[wideawake]

As he himself said in his correspondence, he knew that God had ordained the universe according to laws and he saw his job as trying to discover and describe those laws.

The Principia begins with the assumption of an ordered universe in which consistent laws can be discovered.

This assumption was based on his theological convictions.

[Mylo]

My point was not that Scientists don't believe in god or an ordered universe or a designed universe; many do - including myself.

My point was that presupposing supernatural intervention has not been a hallmark of highly successful theories that have led to technological advancement and our better understanding and ability to predict events in the universe. "Naturalistic" explanations, however, HAVE led to highly successful theories that have given rise to technological advancement and our better understanding and predicting the universe.

Newton believed in a ordered universe and a god, however he used mathematics, observation, and logic to discern the nature of gravitational attraction- he didn't just say "God does it." and leave it at that.

All ID has going for it now, and why it is not a fully formed scientific theory, is that "things are complex, and rather than investigating possible or probable solutions to the complexity we just say 'God must have done it' and then leave it at that."

Ah. But HOW did God do it? If god was responsible for the formation of the ocular structure what components did he use for raw material? What methods to effect the change? Once those questions are answered you find that you really didn't need God pulling the strings after all- he just had to set up the rules of the game (what I believe as a Deist).