[Avodah] intelligent design

[T613K at aol.com]

From: Eli Turkel _eliturkel at gmail.com_ (mailto:eliturkel at gmail.com) 

>> Due to  various attacks on creationism being non-scientific certain
groups  (mainly
Protestant groups with a very literal reading of the Bible)  have
invented "intelligent design" as an alternative to Darwin.  Officially
"intelligent design" does not seek to prove that there is a G-d  that 
created
the universe (again that violates separation of church and  state). Rather 
the
main argument is that because nature is so complex it  could not have
come by natural evolution.

Prof. Aviezer brought  several proofs against the idea. He stressed that
because intelligent design  is wrong it does not mean that Darwin and 
natural
evolution is right. His  personal viewpoint is that evolution in correct 
but it
happened in jumps (eg  a meteor hitting earth) rather than natural 
selection.<<

-- 
Eli  Turkel


 
 
>>>>>
Thanks for that clarification.  Evidently what the participants  at the 
conference rejected was one particular (Christian-inspired) notion of  
intelligent design.  They did not reject -- how could an Orthodox Jew? --  the idea 
of G-d being the source of everything that exists.
 
That (at least partially) answers a question that nobody else has  even 
addressed, at least not in this particular thread:  The question was,  if you 
reject intelligent design, what are the alternatives?  There are  really only 
three possibilities (leaving aside a million idiosyncratic  permutations of 
each one):  
 
1. Bereishis must be taken absolutely literally.  (I'm sure  MO rejects 
this.)
 
2. There is no God.  (I'm pretty sure most MO reject this, as  well)
 
3.  The universe is the product of intelligent design, i.e, it  was 
created.  Exactly what steps occurred between the first moment of yesh  me'ayin, 
and how long those steps took, until we arrived at our present moment  -- may 
be the subject of debate.  But surely a Torah Jew cannot deny the  existence 
of a Designer and still be Orthodox?  
 
When, in an earlier post, RET wrote that all the participants at the  MO 
conference unanimously rejected intelligent design, I just couldn't see how  
to square this circle.  Now he explains that they only rejected  C
hristianity. OK, good, fine with me.  I also reject  Christianity.
 
So let us now agree that we all /accept/ intelligent design.  And we  can 
then amuse ourselves drawing little circles and diagrams to explain  exactly 
what we believe and what we reject.  (I still believe  that people say they 
"reject intelligent design" when they want to give  themselves scientific 
cover and gain credibility with the Scientific Community  -- and I still 
maintain that it's a useless tactic that won't work.)
 
PS Anyone who is interested in this subject absolutely must read  
*Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery* by  
Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards.  This book is beautiful, fascinating  and 
incredibly inspiring.  
 
 
 
 

--Toby  Katz
==========

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