Stupid Creationist Arguments 33: Fairness demands we teach both sides.

March 10th, 2010

First of all: not every two ideas are equal. Flat earth and spherical earth are not equal, geocentricism and heliocentrism are not equal, the germ theory of disease and disease being caused by demon possession are not equal, psychology and thatens possession are not equal and intelligent design and the theory of evolution are not equal.

Evolution is a scientific theory that explains the facts (observations) of evolution (change in a population over multiple generations), it has been through the riggers of the scientific method for over a 150 years and not only has it survived, it has thrived. It is one of the most successful theories in science. It is supported by millions of peer reviewed papers and countless observations.
Intelligent design on the other hand has no peer reviewed papers and no observations supporting it. Its predictions have long been falsified, many before it was invented. Intelligent design was invented as part of a strategy to get religion and God (Yahweh) back into schools.

Of course just saying all that is not enough to prove the point. So lets compare them head to head.
Evolution.

Evolution predicted transitional fossils in the fossil recored and they have been found.
Evolution has been observed in the laboratory and in nature.
Speciation has been observed.
Taxonomy, genetics and the fossil recored all show that currently existing species descend from common ancestors.

Intelligent design

No irreducibly complex organ or structure in any organism has been found.
The fossil recored does not support the idea that any organism came into existence fully formed with out a preexisting species for it to have evolved from.
Intelligent design is unfalsifiable as the “designer” could have created everything three days ago and made it look like the universe is billions of years old and life evolved

Then theres the wedge strategy.
The wedge strategy was a plan made by the Discovery Institute to replace scientific explanations with supernatural explanations in schools. specifically they wanted to replace science with “Godidit”. This was outlined in a document called the The Wedge Document which was leaked to the web (note to conspiracy theorists: this is why these big conspiracies can’t work; the more people involved the more likely it is someone will talk).
Intelligent design was part of the plan. They wanted to replace scientific explanations of life with intelligent design and then replace that with straight creationism.

Intelligent design is in no way shape or form equal to evolution.
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Links and sources
Stupid Creationist Arguments 29: There Are No Transitional Fossils
Stupid Creationist Arguments 27: But Its Just A Theory
Stupid Creationist Arguments 4: Not So Irreducible Complexity
Evolution part 1: What evolution is and is not.
The Wedge Strategy