Intelligent Design vs. The Blind Watchmaker

Regarding science and faith, Christians have not only challenged evolutionary theory, but are often challenging other Christians. The core of the debate focuses on the age of the universe and the days of creation.

The conflict between science and faith boils down to one’s philosophy of science. It’s really not a scientific issue at all. Rather it’s the assumptions we bring to science. The gatekeepers of science have not allowed supernatural intelligence or God to be considered in the discussion. Richard Lewontin, professor of genetics at Harvard University, expressed the following sentiment in an essay in the New York Review of Books in January 1997:

“The primary problem is not to provide the public with knowledge of how far it is to the nearest star and what genes are made of…rather, the problem is to get them to reject irrational and supernatural explanations of the world, the demons that exist only in their imaginations, and to accept a social and intellectual apparatus, Science, as the only begetter of truth.”

If Lewontin is right, science is the gatekeeper of truth and belief in God is limited to personal belief. Darwin and his system of natural selection dismissed any reason for an intelligent cause of the universe. His theory became so popular because he got religion out of science. Christians need to shift the debate from questions about the age of the universe and the days of Genesis to intelligent design versus blind watchmaker.

What is a blind watchmaker?

Evolutionary biologist and Oxford University Professor Richard Dawkins wrote:

“Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind’s eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, and no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, it is only the blind watchmaker.”

What is intelligent design?

The good news is there are some exciting developments in science. A new program of scientific research known as intelligent design is beginning to challenge the blind watchmaker. Some even think we could be on the verge of a worldwide revolution in science equivalent to Galileo or Darwin. Philosopher, mathematician, and leading intelligent design proponent William Dembski defines it this way: “Intelligent design is neither repackaged creationism nor religion masquerading as science. Intelligent design is a theory for making sense of intelligent causes.” In other words, intelligent design is purposeful; there’s a meaning behind the complexity of biological cells.

Evidence of Intelligent Design: The Anthropic Principle

The anthropic principle states that the universe was fitted from the very first moment of its existence for the emergence of life in general and human life in particular. This scientific principle points to an intelligent designer. Consider these examples.

1. The universe began to exist and bangs have bangers.

The universe has not always existed but began to exist sometime in the past. Science refers to this as the big bang theory. This implies, at some level, that someone had to do initiate the banging.

2. The universe is finely tuned.

There are more than thirty constants of nature we cannot live without. One example, if gravitational force was altered by 1 part in 1040 power, the sun would not exist and the moon would crash into the earth or blast off into space..

3. The incredible complexity of the universe.

This refers to a system that is composed of several interacting parts, where the removal of any of the parts causes the system to cease functioning. This kind of complexity requires intelligent design.

4. The origin of the mind.

Non-intelligence cannot produce intelligence and matter cannot produce mind. If you begin with a conscious being like God, then there is not problem accounting for the origin of the mind and consciousness.

Question to Consider: How do you feel about intelligent design not being a special creation theory, but a working scientific model offered to rationally explain and detect intelligent causes in nature?