So what? Evolutionists have similar documents. Ever read Dawkins and his crowd? Ever read the documents contained on the National Center for Science Education website? American Humanist Association? Skeptics Society? Infidels.org? Please! Either life is the result of chance or design. Science has a duty to explore both possibilities. And as the “Wedge” document points out, IDers seek to “provide a positive scientific alternative to materialistic scientific theories.” This is precisely what they should be doing, and science should be content with letting the chips fall where they may—as opposed to using government issued jackboots to crush all dissent.
Science has the ability and duty to work within the realm of nature.
Intelligent design is a religious concept being promoted as science by the Discovery Institute and others in a dishonest attempt to get religion taught in science classes.
Their wedge document states,
Design theory promises to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions."That reminds me of the kind of "science" promoted by the Creation Research Society, but at least the CRS is more honest in what they are promoting.
The Creation Research Society has the following on their website:
The Creation Research Society is a professional organization of trained scientists and interested laypersons who are firmly committed to scientific special creation. The Society was organized in 1963 by a committee of ten like-minded scientists, and has grown into an organization with an international membership.
CRS Statement of Belief All members must subscribe to the following statement of belief:
1. The Bible is the written Word of God, and because it is inspired throughout, all its assertions are historically and scientifically true in the original autographs. To the student of nature this means that the account of origins in Genesis is a factual presentation of simple historical truths.2. All basic types of living things, including man, were made by direct creative acts of God during the Creation Week described in Genesis. Whatever biological changes have occurred since Creation Week have accomplished only changes within the original created kinds.
3. The great flood described in Genesis, commonly referred to as the Noachian Flood, was an historic event worldwide in its extent and effect.
4. We are an organization of Christian men and women of science who accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The account of the special creation of Adam and Eve as one man and one woman and their subsequent fall into sin is the basis for our belief in the necessity of a Savior for all mankind. Therefore, salvation can come only through accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior.
This is what is bring promoted, I believe, as "science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions."
It is theology, not science.
And if this is what Dr. Gonzalez is supporting, through being a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute, then his ability to do science is rightly being questioned. The reason I say this is that science is more than qualifications--it is adherence to the scientific method. To introduce miracles into the scientific method is to cease to do science.
One last quote from the Wedge Document:
We will do this primarily through apologetics seminars. We intend these to encourage and equip believers with new scientific evidence's that support the faith, as well as to "popularize" our ideas in the broader culture.
Once again, apologetics is defense of religion, and has nothing to do with scientific research.