Christian Right advocates of Intelligent Design have always intended it as a means for injecting more theism and Christianity into American culture. This makes their agenda appear far more benign than it really is: they want more Christianity in American culture because, in the end, they want to replace America's secular institutions with a theocratic regime under their control.

Americans United interviewed Barbara Forrest, who said:

Americans who value their Constitution and religious freedom should be concerned about the larger problem of which ID is a prominent symptom. Americans need to know about the darker side of the Wedge strategy, which few people except its supporters have seen. ID is more than just creationism’s Trojan horse -- it is a stalking horse for the Religious Right’s effort to steamroll its way into American education and public policy.

The core of this issue is really about power -- who controls education and thus the minds of children, and who controls the policy that shapes American culture and public life. ID proponents share the Religious Right’s dislike of secular education. They also share its theocratic vision for our country. Their most vocal supporters include powerful Religious Right leaders: James Dobson, Phyllis Schlafly, Beverly LaHaye and D. James Kennedy.

The vision Wedge strategists have for American culture is not pretty. In addressing their conservative Christian audience, both Phillip Johnson and William Dembski promote a disturbing religious exclusionism and anti-secularism. Johnson has made comments that could be interpreted as anti-Muslim. Referring to Americans’ fear of “these Muslim terrorists” after September 11, he paints a picture of American professors who are “afraid of what the Muslim students will do” on their campuses.

Commenting that he never thought “our country would descend to this level,” he implies that Muslims worship a false God: “We once knew who the true God was and were able to proclaim it frankly.” Dembski favors reviving the religious transgression of heresy even for fellow Christians. He recognizes the question his view might provoke: “Can’t we all just get along and live together in peace?” His answer should have all Americans worried: “Unfortunately, the answer is no.” [emphasis added]

It’s ironic that Intelligent Design advocates like Dembski are often seen complaining that they are shut out of scientific circles and publications because they are pushing ideas which are “heretical” in the eyes of “orthodox Darwinism.” Here, however, we learn that he would favor bringing back ideas of real heresy in a genuinely religious context and apply it to other Christians who fail to live up to his religious standards. Is this just another example of complaints about others being little more than a projection of one’s own attitudes and desires?

Intelligent Design is bad science and bad theology, in part because it isn’t meant to be either. It’s a political program designed to subvert naturalism and secularism for the purpose of remaking the general political order of America. Some supporters of Intelligent Design have been sincerely duped and don’t realize what they are defending. Most, however, are themselves duplicitous and know they are defending an anti-scientific program for the sake of advancing their own religious and political agenda.

 

Read More:

• Evolution vs. Creationism
• Science vs. Religion
• What is Intelligent Design?
• What is Science?