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A movement is gaining ground to teach both sides of the story in the matter of the origin of life and evolution—Creationist and Darwinian—in schools, and President Bush has lent support to it, saying that the teaching of alternative viewpoints would help students "understand what the debate is about." —see Financial Times.com news story: "Bush wants alternatives to Darwinism taught in school" by Caroline Daniel in Washington, August 3, 2005. The concept of Intelligent Design asserts that aspects of biological systems are best explained by an "intelligent" cause rather than by natural selection. President Bush's comments drew fire from evolutionists, notably Glenn Branch of the National Center for Science Education, a group that aggressively opposes introduction of Creationist or Intelligent Design concepts in classrooms. "Mr Bush would have done better to heed his White House science adviser, John Marburger, who said that evolution was the 'cornerstone of modern biology' and who has characterised ID as not even being a scientific theory," said Glenn Branch. Dr James Dobson, founder of the conservative group Focus on the Family remarked: "We are now on the verge of major changes in how the origins of life and evolution are taught in science class rooms across the nation." In
Seattle,
John West, a director at the Discovery Institute's Center
for Science
and Culture, noted: "The new Darwinian fundamentalists of
becoming just as intolerant as the religious fundamentalists they
despise". Christian
Creationists cannot claim proprietory rights to the theory of
Intelligent Design. There is considerably more to it than what the
Creationists promote. Recently, the noted British philosophy professor Antony Flew, a prominent life-time champion of atheism, has concluded after all, at the age of 81, that some sort of intelligence or first cause must have created the universe. "A super-intelligence is the only good explanation for the origin of life and the complexity of nature," he commented in a telephone interview. "I'm thinking of a God very different from the God of the Christian and far and away from the God of Islam because both are depicted as omnipotent Oriental despots, cosmic Saddam Husseins," he said. "It could be a person in the sense of a being that has intelligence and a purpose, I suppose." While teaching at Oxford, Aberdeen, Keele and Reading Universities in Britain and in visits to USA and Canadian campuses, and in his books and articles, lectures and debates, Dr. Flew denied there was evidence for the existence of God. Yet over the last few months, he has come to think differently. In a video "Has Science Discovered God?" Dr. Flew explains that investigation into DNA "has shown. by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce (life), that intelligence must have been involved." In a letter to the Philosophy Now magazine (August-September, 2004), he wrote: "It has become inordinately difficult even to begin to think about constructing a naturalistic theory of the evolution of that first reproducing organism." "My whole life has been guided by the principle of Plato's Socrates: Follow the evidence, wherever it leads." —ABC News story: "Famous Atheist Now Believes in God", The Associated Press, December 9, 2004 It's presented as a battle between science and religion, but a more powerful and rational argument for the case to teach the theory of Intelligent Design alongside Darwin's theory of evolution in schools is in the interests of pure science. To borrow the words of Bill Frist, Republican Senate majority leader, who recently voted for stem cell research opposed by President Bush and defended his stance: "It isn't just a matter of faith, it's a matter of science." Christian creationists argue for presentation of religious beliefs as an alternative to Darwin's theory, but public schools across the nation are bound by "separation of state and religion", so realistically the most they can hope for in that secular environment is a passing mention of a religious viewpoint contrary to that of mainstream science. But there's more to the concept of Intelligent Design than religious faith. The Bhagavad-gita and other ancient Sanskrit texts of India such as Srimad-Bhagavatam expound scientifically on the origins of life and this universe and other universes besides and on anti-matter. The evidence goes well beyond the scope of a religion class. If
the
educationists can be persuaded to open the classrooms up to real
science, that is, investigation and debate based on scientific
principles, teachers and students may get access to the oldest
body of knowledge in the world: the Vedas. Replyby "Theist"[Posted on www.audarya-fellowship.com, Sunday, 7 August 2005] So-called evolution would necessarily have had to become de-evolution and we should all be back to the monkey stage by now. I doubt you will ever receive an answer. I think ID belongs squarely in the science classroom with Darwinian evolution kicked out completely. The reason is there is Intelligence behind all material manifestation. But in the interest of practicality a side by side teaching would suffice. People forget the primitive state of science way back when Darwin offered his speculations. As to Who's Intelligence and the nature of that Person that can be saved for religious studies. It isn't just a matter of faith, it's a matter of science/ WORLD SANKIRTAN PARTY ©2004-Hansadutta das Home | About | Events | World Sankirtan Party | Inside Nam Hatta eBooks | Site Map | Store |
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