This is a letter I wrote to a local newspaper on Intelligent Design

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Is Intelligent Design science? The answer is "no." There is an easy way to tell whether *any* idea is science. When Charles Darwin wrote *Origin of Species* he provided a list of several things, which, if true, would prove evolution is false. None of them proved to be true and evolution, with minor modifications, has withstood the scrutiny of thousands of scientists for nearly 150 years. There is no similar list for Intelligent Design. You can't say "this is designed because of reason X." You can't even say "this is designed and that is not."

Although William Dembski has written quite a bit trying to answer this question, in "Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology" he wrote "Intelligent design makes far fewer commitments than scientific creationism, carries far less baggage and consequently has far less chance of going wrong!" Scientific creationism was minimally scientific because, though its claims were proved wrong, it did make scientifically testable claims. What Dembski is saying here is that ID can *never* be proved wrong, even in principle, and he is correct.

Is Intelligent design religion? Yes. ID proponents often will insist that the designer need not be God. The designer is an unknown entity. The designer could be an alien. Phillip Johnson, one of the chief proponents of ID doesn't think the designer is an alien: "Our strategy has been to change the subject a bit so that we can get the issue of intelligent design, which really means the reality of God, before the academic world and into the schools." (Source: American Family Radio, January 10, 2003.)

Intelligent design isn't science. Science leads on and on to new knowledge. Darwin's original theory has led to the discovery of genes and DNA. It has led to medical and agricultural advances and is now advancing our understanding of ecology. Intelligent design must simply be believed. Some part of nature looks designed to you. Once you have made that statement you are done. You may take off your lab coat and go home. Remember to turn out the lights as you leave.