A Slightly Technical Introduction to Intelligent Design: Biology, Physics, Mathematics, and Information Theory
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Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals
UNDERSTANDING THE INTELLIGENT DESIGN CREATIONIST MOVEMENT: ITS TRUE NATURE AND GOALS A POSITION PAPER FROM THE CENTER FOR INQUIRY OFFICE OF PUBLIC POLICY AUTHOR: BARBARA FORREST, Ph.D. Reviewing Committee: Paul Kurtz, Ph.D.; Austin Dacey, Ph.D.; Stuart D. Jordan, Ph.D.; Ronald A. Lindsay, J. D., Ph.D.; John Shook, Ph.D.; Toni Van Pelt DATED: MAY 2007 ( AMENDED JULY 2007) Copyright © 2007 Center for Inquiry, Inc. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for noncommercial, educational purposes, provided that this notice appears on the reproduced materials, the full authoritative version is retained, and copies are not altered. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the Center for Inquiry, Inc. Table of Contents Section I. Introduction: What is at stake in the dispute over intelligent design?.................. 1 Section II. What is the intelligent design creationist movement? ........................................ 2 Section III. The historical and legal background of intelligent design creationism ................ 6 Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) ............................................................................ 6 McLean v. Arkansas (1982) .............................................................................. 6 Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) ............................................................................. 7 Section IV. The ID movement’s aims and strategy .............................................................. 9 The “Wedge Strategy” ..................................................................................... -
Darwins-Corrosive-Idea.Pdf
This report was prepared and published by Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, a non-profit, non-partisan educational and research organization. The Center’s mission is to advance the understanding that human beings and nature are the result of intelligent design rather than a blind and undirected process. We seek long-term scientific and cultural change through cutting-edge scientific research and scholarship; education and training of young leaders; communication to the general public; and advocacy of academic freedom and free speech for scientists, teachers, and students. For more information about the Center, visit www.discovery.org/id. FOR FREE RESOURCES ABOUT SCIENCE AND FAITH, VISIT WWW.SCIENCEANDGOD.ORG/RESOURCES. PUBLISHED NOVEMBER, 2016. © 2016 BY DISCOVERY INSTITUTE. DARWIN’S CORROSIVE IDEA The Impact of Evolution on Attitudes about Faith, Ethics, and Human Uniqueness John G. West, PhD* EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In his influential book Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, have asked about the impact of science on a person’s philosopher Daniel Dennett praised Darwinian religious faith typically have not explored the evolution for being a “universal acid” that dissolves impact of specific scientific ideas such as Darwinian traditional religious and moral beliefs.1 Evolution- evolution.5 ary biologist Richard Dawkins has similarly praised In order to gain insights into the impact of Darwin for making “it possible to be an intellect- specific scientific ideas on popular beliefs about ually fulfilled atheist.”2 Although numerous studies God and ethics, Discovery Institute conducted a have documented the influence of Darwinian nationwide survey of a representative sample of theory and other scientific ideas on the views of 3,664 American adults. -
Discovering ID.Indd
DISCOVERING INTELLIGENT DESIGN A JOURNEY INTO THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE Gary Kemper Hallie Kemper Casey Luskin DISCOVERY INSTITUTE PRESS, SEATTLE, WA Description The Discovering Intelligent Design textbook is part of a comprehensive curriculum that presents both the biological and cosmological evidence in support of the scientific theory of intelligent design. Developed for middle-school-age students to adults, the curriculum also includes a workbook with learning activities and a DVD with video clips keyed to the content of the textbook. Produced by Discovery Institute in conjunction with Illustra Media, the curriculum is intended for use by homeschools and private schools. The curriculum is divided into six modules that