Not-so intelligent design

"As the philosopher Philip Kitcher shows in his superb new book, Living With Darwin, the theory of intelligent design is a mixture of "dead science" and non-science. That is, insofar as ID makes scientific claims (for example, that natural selection cannot produce complexity), those claims not only are wrong, but were proved wrong years ago. And ID is deeply unscientific in its assertion that certain aspects of evolution (mutation, in Behe's case) required supernatural intervention. Behe's attacks on evolutionary theory are once again wrongheaded, but the intellectual situation grows far worse when we see what theory he offers in its place."

~ Jerry Coyne, The Great Mutator, in The New Republic

"It's the job of the Intelligent Design creationists to propose ideas that show
merit. They have not. They are not even a serious challenge that might drive new
science — they are entirely ideologically driven, trying to find a
pseudoscientific rationale. Evolutionary biology has come to the conclusions it
has because we've been bouncing around tests of the idea for a century and a
half, and it has held up well under a barrage of critical thinking and
evidence-based testing by people much cleverer than the gang of religious
apologists at the Discovery Institute."

~ PZ Myers, Pharyngula, more

"They [the Creationists] have been getting away with this nonsense [Creation
Science] for some time now, even to the extent of getting legislation passed to
allow them to teach "creationism" side by side with evolution. The true
scientific community has largely remained within its hallowed halls rather than
storming out into the quadrangle to do battle with what it knows to be pure
nonsense. Scientists, unlike religionists, are political neophytes and generally
remain oblivious to the issue of religion. Average Americans are not willing,
nor intellectually mature enough, to handle such heady stuff as questioning any
religion except upon tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee issues. Undoubtedly, this
results from living under a Constitution which, in its consummate fairness in
not favoring one religion above another, has made attacks on religion nearly
needless and obsolete. But in the First Amendment's success lies a great danger
to our liberties. If we never question our religions or their motives, they will
ultimately destroy our freedom to do so."

~ William H. Reynolds, Creationism: The Fossil Record and the Flood

"The distinction between "micro" and "macro" evolution is a red herring.
Believing in micro, but not macro evolution is like believing in centimeters but
not kilometers." ~ Colin.

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