Thoughts in a Haystack

World Magazine has profiles of five people who spent 10 days in Seattle at the Discovery Institute's summer seminar learning about intelligent design. Try and find the difference between ID and religion:

David Brown (a pseudonym):

As a physics teacher, he doesn't talk about biology, but introduces the concept of fine-tuning in the universe. ...

Brown used to teach origins by telling students how some people believe the universe was created, and others believe it just popped into existence. At the Discovery Institute's intelligent design seminar this summer, though, science research coordinator Casey Luskin advised him that approach was technically considered teaching intelligent design—and therefore illegal.

Note that he wasn't told that ID has nothing to do with creation. Instead, he was told that mentioning creation is "teaching intelligent design," demonstrating that ID is intended to promote creationism.

Phoebe Johnson (a pseudonym):

When her public school principal complained she weren't teaching the curriculum on evolution, she moved to a position at a Roman Catholic school:

Johnson soon realized her new job environment would not be drastically different. While the school does believe the Bible is true, Pope John Paul II encouraged Catholics not to abandon science, which many took to mean embracing Darwinism. In her advanced biology class, she is allowed to teach the criticisms of Darwinian theory, but can't supply students with alternative possibilities. She can say, "Isn't God amazing?" while studying the design of kidneys, but can't say that it didn't come by evolution.

Instead, she'd like to abandon science and teach the "alternative possibility" of creationism.

John Ferrer:

A Ph.D. in the philosophy of religion, he "sees himself as an evangelist for the redemption of universities."

Ferrer believes Christians need to be the best students in the classroom. Then after they graduate, they should enter top-notch grad programs and places of influence in politics, business, and academia. Once Christians become professors or even college presidents, they have more power to change what is taught to the country's future leaders.

In other words, ID has nothing to do with science but has to do with the political advancement of Christianity, both inside and out of academia. Oh, wait a minute, we already knew about that.

Lugo Martinez (a pseudonym):

Martinez said attending the intelligent design seminar at the Discovery Institute this summer strengthened his faith: "I believe in the biblical frame of the origin of life. I think God came and put the conditions on Earth for life to begin." Martinez personally believes that biological life is young, perhaps 6,000 to 10,000 years old, but that the Earth itself is old. He believes Noah's flood was responsible for creating the fossil record.

Of course ID intends this effect, as explained by both Phillip Johnson and Paul Nelson.

Lori McKeeman:

The lead ... cough ... science teacher at The Potter's School, an online Christian school popular among homeschoolers and missionary and military families, she says:

She coaches students through experiments like extracting DNA from peas and fruit, and uses science to demonstrate the Bible's accuracy. (One example: Hyssop, a cleansing agent in the Bible, contains thymol, an antiseptic used in mouthwash.)

Ohhh! People have found natural substances that are useful. Strange, I don't remember any Bible verses about willow bark relieving pain. I guess Aspirin wasn't intelligently designed.

If there was any question about ID being religiously, instead of scientifically, motivated, the very people who attend DI's seminars dispel any such doubt.