[antiRepublicrat]

So how do they refute or weaken the theory of intelligent design?

Can you read? It doesn't affect the ID itself, because it is the same as ID. All it does is show the intentions of the supporters of ID, to call religion science, and to expose their hypocrisy in believing ID with the Christian God while discounting ID with a Flying Spaghetti Monster. You are among them.

You have a logically unsupportable position. Modify it, drop it, or lose the argument.

[Alamo-Girl]

Er, if y'all don't mind, I'd like to step in here with an observation because it seems there is ever a tendency to conflate the intelligent design hypothesis with the intelligent design movement - much like there is a tendency to conflate evolution theory with metaphysical naturalists who rely it.

The intelligent design hypothesis is this:

that certain features of the universe and life are best explained by intelligent cause rather than an undirected process such as natural selection

What everyone keeps calling a "designer" is actually "intelligent cause".

Intelligent cause can be either a phenomenon (such as an emergent property of self-organizing complexity or fractal intelligence) - or an agent (such as God, collective consciousness, aliens, Gaia, etc.)

If the selection of mates (intelligent cause) is found to be the best explanation for "certain features" of life then the hypothesis is vindicated.

Moreover, the hypothesis refers to "certain features" not "all features". It therefore does not replace evolution theory.

It is also not a theory of origins, like the theory of evolution is not a theory of origins.

As a final point, the intelligent design movement has no Holy writ, articles of faith or doctrine. It is not theology.