explore topics such as the origin and development of the universe, the origin of biological complexity, the fossil record’s evidence (or lack thereof) for universal common descent, and the broader cultural debate over intelligent design. More information can be obtained by visiting the curriculum’s website, http://discoveringid.org. Copyright Notice Copyright © 2013 by Gary Kemper, Hallie Kemper, and Casey Luskin. All Rights Reserved. Library Cataloging Data Discovering Intelligent Design: A Journey into the Scientific Evidence by Gary Kemper, Hallie Kemper, and Casey Luskin 286 pages, 8.5 x 11x 0.6 inches or 280 x 216 x 15 mm, 1.5 lbs or 680 g. Library of Congress Control Number: 2013934288 BISAC: SCI015000 SCIENCE/Cosmology BISAC: SCI027000 SCIENCE/Life Sciences/Evolution BISAC: SCI034000 SCIENCE/History BISAC: SCI075000 SCIENCE/Philosophy & Social Aspects ISBN-13: 978-1-936599-08-0 ISBN-10: 1936599082 Publisher Information Discovery Institute Press, 208 Columbia Street, Seattle, WA 98104 http://www.discoveryinstitutepress.com Published in the United States of America on acid-free paper. -
United States District Court Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA ATLANTA DIVISION JEFFREY MICHAEL SELMAN, et al., ) No. 1:02-CV-2325-CC ) Plaintiffs, ) BRIEF AMICUS CURIAE ) OF COLORADO CITIZENS v. ) FOR SCIENCE, KANSAS ) CITIZENS FOR SCIENCE, COBB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al., ) MICHIGAN CITIZENS FOR ) SCIENCE, NEBRASKA Defendants. ) RELIGIOUS COALITION ) FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION, NEW MEXICO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, NEW MEXICANS FOR SCIENCE AND REASON, NEW MEXICO COALITION FOR EXCELLENCE IN SCIENCE AND MATH EDUCATION, AND TEXAS CITIZENS FOR SCIENCE, IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS LYNN FANT 254963 Counsel of Record P.O. Box 668 Marietta, GA 30061-0668 Tel: (770) 590-7294 Attorney for Amici Curiae Colorado Citizens for Science, et al. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ........................................ii INTRODUCTION ...............................................1 IDENTITY AND INTEREST OF AMICUS CURIAE ....................1 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ......................................2 ARGUMENT ...................................................2 I. INTELLIGENT DESIGN ADVOCATES MISREPRESENT EVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE ..................................2 II. THERE IS NO GENUINE SCIENTIFIC CONTROVERSY OVER THE VALIDITY OF EVOLUTION ..............................6 CONCLUSION .................................................10 - i - TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page Cases Freiler v. Tangipahoa Parish Bd. of Educ., 185 F.3d 337 (5th Cir. 1999), cert. denied, 530 U.S. 1251 (2000)) ....................................6 Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993) .........6 Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing Tp., 330 U.S. 1 (1947). .................9 Other Texts Gary L Bennett, A Review of Of Pandas and People as a Textbook Supplement, NCSE Reports, Nov. 2000 .......................................7 Marshall Berman, Intelligent Design Creationism: A Threat to Society--Not Just Biology, The American Biology Teacher, Nov. 2003 ......................5 Wesley R. Elsberry, et al., The “Meyer 2004" Medley, Panda’s Thumb .......9 Douglas J. -
Finding Shared Values in a Diverse Society: Lessons from the Intelligent Design Controversy
FINDING SHARED VALUES IN A DIVERSE SOCIETY: LESSONS FROM THE INTELLIGENT DESIGN CONTROVERSY Alan E. Garfield∗† If we are to be as a shining city upon a hill, it will be because of our ceaseless pursuit of the constitutional ideal of human dignity.1 INTRODUCTION American society is destined to become dramatically more diverse over the course of this century. The Census Bureau estimates that non- Hispanic Whites will constitute less than half the population by mid- century2 and that foreign-born residents already outnumber the entire population of Canada.3 Although the Census Bureau does not track people’s religious affiliation,4 other surveys indicate that America is also ∗. Professor of Law, Widener University School of Law. This Article is a product of my work as the 2005–2007 H. Albert Young Fellow in Constitutional Law and was originally presented as the 2007 H. Albert Young Lecture at Widener University School of Law on April 25, 2007. †. I am grateful to the Young Foundation for its generous support of my scholarship, and to Erin Daly, Michael Goldberg, Stephen Henderson, Patrick Kelly, Laura Ray, and John Wladis for their valuable comments on earlier versions of this work. 1. Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., Address at the Georgetown University Text and Teaching Symposium (Oct. 12, 1985), in THE GREAT DEBATE: INTERPRETING OUR WRITTEN CONSTITUTION 11, 25 (2005 ed.), available at http://www.fed-soc.org/resources/id.50/default.asp. 2. Press Release, U.S. Census Bureau, An Older and More Diverse Nation by Midcentury (Aug. 14, 2008), available at http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/012496.html. -
