How Intelligent Design Hurts Conservatives (By making us look like crackpots)

The New Republic ^ | 8/16/05 | Ross Douthat

[curiosity]

The appeal of "intelligent design" to the American right is obvious. For religious conservatives, the theory promises to uncover God's fingerprints on the building blocks of life. For conservative intellectuals in general, it offers hope that Darwinism will yet join Marxism and Freudianism in the dustbin of pseudoscience. And for politicians like George W. Bush, there's little to be lost in expressing a skepticism about evolution that's shared by millions.

In the long run, though, intelligent design will probably prove a political boon to liberals, and a poisoned chalice for conservatives. Like the evolution wars in the early part of the last century, the design debate offers liberals the opportunity to portray every scientific battle--today, stem-cell research, "therapeutic" cloning, and end-of-life issues; tomorrow, perhaps, large-scale genetic engineering--as a face-off between scientific rigor and religious fundamentalism. There's already a public perception, nurtured by the media and by scientists themselves, that conservatives oppose the "scientific" position on most bioethical issues. Once intelligent design runs out of steam, leaving its conservative defenders marooned in a dinner-theater version of Inherit the Wind, this liberal advantage is likely to swell considerably.

And intelligent design will run out of steam--a victim of its own grand ambitions. What began as a critique of Darwinian theory, pointing out aspects of biological life that modification-through-natural-selection has difficulty explaining, is now foolishly proposed as an alternative to Darwinism. On this front, intelligent design fails conspicuously--as even defenders like Rick Santorum are beginning to realize--because it can't offer a consistent, coherent, and testable story of how life developed. The "design inference" is a philosophical point, not a scientific theory: Even if the existence of a designer is a reasonable inference to draw from the complexity of, say, a bacterial flagellum, one would still need to explain how the flagellum moved from design to actuality.

And unless George W. Bush imposes intelligent design on American schools by fiat and orders the scientific establishment to recant its support for Darwin, intelligent design will eventually collapse--like other assaults on evolution that failed to offer an alternative--under the weight of its own overreaching.

If liberals play their cards right, this collapse could provide them with a powerful rhetorical bludgeon. Take the stem-cell debate, where the great questions are moral, not scientific--whether embryonic human life should be created and destroyed to prolong adult human life. Liberals might win that argument on the merits, but it's by no means a sure thing. The conservative embrace of intelligent design, however, reshapes the ideological battlefield. It helps liberals cast the debate as an argument about science, rather than morality, and paint their enemies as a collection of book-burning, Galileo-silencing fanatics.

This would be the liberal line of argument anyway, even without the controversy surrounding intelligent design. "The president is trapped between religion and science over stem cells," declared a Newsweek cover story last year; "Religion shouldn't undercut new science," the San Francisco Chronicle insisted; "Leadership in 'therapeutic cloning' has shifted abroad," the New York Times warned, because American scientists have been "hamstrung" by "religious opposition"--and so on and so forth. But liberalism's science-versus-religion rhetoric is only likely to grow more effective if conservatives continue to play into the stereotype by lining up to take potshots at Darwin.

Already, savvy liberal pundits are linking bioethics to the intelligent design debate. "In a world where Koreans are cloning dogs," Slate's Jacob Weisberg wrote last week, "can the U.S. afford--ethically or economically--to raise our children on fraudulent biology?" (Message: If you're for Darwin, you're automatically for unfettered cloning research.) Or again, this week's TNR makes the pretty-much-airtight "case against intelligent design"; last week, the magazine called opponents of embryo-destroying stem cell research "flat-earthers." The suggested parallel is obvious: "Science" is on the side of evolution and on the side of embryo-killing.

Maureen Dowd, in her inimitable way, summed up the liberal argument earlier this year:

Exploiting God for political ends has set off powerful, scary forces in America: a retreat on teaching evolution, most recently in Kansas; fights over sex education . . . a demonizing of gays; and a fear of stem cell research, which could lead to more of a "culture of life" than keeping one vegetative woman hooked up to a feeding tube.

