why not believe what the bible says too just because we know a man was the one who wrote the bible does not mean it is not true. Because evolution was also written by man how do