Darwin's Doubt
Debating Darwin’s Doubt A Scientific Controversy that Can No Longer Be Denied DAVID KLINGHOFFER, EDITOR DISCOVERY INSTITUTE PRESS SEATTLE 2015 Description This book contains essays responding to criticism of Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design by Stephen Meyer. The book explores topics such as orphan genes, cladistics, small shelly fossils, protein evolution, the length of the Cambrian explosion, the God-of-the-Gaps objection to intelligent design, and criticisms raised by proponents of theistic evolution. Contributors include Stephen Meyer, Douglas Axe, David Berlinski, William Dembski, Ann Gauger, Casey Luskin, and Paul Nelson. Edited by David Klinghoffer. Copyright Notice Copyright © 2015 by Discovery Institute. All Rights Reserved. Publisher’s Note This book is part of a series published by the Center for Science & Culture at Discovery Institute in Seattle. Previous books include Signature of Controversy: Responses to CritiCs of Signature in the Cell, edited by David Klinghoffer; The Myth of Junk DNA by Jonathan Wells; The Deniable Darwin & Other Essays by David Berlinski; and DisCovering Intelligent Design: A Journey into the SCientifiC EvidenCe by Gary Kemper, Hallie Kemper, and Casey Luskin. Library Cataloging Data Debating Darwin’s Doubt: A SCientifiC Controversy that Can No Longer Be Denied Edited by David Klinghoffer. BISAC Subject: SCI027000 SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Evolution BISAC Subject: SCI080000 SCIENCE / Essays BISAC Subject: SCI034000 SCIENCE / History ISBN-13: 978-1-936599-30-1 (Kindle) 978-1-936599-31-8 (EPUB) 978-1-936599-28-8 (paperback) Publisher Information Discovery Institute Press, 208 Columbia Street, Seattle, WA 98101 Internet: http://www.discoveryinstitutepress.com/ First Edition. -
Intelligent Design's Trajectory After Dover
University of St. Thomas Journal of Law and Public Policy Volume 4 Issue 1 Fall 2009 Article 8 January 2009 Leap of Faith: Intelligent Design's Trajectory after Dover Joshua Rosenau Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.stthomas.edu/ustjlpp Part of the First Amendment Commons, Law and Philosophy Commons, and the Religion Law Commons Recommended Citation Joshua Rosenau, Leap of Faith: Intelligent Design's Trajectory after Dover, 4 U. ST. THOMAS J.L. & PUB. POL'Y 278 (2009). Available at: https://ir.stthomas.edu/ustjlpp/vol4/iss1/8 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UST Research Online and the University of St. Thomas Journal of Law and Public Policy. For more information, please contact the Editor-in-Chief at [email protected]. LEAP OF FAITH: INTELLIGENT DESIGN'S TRAJECTORY AFTER DOVER JOSHUA ROSENAU* Here on these cliffs ofDover So high you can't see over And while your head is spinning Hold tight, it'sjust beginning -The Decemberists, "We Both Go Down Together"' With the failure of Intelligent Design (ID) in Kitzmiller v. Dover,2 the questions stand: what will be next in the creationism-evolution conflict? Can ID overcome the evidence and legal arguments that sank it in Dover, Pennsylvania? Will a new strategy emerge? And if so, will that successor fare any better than ID, creation science, or biblical creationism before that? To address these questions, Part I of this article examines the history of creationism and the ID movement. Part II gives specific attention to the Kitzmiller3 case and examines whether the ruling was, as critics argue, overbroad and incorrect in its conclusions about whether ID is science or creationism. -
The Top Ten Scientific Problems with Biological and Chemical Evolution
