Intelligent Design Theology

I'd like to make some further comments concerning the approach of many ID proponents. They insist that their theory is totally scientific. It is about detecting design in nature. I find a few problems with this approach but not exactly like the ones often used against them.

One is that the very people who criticize them do not believe or understand the separation between design and designer. I think this is more inevitable than the ID people realize. The concept of design necessarily connects with the concept of designer. It seems psychologically too much for many people to separate the two. Hence, the repeated frustration of not being understood is something IDists should not be surprised about.

An even more critical problem is that ID proponents are needlessly complying to the science community culture, which places science as foundational, with faith a far-trailing second facet of our lives, if present at all. In this situation, it is as if the science community has their way that really, science is more important than religion. This is something we need not swallow, defend against or feel intimidated by. I am Christian, and God is fundamental, foundational, and first in my life. I don't care what others say, shout, feel, or make laws about--it changes nothing for me. This is what any Christian in ID needs to get straight, and I'm afraid they will have some re-thinking to do. They should not insist that ID is only science.

Yes, I understand that not everyone who is an ID proponent is Christian, or even a believer. But for those who are believers, the mindset needs to change. This is not only about science, though science goes hand in hand (for most of us) with faith. But it is about our faith, and being able to profess and live it.

So, unfortunately, the argument about ID being only science, as repeated constantly in blogs and at state school board meetings, is not completely correct. Though Christians can understand science (an atom is an atom), the worldview is different for believers than it is for non-believers. For believers, the Designer is not just "anybody," as ID proponents say. The Designer, the Creator, is God the Father, through the Son.

There are real differences in the lives of those who believe and this is one of them. We are in the world, but not of the world. It is something many need to get straight in their own minds.

2013 Update: My interest in Intelligent Design Theory (ID) has changed to what is called "Special Creationism," the belief that God created species separately and directly. Much of the biological science in ID is similar to Special Creationism.