Terri Schiavo, sex education, stem cell research--on any issue that remotely touches on science, a GOP that's obsessed with downing Darwin will be easily tagged as medieval, reactionary, theocratic. And this formula can be applied to every new bioethical dilemma that comes down the pike. Earlier this year, for instance, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) issued ethical guidelines for research cloning, which blessed the creation of human-animal "chimeras"--animals seeded with human cells. New York Times reporter Nicholas Wade, writing on the guidelines, declared that popular repugnance at the idea of such creatures is based on "the pre-Darwinian notion that species are fixed and penalties [for cross-breeding] are severe." In other words, if you're opposed to creating pig-men--carefully, of course, with safeguards in place (the NAS guidelines suggested that chimeric animals be forbidden from mating)--you're probably stuck back in the pre-Darwinian ooze with Bishop Wilberforce and William Jennings Bryan.

There's an odd reversal-of-roles at work here. In the past, it was often the right that tried to draw societal implications from Darwinism, and the left that stood against them. And for understandable reasons: When people draw political conclusions from Darwin's theory, they're nearly always inegalitarian conclusions. Hence social Darwinism, hence scientific racism, hence eugenics.

Which is why however useful intelligent design may be as a rhetorical ploy, liberals eager to claim the mantle of science in the bioethics battle should beware. The left often thinks of modern science as a child of liberalism, but if anything, the reverse is true. And what scientific thought helped to forge--the belief that all human beings are equal--scientific thought can undermine as well. Conservatives may be wrong about evolution, but they aren't necessarily wrong about the dangers of using Darwin, or the National Academy of Sciences, as a guide to political and moral order.

[Jeff Head]

wrong-headed

That doesn't seem very scientific. :)

Look, we could go on all night and I have no disposition to do so. You asked for some of the science behind ID. I provided it.

Thanks for the reasoned dialog.

[muawiyah]

And, going one step further, Abraham didn't speak a Semitic language ~ he spoke Sumerian.

Which means, of course, that along the way to final liberation in Egypt under Moses, someone translated the original Divinely revealed text!

I notice in reading through those really old stories that rabbinical comments are woven through the text too ~ and these change the meaning.

[syriacus]

Gee, just what does "Intelligent Design" predict? How can it be tested?

Not all researchers who believe in evolution are actually doing research on evolution, so why should all researchers who believe in Intelligent Design actually do research on Intelligent Design?

[kidkosmic1]

"Behe's "Irreducably Comples" writings have been debunked countless times."

By you, Dimensio? No, not by you. In your comic book world, Behe has been "debunked" by articles you've read on the Internet. How nice.

Are you down with String Theory? If so, please tell me how it can be tested.

[apackof2]

After death all conscious thought ceases and any previously held beliefs are rather irrelevant from a personal standpoint.

Well I guess the only way to find out if your "opinion" is correct is AFTER death but like I stated then its too late to change "opinions". But the Lord gave us free will to take a chance with our eternity if we like

[curiosity]

After death all conscious thought ceases and any previously held beliefs are rather irrelevant from a personal standpoint.

How do you know?

[curiosity]

Which means, of course, that along the way to final liberation in Egypt under Moses, someone translated the original Divinely revealed text!

More likely it was handed down via oral tradition.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[curiosity]

I don't think a candiate making an issue against a politician who believes that God had a hand in designing evolution will gain much traction.

That's not what the intelligent design movement is about. It's asserting that certain lifeforms are just too complex to have evolved via natural selection. That's a much stronger statement, and it is scientifically wrong. The vast majority of people advocating this stuff are anti-science crackpots.

I don't think a politician suggesting that schools admit what we don't know, as well as what we know, per the scientific method, will bite the dust in most places either in America.

That's not what they're doing. They are trying to sneak scientifically innacuarte criticisms of the theory of evolution into biology classes, and trying to replace that theory with an unscientific alternative.

[Just mythoughts]

Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."

This sure sounds like Jeremiah had a history before his conception in the flesh. So the soul existed before it was placed in the flesh body at conception.

[DaveTesla]

I am aghast that some conservatives embrace it as the Truth. Because of a Book.



