A War on Science
The theory of evolution is under attack from a controversial new idea
called intelligent design. But is it science?
When Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution nearly 150 years
ago, he shattered the dominant belief of his day - that humans were the
product of divine creation. Through his observations of nature, Darwin
proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection. This caused
uproar. After all, if the story of creation could be doubted, so too
could the existence of the creator. Ever since its proposal, this
cornerstone of biology has sustained wave after wave of attack. Now
some scientists fear it is facing the most formidable challenge yet: a
controversial new theory called intelligent design.
In the late 1980s Phillip Johnson, a renowned lawyer and born-again
Christian, began to develop a strategy to challenge Darwin. To Johnson,
the evidence for natural selection was poor. He also believed that by
explaining the world only through material processes was inherently
atheistic. If there was a god, science would never be able to discover
it.
Johnson recruited other Darwin doubters, including biochemist Professor
Michael Behe, mathematician Dr William Dembski, and philosopher of
science Dr Stephen Meyer. These scientists developed the theory of
intelligent design (ID) which claims that certain features of the
natural world are best explained as the result of an intelligent being.
To him, the presence of miniature machines and digital information
found in living cells are evidence of a supernatural creator.
Throughout the 90s, the ID movement took to disseminating articles,
books and DVDs and organising conferences all over the world.
To its supporters, intelligent design heralds a revolution in science
and the movement is fast gaining political clout. Not only does it have
the support of the President of the United States, it is on the verge
of being introduced to science classes across the nation. However, its
many critics, including Professor Richard Dawkins and Sir David
Attenborough, fear that it cloaks a religious motive - to replace
science with god.
Throughout the 20th century Christian groups resisted the theory of
evolution. Many US states did not teach it until 1968 when the Supreme
Court ruled that banning the teaching of evolution contravened the
first amendment of the constitution of America, the separation of
church and state. It was however still legal to teach religion as part
of science class until the Edwards vs. Aguillard case in 1987, where
mentioning a theory called 'creation science' in biology lessons was
also deemed unconstitutional. This left evolution as the only theory of
biological origin that science teachers were allowed to teach.
In 2005, the school board of Dover, a small farming community in
western Pennsylvania, became the first in America to adopt the theory
of intelligent design. The move divided the community and the small
town became the centre of national attention. The school board voted to
teach the ninth grade biology class that there are gaps and problems
with the theory of evolution and to present intelligent design as an
alternative.
Dover science teacher Bryan Rehm and his wife Christy believed that
this new policy was not only anti-science, but religious and therefore
unconstitutional. By promoting religion it was a violation of the law
passed in 1987. The Rehms and nine other parents and teachers filed a
law suit against the school board. Neighbour was pitted against
neighbour in the first legal challenge to intelligent design.
After 40 days of trial, Judge John E Jones III ruled against the school
board, stating: "We have addressed the seminal question of whether ID
is science. We have concluded that it is not, and moreover that ID
cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious,
antecedents."
Evolution supporters heralded this victory as the damning blow to the
intelligent design movement. However, as history shows, law suits have
little effect on the support for creationism in a country where over
50% of citizens believe that God created humans in their present form,
the way the bible describes it.
