Intelligent Design

Creationism masquerading as science. Asserts that the universe is too complex to have come about on its own and must have been designed by some intelligent being (we are, of course, to assume this being is God). This is the argument from incredulity, which can be restated as, "I don't understand how this happened, so God must've done it." It may satisfy some, until we actually do understand how something happens and no longer need God as an explanation. The Intelligent Design movement is actually an agenda of the Discovery Institute, a Young Earth Creationist organization devoted to evangelizing by spreading misinformation about such things as the theory of evolution. In their leaked "wedge document," they detail a plan to insert Intelligent Design as an alternative to the theory of evolution in public school science curriculums. This, they believe, will stem the dissemination of accurate scientific information in favor of ideas that don't contradict their beliefs. By removing the religious trappings of creationism (they are careful not to mention the Christian God, Jesus, or the Bible), they hold Intelligent Design up as genuine science. Apparently they've never bothered to check the definition of "science," since it mentions things like falsifiable hypotheses, evidence, stuff like that. Intelligent Design is pseudoscience and a real danger to education in the U.S.