Then you would be mortified by these fellows,

"Such being the impressions under which I have, in
obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present
station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this
first official act, my fervent supplications to that
Almighty Being, who rules over the universe, who presides
in the council of nations, and whose providential aids can
supply every human defect, that His benediction may
consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of
the United States.." "...Every step by which
they have advanced to the character of an independent
nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of
providential agency" From President George
Washington's Inaugural Address, April 30th, 1789,
addressed to both Houses of Congress.

President Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, 1789

2. "It is impossible to rightly govern the world
without God and the Bible"President George
Washington, September 17th, 1796

3. "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to
political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports . . . And let us indulge with caution the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion . . . Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principle." President George Washington

4. "...The Smiles of Heaven can never be expected On a Nation that disregards the eternal rules of Order and Right, which Heaven Itself Ordained."President George Washington


5. "I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- God Governs in the Affairs of Men, And if a Sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, Is it possible that an empire can rise without His aid?"Benjamin Franklin

6. "Except the Lord build the house, They labor in vain who build it." "I firmly believe this."Benjamin Franklin, 1787, Constitutional Convention

7. "We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God." President James Madison


8. "The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His Apostles.... This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our free constitutions of government."Noah Webster

9. "Whether this [new government] will prove a blessing or a curse will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If they are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable. Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation [Proverbs 14:34]. Reader! Whoever thou art, remember this, and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself and encourage it in others."Patrick Henry

10. "The Bible is worth all other books which have ever been printed."Patrick Henry

11. "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever."President Thomas Jefferson

12. "The reason that Christianity is the best friend of Government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart."President Thomas Jefferson

13. "Of all systems of morality, ancient of modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to be so pure as that of Jesus." Thomas Jefferson, To William Canby, 1813


14. "We have no government armed in power capable of contending in human passions ubridled by morality and religion. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."John Adams, address to the militia of Massachusetts, 1798.

15. "I hold the precepts of Jesus as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent and sublime which have ever been preached to man..."President Thomas Jefferson

16. "The highest story of the American Revolution is this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity."President John Adams

17. "Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe. And to the same Divine Author of every good and perfect gift [James 1:17] we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land."James Madison

18. "We've staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us . . . to Govern ourselves according to the commandments of God. The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded." President James Madison

19. "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers. And it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." First Chief Justice of Supreme Court John Jay

20. "Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine....Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other."James Wilson, a signer of the Constitution and an original Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court

21. "Let the children...be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education. The great enemy of the salvation of man, in my opinion, never invented a more effectual means of extirpating [removing] Christianity from the world than by persuading mankind that it was improper to read the Bible at schools."Benjamin Rush

22. "It is no slight testimonial, both to the merit and worth of Christianity, that in all ages since its promulgation the great mass of those who have risen to eminence by their profound wisdom and integrity have recognized and reverenced Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of the living God."President John Quincy Adams

23. "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were.... the general principles of Christianity."President John Quincy Adams

24. "a true American Patriot must be a religious man...He who neglects his duty to his maker, may well be expected to be deficient and insincere in his duty towards the public" First Lady Abigail Adams

25. "The Bible is the Rock on which this Republic rests."President Andrew Jackson

26. "I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior (Jesus) of the world is communicated to us through this book.Abraham Lincoln

27. Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address

"Fellow countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first...The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured...
"Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and as a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other...The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully...If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him?

Fondly do we hope - fervently do we pray - that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'The judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'

"With malice toward none; charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations." Immediately afterwards, Lincoln kissed the Bible, bowed, and retired from the platform. Abraham Lincoln's 2nd inaugural address, March 4th, 1865.

28. "Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty" Abraham Lincoln.

29. "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." Abraham Lincoln.

30. "The only assurance of our nation's safety is to lay our foundation in morality and religion."Abraham Lincoln.

