This monumentally silly page on the CIF belief bit of the Guardian website was probably just there to stir up knee-jerk responses. (There are, naturally, thousands of comments.) But, hey, my reflexes are in pretty good shape. So, here goes.
Alistair Noble wrote that “Intelligent design should not be excluded from the study of origins”
As a former science teacher and schools inspector, I am disturbed that proposals for science education are based on near-complete ignorance of intelligent design. I also think the views of “most British people” in this matter should not be so readily set aside.
Even if it were true that “most British people” believed in ID, this doesn’t make it a valid scientific theory nor imply that “most British people” are qualified to decide what pseudo -science is taught in schools.
The fact is that that “most British people” (hmm, me included) don’t know enough about biology to get a GCSE in it. Choosing a theory of life is not like casting a vote on XFactor.
He argues that ID is nothing to do with religion; life is complex and beautiful; it seems designed so it must have been….
It is easily overlooked that the origin of life, the integrated complexity of biological systems and the vast information content of DNA have not been adequately explained by purely materialistic or neo-Darwinian processes. Indeed it is hard to see how they ever will.
But hey, this is not about religion….
It is an all too common error to confuse intelligent design with religious belief.
The intellectual dishonesty of this claim – that it’s not religiously based – is quite telling. What specific “science” did he teach?
If Intelligent design constitutes a good scientific theory, why draw the line at using it in biology? What about physics? What about cosmology?
“A magic man did it” applies even more aptly to these subjects, surely?
It’s certainly possible that our models of “evolution” will be proven to be false by some new and better explanation of biological processes. That’s science. ….. It is well nigh inconceivable that science will ever decide that the magic man is an explanation for anything.
Alistair’s Guardian profile says
Dr Alastair Noble is an educational consultant and lay preacher, and a former teacher and research chemist
Research chemistry? Why bother? Surely, the magic man made all the chemicals and chemical transformations. Why not just read Genesis instead of messing about getting research results?
Lay preacher? He argued that ID is real science, and can’t be confused with religion (see above) So his being a lay preacher is just a coincidence. Indeed a coincidence so uncanny that it can only have been designed by a superior being.
A few links, chosen randomly by my own intelligent design, to other blogs discussing this nonsense better than I have, and indeed, having done so in a rather more timely fashion.
evilburnee.co.uk
Wonderful life
Richard Dawkins, net
Nice.
I was particularly annoyed by Noble’s (incomplete) statement of qualifications in his text. Seems to me that any reference to a designer is an immediate reference to a supernatural (and astonishingly powerful) entity – how anyone can be taken in by the notion that this is not a religious belief is astonishing.
Noble’s article failed in so many ways it is rather worrying that people like that have any role in education.
Alastair Noble has a profile here Mission Scotland (it’s some kind of Scottish evangelical organisation).
Thanks for the link.
It is really quite an unpleasant thought that he was involved in any way education.
An incomplete statement? Could that possibly imply that Noble is *gasp* another Liar for Jesus? Say it ain’t so!
I found a bit more about Alastair Noble on the interweb. I don’t think he’s someone I would like to see involved in science education.
Maybe “being economical with the truth for Jesus” is the new “lying for Jesus”