Catholicism and Intelligent Design...

When I first wrote about intelligent design (ID for short), I had read a wonderful article in the NYT written by Austrian Cardinal Schonborn (an editor for the modern catechism).  He made a few mistakes though - and perhaps was caught up in the crossfire.

Thus, Father George Coyne of the Vatican Observatory responded.  Whereas Schonborn attacked neo-darwinism for it's atheistic bent, Coyne replied that darwinism isn't beholden to athiest philosophy.

He makes the interesting point, as first intuited by Cardinal John Newman, that "the theory of Darwin, true or not, is not necessarily atheistic; on the contrary, it may simply be suggesting a larger idea of divine providence and skill.”

But, in a bazaar turn, Fr. Coyne then goes on to discredit Intelligent Design.

It all turns around the differing definitions of "Intelligent Design."  Catholics, by and large, were initially supportive of the term and found it's apparent co-existence with darwinism to be refreshing.  But Christians at large, had seen the terminology in a different light - that of a literal, fundamentalist meaning.  In other words, Creationalism.

Now, a documentary film by Ben Stein has been released.  "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" is a cute ditty which goes on a rampant attack against neo-darwinism.  With a showcase interview of Richard Dawkins (who himself made fun of Lourdes in his showcase "The Root of all Evil") Ben Stein serves revenge up cold.  Poor Dawkins...

And thus, Intelligent Design has been kicked to the side of the road for vultures to pick at.

But where have we gone with all this?  The fascinating term "Intelligent Design" is now lumped with "water powered engine" and "free energy machines."  A great idea co-opted into disgrace.

Fr. Coyne sums it up like so: Intelligent Design diminishes God into “an engineer who designs systems rather than a lover.”

C'est la vie....