I have way too much time on my hands these days. For proof, take a look at what I did today: I wrote a letter to the Toronto Star in response to this letter, which appeared in today's paper.
Here's what I wrote:
[Letter Start]
Intelligent Design Is Not Good Science
On the surface, Intelligent Design is simply a poor scientific theory, and one that should not garner much attention or respect from the scientific community.
A good theory does not close the book on any further research, expansion, or adaptation of itself, yet Intelligent Design’s conclusion, that the cell is so complex it must have been designed by an intelligent being, is a closed end, one that seems to fit faith-based studies more than science. To simply throw up one’s hands and say “we can’t figure out how this occurred naturally now, so we never will” is very poor scientific practice.
All of this leads me to believe that Intelligent Design is scientific by name only. When one examines it more thoroughly, what it truly appears to be is “scientists” approaching a subject with a biased outlook and working towards a goal that provides them with justification of their bias. In this case, it is simply something for the Christian Right to use to slip modernized Creationism into school science programs through the back door.
Also I would like to point out that “atheists can no longer depend on their old-time belief that the universe has no beginning and always existed” is a very misguided statement. To imply that atheists say the universe has always existed in its current form is completely false. The Big Bang is a widely accepted scientific theory of how the universe came to be in its current state, one which most (if not all) atheists subscribe to as well. The theories as to what came before that are more varied and contested, but I have yet to meet a person who believes that the universe has always existed as it does right now.
[Letter End]
I've written to the Star before, after reading an article about people suing Rockstar Games because a couple of teens without brains got their stupid little hands on a rifle that their responsible parents left for anyone to just take, and shot some people in passing cars or something. It made it into the paper a couple of days later. That was in October of 2003 though, and I have a feeling it was a slow letter day.
Either way, I do hope this letter makes it onto the printed page, because that letter defending Intelligent Design was begging for an intelligent reply.
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