The Spirit of Freedom: South African Leaders on Religion and Politics, Vol. 52 Book

"The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design" is the latest, rather valiant, but intellectually dishonest, effort by Discovery Institute Fellow Jonathan Wells to defend the merits of an idea - Intelligent Design - which was demonstrated conclusively, beyond any reasonable doubt, to be a religious doctrine pretending to be science at the 2005 Kitzmiller vs. Dover (Dover, PA) trial presided by Republican Federal judge John Jones. In Judge Jones' landmark, historic decision, he concluded that Intelligent Design is indeed a religious doctrine masquerading as science (The complete text is posted online at:
htttp://www2.ncseweb.org/kvd/all_legal/2005-1...). Jones' verdict was praised soon thereafter by other Republicans and conservatives, including such distinguished journalists as Charles Krauthammer and George Will.

If you were a cancer patient requiring urgent medical care, then you would seek help from someone familiar with the latest medical techniques in fighting cancer: a doctor or nurse. The same is true with regards to learning about genuine science of which evolutionary biology remains a sterling example (For example, our understanding of the spread of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, has relied extensively on research in evolutionary biology.). Contrary to Wells' arguments, Intelligent Design is not scientific since it relies on faith, not reason, as its raison d'etre; moreover, unlike a genuine scientific theory like Darwin's Theory of Evolution via Natural Selection, Intelligent Design does not offer testable hypotheses for determining the theory's validity and creating fruitful avenues for further scientific research. Wells is appealing to a potential reader's sense of fair play, claiming that Intelligent Design has been shut out of the "free market" of scientific ideas (In genuine science, a "free market" does hold sway, but it depends on the relative success of hypotheses which have passed rigorous scientific testing.).

There are other, more important - and intellectually sound - books available on the so-called "creation vs. evolution" controversy (Intelligent Design has been judged correctly as the latest flavor of creationism enjoying some popularity amongst fundamentalist Protestant Christians; one notable biologist has referred to it as "reborn creationism".). Philosopher Robert Pennock's "Tower of Babel" is a splendid historical overview and philosophical deconstruction of creationism, including the best written rebuke of "Intelligent Design" which I've come across. Philip Kitcher, another philosopher, published "Abusing Science: The Case Against Creationism" back in the early 1980s, but his arguments are still quite valid today. My friend Ken Miller's "Finding Darwin's God" has an eloquent critique of Intelligent Design, focusing on Michael Behe's mousetrap model of irreducible complexity which claims to bestow validity on Intelligent Design. Distinguished American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) invertebrate paleobiologist Niles Eldredge offers yet another brilliant critique of Intelligent Design in his book "Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life", the elegant companion volume to the AMNH Darwin exhibition which he curated, soon to embark on a tour taking it to many of North America's and Great Britain's finest science museums. And last, but not least, Eugenie Scott, Executive Director, National Center for Science Education (www.ncseweb.org), has written a fine textbook on this issue, "Evolution vs. Creationism". All of these books are more desirable than Wells' latest diatribe against evolutionary biology. Otherwise, if you insist on purchasing Wells' book, then perhaps you might choose to acquire instead a splendid text devoted to Klingon cosmology (Neither Klingon cosmology nor "Intelligent Design" can be regarded as scientific, since both depend on faith, not reason, to validate their principles.).

(Reposted from my 2006 Amazon review)

(EDITORIAL NOTE: I would also highly recommend Ken Miller's "Only A Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul, more so than his "Finding Darwin's God" since the former is an excellent deconstruction of Intelligent Design as "science" and also Michael Shermer's "Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design".