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Human origin debate hasn't evolved much
In 1925, Tennessee tried a teacher, John Scopes, for teaching evolution from a state-approved biology textbook. He was convicted, in what came to be known as the Scopes Monkey Trial - though the case was thrown out on appeal a year later. The U.S. Supreme Court, 43 years later, ruled that laws forbidding the teaching of evolution were unconstitutional.
You might have heard an ironic echo of the Scopes trial in Columbus yesterday, when the State Board of Education held a meeting to gather information on whether "intelligent design" ought to be part of the science curriculum in Ohio schools as a counter to evolution. Cell biologist Kenneth Miller quoted from "Biology," a text he co-authored that is widely used in Ohio schools.
Some of the greatest gaps in scientific knowledge, Miller read, involve the origins of RNA and DNA, the building blocks of life. "Science cannot yet solve this puzzle," he quoted.
"Do we know the origin of life?" Miller said, repeating a question from a board member. "Nope. Could it be a miracle? Yup. Do I believe in miracles? Yup."
But is anything that lacks a scientific explanation a miracle - or the direct handiwork of some "intelligent designer"? Not necessarily, or a hundred years ago, before the discovery of fusion, the otherwise inexplicable fire of the sun might have been explained as supernatural in origin.
"Science can only deal with natural processes," Miller said.
"The question of whether there is a divine intelligence behind creation of the universe is not a question that science can address," said Case Western Reserve University physicist Lawrence Krauss.
It is, however, the question that proponents of intelligent design think science should address.
Science should not seek the "best naturalistic or materialistic explanation" for origins of life, but the "best explanation," said Stephen Meyer, a director of the Seattle-based Discovery Institute, the primary force behind the intelligent design movement.
Biologist Jonathan Wells, a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute, said intelligent design is not the same as Bible-based creationism, "though it is compatible.
"Intelligent design," he said, "is an inference from the biological evidence. It is not a deduction from religious doctrine. It does not tell us the nature of the designer - though we can speculate."
Wells and Meyer sat onstage at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium to speak for intelligent design and the Discovery Institute, which flew in its president and a half-dozen staff members. If you listened closely, you never heard a "theory" of intelligent design. It added up to criticism of evolutionary theory leading to an "inference," as Wells put it. It's an assertion. It's faith.
That much was clarified later by John Calvert, the Kansas City lawyer who co-founded the Intelligent Design Network and helped lead efforts to remove evolution from standardized tests in his state. He said his target was not simply evolution but the definition of science. He sees "naturalistic" science as agnostic and atheistic, and intelligent design as "theistic."
Meyer and Wells insisted there is scientific controversy on the subject, though evidence suggests it is largely because they say there is. And because there is, Meyer said, he suggested a "compromise." Don't mandate "mastery of the scientific arguments in favor of intelligent design," but tell students about it. "We think that's fun and exciting, not something people need to feel threatened about."
Throw out the textbooks. Or add some supplemental materials.
It would be "good politics," Meyer told the State Board of Education. "Your voters overwhelmingly favor this."
Outside the auditorium, a half-dozen demonstrators waved Bibles and signs saying "Repent" and "Jesus Saves."
"If they succeed," Miller said, "there are other organizations waiting in line, trust me, making the same arguments for inclusion.' "
"It might have been yesterday," the authors of "Inherit the Wind," wrote of their play based on the Scopes trial. "It could be tomorrow."
Contact Tom Feran at:
© 2002 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
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