It seems that every time critics of Intelligent Design Theory weigh in, there is the tacit assumption that ID is equivalent to Christian creationism. For example, a cover story byline from Wired magazine last year:
In the beginning there was Darwin. And then there was intelligent design. How the next generation of “creation science” is invading America’s classrooms.
Folks seem to be stuck on the Scopes Monkey Trial, and the picture of science vs. anti-intellectual creationism is being painted with very broad strokes. Jonathan Witt of the Discovery Institute has written an excellent article to refute the erroneous assumptions made in the media and elsewhere.
Critics of the theory of intelligent design often assert that it is simply a repackaged version of creationism, and that it began after the Supreme Court struck down the teaching of creationism in Edwards v. Aguillard in 1987. In reality, the idea of intelligent design reaches back to Socrates and Plato, and the term “intelligent design” as an alternative to blind evolution was used as early as 1897. More recently, discoveries in physics, astronomy, information theory, biochemistry, genetics, and related disciplines during the past several decades provided the impetus for scientists and philosophers of science to develop modern design theory. Many of the central ideas for the theory of intelligent design were already being articulated by scientists and philosophers of science by the early 1980s, well before the Edwards v. Aguillard decision.
The complete article can be found here.
[…] William Dembski has an interesting piece in his blog concerning the reluctance of Christian creationists to sit in the “big tent” of Intelligent Design. I find this ironic since the mainstream media seems to perceive of Intelligent Design as a veiled attempt by creationists to gain credibility! I also find it strange that the entire issue of old earth/new earth keeps getting tied to the Intelligent Design hypothesis, for in my mind the two questions are somewhat independent (and Dembski brings out a salient point–if new earth creationism can be “proven,” then Intelligent Design simply becomes a corollary to that fact.). […]
Jeremy’s Stuff and Things » Blog Archive » Creationists Think Intelligent Design is Scary?
October 12th, 2005