Options Menu: Forum Topic: Intelligent Design

You and your classmates are ordinary citizens interested in science education. You have been assembled into an advisory group. The Virginia State Education Commission is drafting a policy that will affect all school boards in the state. You are being protected in a secluded hotel from ACLU lawyers and right-wing demonstration groups. Here is your question: is intelligent design theory scientific? The Virginia State Education Commission is paying you thousands of dollars for a simple yes or no answer to this question. Such an answer may be unrealistic, but court battles will follow. You need to get as close to a yes or no answer as possible.

As a group, you have 3 reference sources:

Your textbook’s 2 chapters on origins and the scientific method
The course presentation entitled “Origins, ID, and the Public School Classroom”
Two expensive expert witnesses: Michael Behe, a Lehigh University biochemist, and Eugenia Scott of the National Center for Science Education (your two expert witnesses come to you from presentations in the Reading & Study folder of Module/Week 7)
For your thread:

As panelists, first do your homework, then make a decision: based on how the scientific method works, is intelligent design theory scientific? Can you use it to do science?

The title must begin with the word “yes” or “no.” Using 3 concise, numbered sentences, argue your answer.

Bibliography

Detwiler, C., Mitchell, K., & Reichenbach, N. (2015). Life by design (Custom). Boston, MA: Cengage Custom Publishing.

Gross, R. [Randall Gross]. (2009. April 11). Science is agnostic [Video file]. Retrieved from

IDquest. (2010, January 26). Are there limits to natural science?: Michael J. Behe, PhD [Video file]. Retrieved from

Liberty University. (n.d.). Origins, intelligent design and the public school classroom [Presentation]. Retrieved from https://learn.liberty.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-2599777-dt-forum-rid-101909846_1/xid-101909846_1.