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Equal Time For Creationism
Brian Berns writes "Many news sources reported on
President Bush's recent semi-endorsement of 'intelligent
design', the politically correct version of
creationism that is currently in vogue among groups of conservative
Christians in the U.S.. While Mr. Bush was reportedly reluctant to make news on
this topic, he apparently felt it was an issue he could not duck. Most of those
same news sources, however, missed the
recent condemnation of Darwinian evolution by the Catholic cardinal
archbishop of Vienna. This NY Times op-ed appears to mark a deliberate attempt
to reverse the late Pope John Paul II's acceptance of evolution as 'more than
just a hypothesis'."
Wondering about why and how we're here, and how our existence came to be, certainly has a place in a philosophical discussion.
And while some related with Intelligent Design may have decidedly anti-science agendas, "Intelligent Design" is nothing more than a name slapped on a group of ideas some of us have long held: namely, that there must be more than meets the eye in the wonderful complexity and elegance of our universe and life. Will that ever be provable, or ever be science? No. But then, that is true for just about any philosophical idea. They're just that: ideas. And ideas like this don't have a place in a science class.
If you want to talk about the "Intelligent Design movement" with respect to its political agenda, anti-evolution Creationists who've co-opted the term, and its effect on society, sure, that has a place in a sociology or political science class. But that isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about exactly what I just said, which is a philosophical construct, a group of attempted answers to the oldest questions about why we're here and where we came from. And those questions, in that context, aren't scientific in nature. Even if I could go back and witness the very creation of life itself, that still does not answer WHY we are here, HOW this event came to pass. Note: I am not saying that "God" did it. I am saying that questions about our existence are worthwhile and worthy of discussion and debate, and there is absolutely no reason why they wouldn't belong in, e.g., a philosophy class.