Intelligent Design

It's roughly the 80th anniversary of the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial and numerous scientists have published articles examining Intelligent Design and its increasing presence in biology courses.

Intelligent Thought" at Edge.org

I was tempted to call "Intelligent Thought" at Edge a "special edition", but there's nothing special about smart people thinking intelligently in support of science. In this regard, Edge is initiating an ongoing feature called "Intelligent Thought at Edge", that will give members of the Edge community an opportunity to present their writings on evolutionary science to each other and to our readers.

One Side Can Be Wrong

Intelligent design is not an argument of the same character as these controversies. It is not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one. It might be worth discussing in a class on the history of ideas, in a philosophy class on popular logical fallacies, or in a comparative religion class on origin myths from around the world. But it no more belongs in a biology class than alchemy belongs in a chemistry class, phlogiston in a physics class or the stork theory in a sex education class. In those cases, the demand for equal time for "both theories" would be ludicrous. Similarly, in a class on 20th-century European history, who would demand equal time for the theory that the Holocaust never happened?

Very good (and refreshing) reads.

Addendum, 09/13/2005:

Bear in mind, I really don't care what you believe in. Whatever makes your life feel complete, go for it, so long as it doesn't infringe upon others' rights. I draw the line when people try to force the teaching of any one theology in our secular public schools. Quite the contrary, I strongly feel a comprehensive "Religions of the World" course would be a very good thing to have in American schools. However, don't preach in our (paid for by taxes from people of many different religions) schools, and I won't teach evolution in your church...