The Top Ten Scientific Problems with Biological and Chemical Evolution Casey Luskin “There are no weaknesses in the theory of evolution.”1 Such was professed by Eugenie Scott, the de facto head of the Darwin lobby, while speaking to the media in response to the Texas State Board of Education’s 2009 vote to require students to learn about both the scientific evidence for and against neo-Darwinian evolution. For those who follow the debate over origins, Dr. Scott’s words are as unsurprising as they are familiar. It seems that almost on a daily basis, we find the news media quoting evolutionary scientists declaring that materialist accounts of biological and chemical evolution are “fact.” Students who take college-preparatory or college-level courses on evolution are warned that doubting Darwinism is tantamount to committing intellectual suicide—you might as well proclaim the Earth is flat.2 Such bullying is enough to convince many that it’s much easier on your academic standing, your career, and your reputation to just buy into Darwinism. The few holdouts who remain are intimidated into silence. But is it true that there are “no weaknesses” in evolutionary theory? Are those who express doubts about Darwinism displaying courage, or are they fools that want to take us back to the dark ages and era of the flat Earth?3 Thankfully, it’s very easy to test these questions: all one must do is examine the technical scientific literature and inquire whether there are legitimate scientific challenges to chemical and biological evolution. This chapter will review some of this literature, and show that there are numerous legitimate scientific challenges to core tenets of Darwinian theory, as well as predominant theories of chemical evolution. -
A Comparison of Judge Jones' Opinion In
December 12, 2006 A Comparison of Judge Jones’ Opinion in Kitzmiller v. Dover with Plaintiffs’ Proposed “Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law” By John G. West and David K. DeWolf* © 2006 by Discovery Institute. All rights reserved. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In December of 2005, critics of the theory of intelligent design (ID) hailed federal judge John E. Jones’ ruling in Kitzmiller v. Dover, which declared unconstitutional the reading of a statement about intelligent design in public school science classrooms in Dover, Pennsylvania. Since the decision was issued, Jones’ 139-page judicial opinion has been lavished with praise as a “masterful decision” based on careful and independent analysis of the evidence. However, a new analysis of the text of the Kitzmiller decision reveals that nearly all of Judge Jones’ lengthy examination of “whether ID is science” came not from his own efforts or analysis but from wording supplied by ACLU attorneys. In fact, 90.9% (or 5,458 words) of Judge Jones’ 6,004- word section on intelligent design as science was taken virtually verbatim from the ACLU’s proposed “Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law” submitted to Judge Jones nearly a month before his ruling. Judge Jones even copied several clearly erroneous factual claims made by the ACLU. The finding that most of Judge Jones’ analysis of intelligent design was apparently not the product of his own original deliberative activity seriously undercuts the credibility of Judge Jones’ examination of the scientific validity of intelligent design. *John G. West, Ph.D. (Government), Claremont Graduate University, is Vice President for Public Policy and Legal Affairs, Center for Science and Culture, Discovery Institute; David K. -
The College Student's Back to School Guide to Intelligent Design
Revised November, 2014 Part I: Letter of Introduction: Why this Student’s Guide? Part II: What is Intelligent Design? Part III: Answers to Your Professors’ 10 Most Common Misinformed Objections to Intelligent Design (1) Intelligent Design is Not Science (2) Intelligent Design is just a Negative Argument against Evolution (3) Intelligent Design Rejects All of Evolutionary Biology (4) Intelligent Design was Banned from Schools by the U.S. Supreme Court (5) Intelligent Design is Just Politics (6) Intelligent Design is a Science Stopper (7) Intelligent Design is “Creationism” and Based on Religion (8) Intelligent Design is Religiously Motivated (9) Intelligent Design Proponents Don’t Conduct or Publish Scientific Research (10) Intelligent Design is Refuted by the Overwhelming Evidence for Neo-Darwinian Evolution Part IV: Information About the Discovery Institute’s Summer Seminars on Intelligent Design COPYRIGHT © DISCOVERY INSTITUTE, 2014 — WWW.INTELLIGENTDESIGN.ORG PERMISSION GRANTED TO COPY AND DISTRIBUTE FOR NONPROFIT EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. 2 Part I: Letter of Introduction: Why this Student’s Guide? Welcome to College, Goodbye to Intelligent Design? The famous Pink Floyd song that laments, “We don’t need no education / We don’t need no thought control,” is not just the rant of a rebellious mind; it is also a commentary on the failure of education to teach students how to think critically and evaluate both sides of controversial issues. Few scientists understood the importance of critical thinking better than Charles Darwin. When he first proposed his theory of evolution in Origin of Species in 1859, Darwin faced intense intellectual opposition from both the scientific community and the culture of his day. -
