There is a chance that you’ve recently heard about the theory of “Intelligent Design” (ID). There is also a slight chance that you’ve heard about FSMism. FSMism explains that the “Flying Spaghetti Monster” is the creator of the universe. FSMism and its parody deity, along with a website found at www.venganza.org (which means “revenge” in Spanish), was created by 25-year-old Bobby Henderson. Henderson recently acquired fame after sending a letter to the Kansas School Board saying that if they want to teach ID instead of evolution, then why not explain “alternative theories” such the one he proposes?
Henderson sarcastically told the Board that “If the Intelligent Design theory is not based on faith, but instead another scientific theory, as is claimed, then you must also allow our theory to be taught, as it is also based on science, not on faith.” If you are interested in a laugh or a silly cup that reads “touched by his noodly appendage” then you should head to the website at once. If you are interested in the origin of the universe then you probably shouldn’t bother.
Henderson’s religious brainstorming came about shortly after President Bush supported the idea of combining lessons in evolution with a discussion of “intelligent design”. ID is the proposition that some aspects of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause or agent, as opposed to natural selection. The President said that “Both sides ought to be properly taught so people can understand what the debate is about.” Many believers of evolution are accusing ID supporters of creating a debate to subtly put God back into schools.
Perhaps the main group supporting ID is found in Seattle, at the Center for Science and Culture of the Discovery Institute. One of their main arguments for a creator is that living things are too exquisitely complex to have evolved by chance mutations and natural selection. Examples such as vision, blood-clotting, and cellular transport are “irreducibly complex” because removing or altering any parts invalidates the whole.
Critics of ID are less than amused by the folks at Discovery. Eugenie C. Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education, the leading defender of evolution, thinks that they have “packaged their message” and mockingly calls it “creationism light.” Creationism is another way of saying that God created the universe. A Kansas teacher called it “creationism in a cheap tuxedo.” It seems like some people are getting grumpy because now it’s not just church-goers that believe in a Supreme Being, but also white-coated biologists, cosmologists and physicists.
If in fact there was a God, what would be so wrong about a faith-based science? Einstein himself said: “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.” Is the idea of an intelligent creator hard to believe just because it involves faith and it can’t be tested in a lab?
Many thought that Darwin’s “The Origin of Species” trumped the idea of a creator. Textbooks around the world go around claiming that evolution is almost real. Still, we must remember that evolution is not synonymous with truth.
Science is not bullet proof. Scientific “truth” has changed dramatically in the last century and will continue to change because it is an ongoing practice; an everlasting search for evidence. Truth is more than a collection of facts. Just like ID, evolution is a theory and it should be seen as such. Although I’m sure we can find a way to prove that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is not out there, science cannot exclude the possibility that God might exist.
If those in favor of evolution are against intelligent design simply because it involves faith, then maybe they should point the finger at themselves. The theory of evolution, which claims that something came out of nothing, requires faith because the evidence is far from complete.
J Esteban Contreras is a junior marketing major. He may be contacted at [email protected].
