Malevolent Design Theory

Strong essay in The Revealer today. J. M. Tyree writes: “Why not put forward a raft of other contenders — Kali, Allah, Krishna, Jah, The Force, Cthulhu (image) — for the starring role of Intelligent Designer? Intelligent Design isn't just bad science, it's bad religion.”

Excerpt:

“Despite the new cloaking device of pseudoscientific language, ID is actually a recent mutation of one of the oldest, most persistent, and most tempting of religious ideas, the so-called ... 'argument from design.' It is so ancient, in fact, that one of its earliest proponents was not even Christian. ...

...“Self-defeating and incoherent, Intelligent Design is worse than useless, not only as science but also, one imagines, for religious folks who might be attempting to understand God by working backwards from the world as their body of evidence. Inevitably, one begins to wonder more about cluster munitions than bombardier beetles, and the old problem of evil slips in. If He exists, why does God allow evil? Even if you can explain why God designed cancer and HIV, which is no easy task, you are still left with His role in world events from Darfur to Baghdad and New Orleans. Far from being examples of Intelligent Design that reinforce the Christian message, aren't these kinds of meditations precisely the reasons that many people lose their faith?”

Read the entire post here.