The Scientific Controversy Over Whether Microevolution Can Account for Macroevolution
SUMMARY: The Scientific Controversy Over Whether Microevolution Can Account For Macroevolution © Center for Science and Culture/Discovery Institute, 1511 Third Avenue, Suite 808, Seattle, WA 98101 When Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859, it was already known that existing species can change over time. This is the basis of artificial breeding, which had been practiced for thousands of years. Darwin and his contemporaries were also familiar enough with the fossil record to know that major changes in living things had occurred over geological time. Darwin's theory was that a process analogous to artificial breeding also occurs in nature; he called that process natural selection. Darwin's theory was also that changes in existing species due primarily to natural selection could, if given enough time, produce the major changes we see in the fossil record. After Darwin, the first phenomenon (changes within an existing species or gene pool) was named "microevolution." There is abundant evidence that changes can occur within existing species, both domestic and wild, so microevolution is uncontroversial. The second phenomenon (large-scale changes over geological time) was named "macroevolution," and Darwin's theory that the processes of the former can account for the latter was controversial right from the start. Many biologists during and after Darwin's lifetime have questioned whether the natural counterpart of domestic breeding could do what domestic breeding has never done -- namely, produce new species, organs, and body plans. In the first few decades of the twentieth century, skepticism over this aspect of evolution was so strong that Darwin's theory went into eclipse. -
Bibliographic and Annotated List of Peer-Reviewed Publications Supporting Intelligent Design
BIBLIOGRAPHIC AND ANNOTATED LIST OF PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS SUPPORTING INTELLIGENT DESIGN UPDATED JULY, 2017 PART I: INTRODUCTION While intelligent design (ID) research is a new scientific field, recent years have been a period of encouraging growth, producing a strong record of peer-reviewed scientific publications. In 2011, the ID movement counted its 50th peer-reviewed scientific paper and new publications continue to appear. As of 2015, the peer-reviewed scientific publication count had reached 90. Many of these papers are recent, published since 2004, when Discovery Institute senior fellow Stephen Meyer published a groundbreaking paper advocating ID in the journal Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. There are multiple hubs of ID-related research. Biologic Institute, led by molecular biologist Doug Axe, is “developing and testing the scientific case for intelligent design in biology.” Biologic conducts laboratory and theoretical research on the origin and role of information in biology, the fine-tuning of the universe for life, and methods of detecting design in nature. Another ID research group is the Evolutionary Informatics Lab, founded by senior Discovery Institute fellow William Dembski along with Robert Marks, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University. Their lab has attracted graduate-student researchers and published multiple peer-reviewed articles in technical science and engineering journals showing that computer programming “points to the need for an ultimate information source qua intelligent designer.” Other pro-ID scientists around the world are publishing peer-reviewed pro-ID scientific papers. These include biologist Ralph Seelke at the University of Wisconsin Superior, Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig who recently retired from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Germany, and Lehigh University biochemist Michael Behe.