An Analysis of the Opinions Formed by Intelligent Design Supporters
An Analysis of the Opinions Formed by Intelligent Design Supporters Where do we come from? This question has disturbed mankind for generations. For a couple thousand years the answer to this question could be found in the Creationist theory. The Bible tells of how 6,000 years ago God created Earth and all its living creatures in seven days. Then in the nineteenth century Charles Darwin published his findings about his theory of evolution in his book On the Origin of Species. This perturbed religious groups and took until the twentieth century to become more widely accepted. The most recent event surrounding this controversy came in a federal court case about the Dover, Pennsylvania school board dilemma on whether to also allow intelligent design to be taught in Biology classrooms. It laid down the platform for various arguments of both the Evolutionists and Intelligent Design theorists. In order to form opinions and solid judgment about these two theories people must form attitudes through various means. Attitudes of intelligent design supporters become clouded and modified by emotion, prior beliefs, ideologies, values, and the mass media, which prove to exhibit good and bad judgment. Intelligent design supporters have several opinions about evolution and their own theory. The opinions that are most commonly understood are the ones put forth by Thomas More Law and the Discovery Institute during the Dover trial. This trial focused on why intelligent design should be taught in classrooms. Evolution in the context of the trial and as declared by Charles Darwin is best described as the slow gradual genetic change of a population over time. The major underlying argument for intelligent design supporters is that the features of all organisms are too complex to have been simply caused by evolution (Koch). Since these features are too complex, supporters believe that there must have been a designer. They agree with evolution in some instances however. For example,
Citations: Koch, David, prod. Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial. Nova, 2007. DVD. .