God in science class

Intelligent design is a way to defy the supporters of the theory of evolution, who advocate a materialistic philosophy that leaves no room for the soul and the presence of divine grace in human life

Even a religious authority like John Paul II, the late Pope, said that the theory of evolution is more than just a hypothesis. It's a shocking theory, which has proven its power time and time again in various fields of science. The theory of intelligent planning has no such achievements. Why then are some religious parents in the United States interested in the theory of intelligent design being taught alongside the theory of evolution in the public schools there?

For some fundamentalist parents this may be the way to make room for God in science lessons. However, it is reasonable to assume that for many other parents, who are concerned, and rightfully so, about the content their children learn in schools, the intelligent design is a way to defy the supporters of the theory of evolution, who advocate a materialistic philosophy that leaves no room for the soul and the presence of divine grace in human life.

In science, as in other practices, there are people whose perception of the world was shaped solely by their working methods. Such is Nobel laureate James Watson, who discovered the molecular structure of DNA. Watson declared that "one of the greatest gifts that science has brought to the world is the continued abolition of the supernatural". A historian of ideas will recognize this view as an echo of the conflict that took place in the 19th century between the supporters of science and the supporters of religion.

And there are also evolutionists like Michael Rose of the University of California, who uses the theory of evolution to explain everything, including religion. The tendency to turn evolution into a helpful tool for atheism is also expressed in the writings of Richard Dawkins, a professor at the University of Oxford, who claims that humans are "survival machines" of human genes.

Most Americans, when they frame their lives and establish families, when they implement decisions and apply the principle of free will, do not perceive themselves as genetic survival machines and not as random products of an impersonal process. Most Christians accept the virgin birth of Jesus as part of a larger religious narrative that tells them there is a God who created the world. God who cares about the fate of humans.

To put it simply, belief in the theory of evolution does not require anything, while religious belief in a divine creator requires personal commitment. Therefore, although it is tempting to place Genesis against evolution, as two competing myths of the origin of mankind, many Christians, including scientists and theologians, willingly embrace the theory of evolution.

The danger of intelligent design is not only the fact that it is bad science, but the fact that it seeks to mobilize scientific evidence to serve religious truths, while at the same time denying evolutionary processes such as mutations and natural selection. The design god of intelligent design is not necessary for Christianity (or other monotheistic religions) any more than the deistic god (who does not interfere with nature) is necessary for Newtonian physics. In both cases, God ultimately became the image of an intellectual method. This is not the God of revelation.

One way out of the conflict in American school classrooms is to teach lessons that examine the cultural uses of evolution. In such classes there will be a dialogue with religious concepts, and therefore they are also expected to increase the opposition of those who do not believe that there is a place for religious ideas in public education.

Therefore, although I believe that the theory of intelligent design is the wrong approach, I sympathize with the parents who oppose the materialism that may take over the studies of evolution. These parents are smart enough to know that, as in nature, there are teachers who despise Rick.

The writer is a guest writer at "Newsweek" and is writing a book about religion and American culture