Seeking Intelligence By Design

Crawford, Texas, is where President George W. Bush heads to clear his tired head when Washington gets too darned complicated. Life is simpler there. Lil’ brush clearing, a few leisurely press conferences and a month of kick’n back and enjoying nature.

That seems to be his way of doing things – just natural.

Take that ‘intelligent design’ business that is being discussed.

Why that is the most natural thing on this green earth. George knows this is an absolute from his steep curve of learnin’; he’s absorbed what is taught in his evangelistic church. All this creation stuff, it hadda been done by God, no question. End of argument.

Next natural question.

What?

Yes, yes, of course, George knows that evangelism requires proselytizing, so of course ‘intelligent design’ ought to be taught in school. It ought to be required just like Darwin’s evolution; oughta go in right beside that there evolution business. Without it, kids might think science has no place for the omniscience of God in its teaching.

Of course there are others – teachers, scientists, theologians, ordinary people of other religions – who think that ‘intelligent design’ belongs nowhere near a discussion of evolution; that ‘intelligent design’ is just an old idea in a new dress; that is, it’s ‘creationism’ all over again, but wearing modern clothes

The concept of evolution is based on science.

That’s all that it is.

It points to no God.

Instead, it points to hard facts and builds reasoned conclusions. That is the methodology of science. There will be questions the sciences cannot deliver, of course; that is true for all science. But that is because there are no ‘givens’ in science. If something is not proven, it is not claimed. This is what makes all the sciences so vibrant and exciting.

On the other hand, the ‘intelligent design’ school of thought uses a wholly different criteria. This concept concludes that whatever else may have happened, the plants and animals are on Earth because a Supreme Being chose all of them and in fact made all of them, in one way or another, through a knowing plan, an ‘intelligent design.’

Now that works – quite well – in theology and religion. It can be discussed, parsed, subdivided, and used to reach a wide variety of conclusions. But it cannot, ever, be used as or in conjunction with a science – because there is not a scintilla of science in any part of the argument.

‘Intelligent design’ is not, nor can it ever be, a science. Even if it were true, it is not science.

No traditional science practitioners in any classroom in America would have dreamed of mixing theology with their professional thinking and then have any hope of surviving in their given field – the scientific community would banish them forever.

But George W thinks it’s just OK for the biological sciences to teach both evolution and creationism – oops, ‘intelligent design’ - as co-equal theories.

This is George W. Bush’s oft-proclaimed conversion. He claims that because of the physical touch of Jesus Christ he was able to turn away from a life of hedonistic inebriation and failed business and personal commitments to become a successful and rich man who is now at the pinnacle of power, and according to evangelistic beliefs he has now moved from being a condemned sinner to a sure resident of heaven, when the time comes, all according to God’s will.

Having proclaimed, repeatedly, that he has been touched by God – actually, physically touched by God – he is now sure of much absolute truth. Unfortunately, of course, like anyone who has been so ‘touched,’ he has only his word as proof.

But like anyone who claims such a personal conversion, George is able to make pronouncements as though he is speaking with the backing of a Supreme Being. He can speak with a tone of absolutism; he can assert that he is sure, for example, of the natural way of things.

One need not ‘prove’ or ‘demonstrate’ such purely natural truths; they are self-evident because the person declaring them asserts that is God’s will and God’s history.

In such a scenario, all those arguments about empirical facts and scientific hoopla are mere tangents; the real truth is known here in the converted one’s own heart. Ahhhh, that is how George can be so certain. His own personal feelings are what count.

Look at George W’s reaction to the Rafael Palmeiro story. Here is a baseball star with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs under his belt. He is a superstar. Hall of Fame recognition is being discussed.

And then he tests positive for the use of steroids. With such performance drugs average baseball players can hit lots of homers and challenge world records. Unfortunately for such players, steroids are also illegal. They are not just banned from baseball; they cannot be bought over the counter at the drugstore. They are against the law. Bush has pounded the table on these substances. Stop their use in baseball, he has said. But here, in the case involving Rafael Palmeiro, everything is different.

After all, the United States did help to get Palmeiro’s brother out of Cuba. And Palmeiro got to know George when ‘W’ was a sports team owner; he also testified before Congress that he never used steroids.

So, ipso facto, Palmeiro couldn’t be a steroid user.

Or could he?

Well, George said he considered Palmeiro a personal friend and would believe his personal friend first, tests or no scientific tests. So again we see that Bush, relying on his own personal feelings, can settle a problem involving hard and provable facts with a few well-chosen words and, relying on his divine perceptions – poof – the issue can be transformed into something it isn’t. Not so very different from transforming the science of evolution into a theory that must be balanced by creationism; oops, sorry again, ‘intelligent design.’

After all, this is a democracy, right? Let the kids decide which ‘theory’ is to their liking, perhaps with some guidance from their families and their churches to counteract the matter-of-fact rationalism of their science teachers.

So like the Palmeiro episode, for George W and his true believers, ‘intelligent design’ is a way to have faith in what is comfortable to believe in; all that is needed is to declare a God-like omniscience and – poof – the knotty issue is no longer a problem.

It is good to be the king.

Everything is so much easier.

February, 2007