Should Intelligent Design be taught in schools?

This Question has numerous Answers depending on one's point of view.

Pros:

One View

Yes, absolutely, there is just as much evidence for creation and intelligent design as there is for evolution.

Those who favor ID do not want to replace the teaching of Evolution Theory, but to supplement it with teaching of opposing views. The fact that most scientists today believe in the Macro-Evolution model of species development does not invalidate the minority view.

Read "Case for a Creator" by Lee Strobel for more info.

Another View

Yes. But in church schools. Not in public ones.

This from the Intelligent Design Network (IDN):

"The theory of intelligent design (ID) holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause rather than an undirected process such as natural selection. ID is thus a scientific disagreement with the core claim of evolutionary theory that the apparent design of living systems is an illusion."

Another View

The lines being drawn here aren't so much between believers and non-believers but so much more often between believers who subscribe to ID and believers who don't. God is not disproved by science. Many who study and apply science as well as many scientists themselves are believers, are active in their faith.

Cons:

One View

The IDN is the tip of the spear for ID, and according to the logic set down there by them, extra terrestrials could be the "cause" behind ID. If you want intelligent design, consider the Constitution of the United States. It's creators could arguably be said to have seen this coming and took steps to so clearly separate church and state back in the day. Now that's intelligent design.

Another View

The real issue here is whether or not ID is born of theological ideology or is a true scion of science. As Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District so clearly showed, Creationists lied (bore false witness) and fabricated evidence to assert that ID was not church spawned dogma when it was, in point of fact, just that. Just Creationism with fresh paint. And as a precept of theological ideology, it's place lies somewhere outside the science classroom. And outside the public school.

= ^{Intelligent design} =

In Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, a group of parents of high-school students challenged a public school district requirement for teachers to present intelligent design in biology classes as an alternative "explanation of the origin of life". U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III ruled that intelligent design is not science, that it "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents", and concluded that the school district's promotion of it therefore violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.^[18]

First answer by Nickbyfleet. Last edit by Quirkyquantummechanic. Contributor trust: 625 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 21 [recommend question]