I.D. (a.k.a. Idiot Design)

In this article, the author, Lynn Barton, tries to argue that I.D. (what the Christian terrorists call "Intelligent Design") is not religion:

First, what I.D. theory is not: It is not creationism. Full disclosure here: I am a creationist. As a Christian, I believe God is the author of life. But I.D. theory is a science-driven enterprise. It is not a deduction from Scripture but an inference from observation. It says that the intricate design found in living things and in the universe itself is best explained by an intelligent cause.

Let's see: according to anthropological and archeological evidence, mankind -- specifically the genus Homo (ironic isn't it) -- first appeared in the form of Homo habilis, also known as the handy-man, roughly 2.4 million years ago. Scientific evidence places the age of the Earth at roughly 4.5 billion years.

You know -- a lot can happen in 4,497.6 million years.

Let's consider Occam's Razor:

a rule in science and philosophy stating that entities should not be multiplied needlessly. this rule is interpreted to mean that the simplest of two or more competing theories is preferable and that an explanation for unknown phenomena should first be attempted in terms of what is already known.

So, we can either believe:

• That over the course of 4 billion years, the forces of nature took basic elements and aggregated them together to create the essential building blocks of life -- an experiment that has been duplicated in labs;
• And that, eventually, these build blocks came together to create a cell.

or

• That the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42 -- oh shit, I mean God.
  

Let me digress for a moment. Okay, let's suppose, for the sake of argument, that I.D. is not about creationism. Whose intelligence, then, is behind this deep, dark, fucked-up, played-out reality show we laughingly refer to as life? I guess the presumption is that it God's intelligence. So God designed the universe. Does that mean he created it too? And if so, what kind of fucked-up logic leads you to believe this is any different from creationism? So your not arguing from the scriptures; you're just asserting that there can't be any other explanation then God. How fucking dumb is that?


tags: creationism, intelligent design