Weighing In on the “Intelligent Design” vs. “Evolution” Controversy

—from the pen of Pastor Charles P. Schmitt, D.Min, D.D.

President Bush’s recent suggestion that intelligent design be taught along with Darwin’s natural selection in our schools has sparked a fresh round of debate. “Both sides ought to be properly taught, so people can understand what the debate is about…,” the President stated. Consequently, the August 15, 2005, edition of Time magazine devoted its cover story to this issue.

But I found myself taken back a bit by Time’s cover statement—“The push to teach ‘intelligent design’ raises a question: Does God have a place in science class?” I thought to myself as I read that, there’s still “no room in the inn” for our God! The fact is that apart from God there would be no science; to debate, therefore, whether God has “a place in science class” is arrogant.

The Time article also revealed that a recent poll evidenced 55 percent of Americans believed “children should be taught creationism and intelligent design along with evolution in public schools,” and that “54 percent did not believe humans had developed from an earlier species.” Many, myself among them, believe creation is good science.
“Intelligent design” is simply defined by Time in these words: “that some features of living things are best explained as the work of a designer rather than as the result of a random process like natural selection.”

I took note, from the article, of what is probably the main support used to bolster evolution. In the words of Oxford evolutionist Richard Dawkins: “There is a huge amount of evidence of evolution … in the letters of the genetic code shared in varying degrees by all species. The pattern is precisely what you would expect if evolution would happen.” As a theologian I would say that this pattern is precisely what you would expect from an Intelligent Designer! I’m no expert in art, but I can easily identify a Van Gogh—simply by Van Gogh’s style. He leaves his unique trademark on all his works (almost as if he splattered paint on a canvas from across the room; but then, again, I’m no art expert!) For letters of the genetic code to be shared by all species, to me, therefore, evidences, in a Van Gogh-type way, the presence of an Intelligent Designer. Percival Davis and Dean Kenyon in Of Pandas and People thus explain intelligent design: “Intelligent design means that various forms of life began abruptly through an intelligent agency, with their distinctive features already intact—fish with fins and scales, birds with feathers, beaks and wings, etc. Some scientists have arrived at this view since fossil forms first appear in the rock record with their distinctive features intact, rather than gradually developing.”

Finally, out of fairness to the discussion, there are varying shades of understanding on this issue. The atheistic evolutionist states: “The theory of natural selection explains life as we find it, with all its quirks and tragedies.…Evolution does not require a white-coated technician in the sky” (Harvard professor Steven Pinkner). Michael Behe, Lehigh University professor, believes differently: “Sure, it’s possible to believe in both God and evolution….God could make life any way He wanted to….” Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute agrees: “I see no conflict in what the Bible tells me about God and what science tells me about nature….If God chose to use the mechanism of evolution to create you and me, who are we to say that wasn’t an absolutely elegant plan?” But, Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, disagrees: “You cannot coherently affirm the Christian-truth claim and the dominant model of evolutionary theory at the same time. Personally, I am a young-earth creationist. I believe the Bible is adequately clear about how God created the world….Evangelicals must absolutely affirm the special creation of humans in God’s image, with no physical evolution from any non-human species.”

And where, in all of this, do we weigh in as Immanuel’s Church? Simply here: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). For “before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God” (Psalm 90:2)! Amen!