Evolution vs. Intelligent Design
In science class, we have been looking at Evolution and Darwin’s theory. As part of our studies, we watched a documentary on a court case revolving around Evolution and a newly introduced theory called Intelligent Design. What started out as a simple one minute statement in a classroom about Intelligent Design in the small town of Dover, turned into a court case that was watched by the country. It began with the teaching of the theory of Evolution.
The theory of Evolution was first introduced in 1859 by Charles Darwin in his book ‘On the Origin of Species’. The idea is that all life has descended from a common ancestor. This theory came after Darwin’s five year journey traveling and exploring the coastline of South America, and the following twenty years of research. He collected all sorts of different animals and fossils, and created theories such as natural selection. When a species is created with different coat colors or different traits such as beak sizes, natural selection helps to eliminate the weaker traits, and allows the animals with the more compatible trait to its environment to continue on.
Intelligent Design, also known as ID, is a supposed scientific theory that states that certain organisms are to complicated to have evolved on their own. It suggests that an ‘Intelligent Designer’ helped to create beings like humans. This theory doesn’t deny the fact of Evolution completely, but rather eliminates theories like the idea of humans coming from primates.
The controversy between these two theories came up when people started to get upset with the fact that the theory of Evolution was to be taught in a science classroom, but not Creationism. Board members pushed for a new biology book called “Of Pandas and People”, which was a supposed unbiased textbook that talked about both Evolution and Intelligent Design. However, science teachers didn’t believe that was appropriate what so ever. They protested that Intelligent Design was not a scientific theory, but creationism in disguise. The textbook was denied, and so instead, the school had the vice principal make a one minute statement in the science class that addressed the theory of Intelligent Design. That was the beginning of the controversy
The issue was brought to court as a violation of the first amendment, and prosecution was determined to prove that Intelligent Design was not a science. Hearing the process that prosecution went through had to be my favorite part. I think the nail in the coffin for Intelligent Design was when they pulled out all of the revisions of the textbook ‘Of Pandas and People’ . The original book was made to teach Evolution and Creationism, but was changed to Evolution and Intelligent Design. One of the revisions showed that when the author defined what creationism was, he later went back and switched the word creationism with Intelligent design, giving them practically the same definition. After a month of deliberation by the judge, the case was ruled in favor of prosecution, saying that Intelligent Design is not a science.
In my opinion, Intelligent Design is not a science. The major problem that I have with Intelligent Design is that it halts all progress of discovering more about where we come from. The theory says that organisms are to complicated to have evolved on their own, so they must of had some help from an Intelligent Designer. The end. I think that all different types of theories of creation and religion should be taught in classrooms, not teaching in favor of one, but getting an understanding of other beliefs. However, I think that it’s inappropriate for theories like creationism to be taught in a science classroom. I think that this is a subject that will infinitely be debated, and that there are no answers to, just opinions. These opinions should not affect public education, but rather personal teachings if thats what you believe.
