Much ado has been made lately about President Bush's recent comments regarding the theory of Intelligent Design and its place in school curricula. Until the early 20th century Creation was the only explanation taught in schools for how our universe came into being. The Scopes Trial of 1925 slowly changed that. The American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) offered to legally defend anyone who wanted to teach the Theory of Evolution in breach of the Butler Act in Tennessee. This act eventually led to the widespread teaching of the theory of evolution in public schools.

At the time of the Scopes Trial, the ALCU released comments to the effect that they thought it was unacceptable that only one theory was being taught about the origin of life on Earth. But today, the ACLU and others cry bloody murder if anyone even suggests teaching anything but the Theory of Evolution. Hence the outcry about the President's remarks. In Cobb County Georgia, a judge ordered disclaimer stickers to be removed from text books. The stickers read:

This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.

I ask you, what is wrong with this sticker? As I see it, absolutely nothing! Whether you subscribe to the Theory of Evolution or not, this sticker gives laudible advice. Any theory that is given to explain the origins of life should be "approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered." But six parents sued to have the stickers removed on the basis of "the separation of church and state." First, there is no legal underpinning for the so-called "separation of church and state." The concept is only briefly mentioned in a personal letter written by Thomas Jefferson. Second, and probably more importantly, where does the sticker mention anything about the "church?" I don't see any mention of religion, Christianity, God or anything vaguely related to "the church" in the text of the sticker. So, any opposition to the Theory of evolution is religious then, is it? A large number of scientists would disagree. There is a growing number of scientists who feel that the Theory of Evolution cannot explain the degree of complexity of life that has developed on Earth. Such complexity of life, both in scope and in design, would require the process of its development to break the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The Second Law states that the chaos/entropy of a system tends towards maximum. That means that the complexity of a system, by nature, breaks down into chaos over time. The Theory of Evolution is trying to get us to accept the opposite.

Many Evolutionists feel that theories other than Evolution are not science, but are instead a statement of faith. But the Theory of Evolution is as much a matter of faith as anything else. It is just that Evolutionists put their faith in science, instead of God. Their faith is based on a system of suppositions by which the Theory of Evolution has been cobbled together. They have faith that a small number of individual bones found across the broad expanse of Africa can be composited into some pre-human being (a giant leap of scientific faith). Since this constructed protohuman looks different from a modern human, it must be a precursor (another leap of scientific faith). If this precursor developed into modern humans, then the process can be extrapolated back through time (more scientific faith) to some pre-evolved creature...or back further still to some multicelled entity. Since none of this has been actually observed, it's matter of faith for scientists and adherents to the Theory of Evolution.

Despite what evolutionists may think, Intelligent Design is not just a scientific moniker for Creation. The Theory of Intelligent Design basically says that, if you look at the complexity of life, in scope and in design, it seems to suggest that there is some degree of artificial design. Where did that design come from? Are we the product of some very ingenious and industrious alien race? Are we the product of a supreme being? The Theory of Intelligent Design (TID) does not presuppose a belief in God, it just asks that the possibility of outside design agent be considered. TID does not make the leap of (scientific) faith that Evolution does. It leaves that leap to others. If others say that there is an intelligent designer -- whether God or aliens or something/someone else -- that is up to them.

In the end, a theory is a "best guess" that most closely fits the available facts. And why shouldn't the Theory of Intelligent Design and the Theory of Evolution be taught side-by-side and the conclusions be left to individual students? I guess because that would require students to think instead of eagerly gobbling down whatever is set in front of them.

Silly me.