Intelligent Design Theory

Intelligent Design Theory in Public School

Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power. The Kansas Board of Education voted that students will be expected to study doubts about modern Darwinian Theory. The board said high school students should be told that aspects of widely accepted evolutionary theory are controversial (Washington Post, 2005).

I am a proponent of the Kansas Board of Education teaching intelligent design theory in public school. However, I believe that intelligent design theory is creationism in disguise. God isn't mentioned specifically by name, but most of intelligent design's supporters invariably believe the designer to be the Christian God (CBC News Online). A federal judge in Pennsylvania called it a thinly-disguised repackaging of creationism (CBC News Online). No one wants to say that it is God so they say a higher power instead. Psalm 14:1a says, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God."

A religious belief is such a broad subject and by teaching it in the public school system can create chaos, because there are many religious beliefs in the world such as Buddhism, Muslim, etc. Therefore, disguising creationism as intelligent design theory provides the necessary platform for entering the discussion into the public school system without infringing on anyone's constitutional rights. This disguise also provides the academic freedom necessary to not only teach scientific theory of the creation of the earth, but also the biblical theory of the creation of the earth. I believe that by teaching both theories it will give students a chance to see both sides. It will give them a chance to think and learn what the debate is all about and form their on theory on this controversial evolutionary theory.

References

CBC News, CBC News Online (Dec 20, 2005). Indepth: Intelligent Design. Creationism in disguise? Retrieved November 2, 2006, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/intelligentdesign/

Slevin, Peter, Washington Post Staff Writer (November 9, 2005). Kansas Education Board First to Back "Intelligent Design". Retrieved November 2, 2006, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/08/AR 2005110801211.html.