31. "The New Testament is the very best that ever was or ever will be known in the world." Charles Dickens

32. "Our laws and institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teaching of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that is should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian . . . this is a Christian nation."US Supreme Court, 1892

33. "If the Moral character of a people degenerate, their political character must follow. These considerations should lead to an attentive solicitude to be religiously careful in our choice of all public officers...and judge of the tree by its fruits." Elias Boudinot

35. Beginnings.......

It is hoped that by God's assistance, some of the continents in the Ocean will be discovered....for the Glory of God. Christopher Columbus

The Mayflower Compact, November 11th, 1620


36. "All persons living in this province, who confess and acknowledge the One Almighty and Eternal God to be the Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and that hold themselves obliged in conscience to live peaceably and justly in civil society, shall in no wise be molested or prejudiced for their religious persuasion or practice, in matters of faith and worship; nor shall they be compelled at any time to frequent or maintain any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever." April 25, 1662- William Penn signed this to establish religious liberty in the new provence of (Pennsylvania).


Excerpts from the Declaration to take up arms, July 6th, 1775
Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776

37. "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religion but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.","Give me liberty or give me death."Patrick Henry of the Constitutional Convention

38. "A general dissolution of Principles and Manners will more surely overthrow the Liberties of America than the whole Force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader . . . If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security."Samuel Adams, 1779

[curiosity]

This sure sounds like Jeremiah had a history before his conception in the flesh. So the soul existed before it was placed in the flesh body at conception.

Absolutely.

[DaveTesla]

I am sorry you have to be ashamed of us.

[Dimensio]

How do you know?

All available information suggests that consciousness is a result of brain function. If you have evidence that consciousness can continue even after brain function ceases, please present it.

[Dimensio]

Well I guess the only way to find out if your "opinion" is correct is AFTER death

After death, I won't "find out" anything because it's impossible for a non-functioning brain to gain or retain any information.

but like I stated then its too late to change "opinions".

Only because it's too late to think anything after death. Are you suggesting that there are consequences? If so, what kind of consequences would there be following the cessation of consciousness?

[muawiyah]

The "oral tradition" idea was totally discredited when the first stories parallel to those found in the Bible were discovered to have been written down in Sumer before Abraham had his name changed.

It's a bit farfetched to require a written document to be memorized, turned into an oral tradition, and then written down centuries later in a different language by Moses. It's much easier to have the written documents (clay tablets) carried from Sumer to Egypt where they could be "read" (translated) by Moses (and his associates) several hundred years later.

In fact, the Hebrew tradition post-Moses is that they carried about the tablets Moses received from God in the Ark of the Covenant.

[Loud Mime]

In acts and indirect words, Liberals prefer Islamicists over Christians......but they won't admit it.

[Dimensio]

By you, Dimensio?

No, and I never claimed as much. Do you have a point to make?

No, not by you. In your comic book world, Behe has been "debunked" by articles you've read on the Internet. How nice.

If you find fault with existing refutations of Behe's work, please explain it. This looks like an attempt to mock your way through an argument rather than put up a rational rebuttal.

[spunkets]

"uh, would a father sire a kid knowing he would grow up to be the BTK killer? God did."

God gave both life and Freedom unconditionally. There's a reason for that. He said that all who do not reject the Holy Spirit would be forgiven, those that do would not be forgiven. Folks choose their own destiny. God values life and Freedom. God came here in person to teach that. He was killed for doing so.

Some will tell you that God came to die to open the gates of heaven after they were closed, because of Adam's sin. That is not what He said. That's what some men say. The subject of John 9 that I gave you was the man born blind. God gave the reason he was born blind. The reasons are the same as why the BTK killer was allowed to live. Just as there are those that insist on spreading the guilt and responsibility of sin to innocent men, there are those that would spread it to God, in direct contradiction to His own words.

[kidkosmic1]

"How Intelligent Design Hurts Conservatives (By making us look like crackpots)"

You want real debate...bring this topic to a conservative site like Free Republic, a site heavily populated by conservative Christians and social conservatives. You want to debate with Socialists or Communists (who also happen to be evolutionists by an overwhelming margin) be prepared to be labelled as a dangerous radical (i.e. the Taliban).

The crackpot scientist establishment view this site as a danger to all life on our earth. Put the lie to this statement. You cannot.

The same liberals we conservatives decry for spreading POISON on our college campuses with liberal doctrine are the "experts" who "know" we crawled out of the slime pool of chance.

You down with the Ayn Randians? Read her books, and the books written by her living associates. Your beliefs are a mockery in their eyes.

Think.