The Intelligent Design Movement

Today we have two articles from AnswersInGenesis.org
AiG's views on the Intelligent Design Movement
ID and President Bush - the deeper issues

Intelligent Design Movement (IDM) is being hailed by Conservatives, moralists, theists, and Christians as a great idea, and they are jumping on the bandwagon of IDM to re-establish the Creator in the public square. No doubt, their motives are just and sincere. But as Biblical Christians, should we really support the IDM wholeheartedly? What is IDM, and what is its relationship to the Bible?

Basically, IDM and Biblical Creationism is not the same thing. Skeptics, naturalists, and evolutionists have vehemently charged that IDM is “Creationism in sheep’s clothing” “stealth Creationism” “a secret, underhanded attempt by Creationists to put religion in schools” etc, etc. This is grossly incorrect, however.

IDM’s claim is this: life began by an Intelligent Designer, and there is evidence for this from the irreducible complexity of living organisms, even as small as a cell, and it is impossible that life has evolved (or spontaneously generated) by itself; purely natural processes cannot explain the origin of life.

However, the Bible, the book of Genesis, the age of the earth, macro-evolution, and Christianity is not addressed by IDM as a whole. The IDM loosely contains anyone who is a theist, and this includes theistic evolutionists, old earth creationists, and young earth creationists; both Christians and non-Christians. People of various religions, including agnosticism and the occult, are involved with IDM. IDM simply says an Intelligent Designer created the first life (this “Designer” could be an alien according to some!). Many of the foremost figures of IDM are theistic evolutionists, meaning they believe in millions of years age for the age of the earth, evolution, and that man evolved from ape-like creatures. This is a far-cry from Creationism, and in fact, those ideas are strongly opposed and refuted by Biblical Creationists. Some IDers are even criticizing Biblical Creationism, as the AiG articles show.

What shall Christians do about IDM? I think we can sum it up with two things: 1) The course the Institute for Creation Research, Answers in Genesis, and other Creationists are taking is a good route: speak out, defend, and investigate the same Biblical truths as we have always done, and point out the scientific evidence for the Biblical view of history and origins. Stand against anti-biblical rhetoric, even if it comes from the IDM. 2) It is perfectly alright for a Biblical Creationist to be involved in the ID movement, and many Christians are. Teaching a balanced view of the origin of life in schools and educating the public about the evidence for a Creator is a good thing. It is also good to refute the destructive philosophy of Naturalism*, which has taken over nearly every aspect of American society, science, and law.

Indeed, the IDM has Biblical Creationists in it, as well as fine theistic thinkers. Philip Johnson, a leader among the IDers, author of Darwin on Trial and Reason in the Balance (one of my favorite books, it’s a critique of naturalism), is a good Christian man, and he has destroyed Naturalism and Darwinism. However, even Johnson wants to shelve Genesis in the IDM to make debate easier and draw old earthers and theistic evolutionists. Other Biblical Christians should not be drawn away from standing for the truth. The only attacks IDM has against evolution are the ideas of spontaneous generation** and naturalism.

Of course, the IDM is beneficial to the debate against evolution, and it does ultimately help Biblical Creation. It puts more pressure on Darwinism, it gives the idea of a Creator more prestige and plausibility, it thrusts the question of origins into public debate, it dismantles Naturalism, and it utterly destroys spontaneous generation.

In conclusion, the IDM is not Creationist, but an effort by a mixture of both Christians and non-Christians of highly varied beliefs to show that life began with an Intelligent Designer. Biblical Christians should still advocate Biblical truths of Creation and of Science, and Christians can still be involved in IDM as long as they do not compromise with the Scriptures.

Please read the AiG articles above for another more through opinion.


*Naturalism is the idea that all proccesses occur by purely natural causes, and God must be taken out of the picture.
**Spontaneous generation is the idea that living organisms arose spontaneously from non-living material.