Thoughts in a Haystack

The Undiscovery Institute has put out a free* booklet, "A Parent's Guide to Intelligent Design."

It is the familiar bafflegab, condensed and packaged in glossy form for those too indifferent to even bother following the DI's blog. And the purpose of the booklet? Well ...

Kids are constantly bombarded with misinformation on this topic from schools, the media, and sometimes even trusted religious institutions. Pro-Darwin, materialistic thinking appears to be everywhere. Where can you turn?

Ah, yes ... the opposite of materialistic thinking. But you have to be careful! In a section entitled "How Can Parents Influence Evolution-Education in Local Schools?," they are warned to "channel your desire for change in a productive and helpful direction" and given a series of "Do's and Don'ts." One, in particular, is "Do explain that the case for objectivity in evolution-education comes from science—and isn't an argument based upon religion."**

But immediately following that section is one on "What is Theistic Evolution?" After a discussion of what theistic evolution is, comes this:

While some contemporary proponents of theistic evolution maintain that their views are consistent with traditional Christian theology, many others have made clear that embracing theistic evolution requires radical revisions in how one views God.

Wait a minute! This a booklet about the science of ID, right? Why are they discussing "traditional Christian theology" at all? The booklet then goes on to discuss three "significant challenges to traditional Christian theology" from theistic evolution:

First, many theistic evolution proponents assert that, because Darwinian evolution is by definition "undirected," God could not have actively guided the evolutionary process, contrary to traditional Christian teachings about God's sovereignty.

God's sovereignty is a scientific question?

Second, many theistic evolution proponents repudiate traditional Christian teaching about the original goodness of creation and its subsequent "Fall."

The "Fall"? As in Genesis 2?

Third, theistic evolutionists who seek to retain the idea that God guided the evolutionary process typically insist that God's guidance in biology is hidden from us. (As opposed to "the psalmist who claimed that the "heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19) [and] the Apostle Paul who argued in Romans 1:20 that "since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made ...")

The Bible is a science text?

But just remember to keep saying, over and over again: "ID is not religious ... ID is not religious ... ID is not religious ... " even (or especially) if you don't believe it for a second.

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* In order to get it, you have to give the DI a name and email address that they will use to send "communications" from the Center for Science and Culture. They will also share the email address with an organization named "Positively Republican."

** In other words, 'For God's sake don't use the "C" word!'