Intelligent design facts for kids
Intelligent design is a theory that suggests life and the universe are too complex to have happened by chance. Instead, it proposes they were created by a very smart being or entity. This idea is different from evolution, which says that life developed over time through a process called natural selection.
This theory was created by a group of American creationists. They developed it to work around legal decisions. For example, a court case called Edwards v. Aguillard said that creationism could not be taught in public schools. This was because of the First Amendment, which separates church and state. The term "intelligent design" was first used in a book called Of Pandas and People in 1989.
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What is Intelligent Design?
Intelligent design suggests that living things are too complicated to have simply evolved. Even a single cell is incredibly complex. The genes inside a cell hold a huge amount of information.
Supporters of intelligent design say this information, like computer programming, must come from a smart source. They believe it cannot be created randomly. This is because of something called entropy, which usually means things tend to become less organized, not more. Law professor Phillip E. Johnson is often seen as a key figure in intelligent design.
Proteins and DNA
It is argued that while a simple amino acid might form by chance, a protein is much more complex. A protein is a long, precisely shaped chain of amino acids. Intelligent design suggests it would be impossible for a protein to form by chance. Also, a protein or DNA alone is not alive. So, a whole living thing would need to be made all at once. This argument challenges the idea that natural selection could create life.
The Bacterial Flagellum
A common example used is the bacterial flagellum. This is like a tiny motor found on some bacteria. It has many separate parts. Intelligent design argues that for the flagellum to form through evolution, all its parts would have to appear at the same time. However, scientists have found evidence that the flagellum did develop through evolution over time.
The Watchmaker Idea
A religious philosopher named William S. Paley used an example to explain his ideas. He said that life is even more complex than a machine, like a watch. He argued that just as a watch needs a smart designer to make it, animals must also have been made by a smart designer. This idea is known as the watchmaker analogy.
Intelligent Design and Evolution
Many parts of different animals look very similar. Intelligent design suggests this is because a common creator used the same good design ideas for all of them. This could also be seen as evidence for evolution, where similar parts come from a common ancestor.
Intelligent design also suggests that every part of an animal is useful and has a purpose. This shows how smart the designer was. Evolution, however, suggests that some parts of an animal might not be very useful or perfect. This is because evolution happens through natural selection, which is not always perfect.
In the past, some parts of the human body were thought to have no biological function. But later, scientists found that some of these parts actually do important things.
Similar Genes
If animals have similar parts because they came from a common ancestor, then the genes that control these parts should also be similar. Sometimes this is true. But other times, similar body parts are made by completely different genes. This can happen because of convergent evolution, where different species develop similar features independently. These different results can lead to arguments about whether evolution is right or wrong.
Court Cases About Intelligent Design
Intelligent design has been part of several important court cases in the United States.
- Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District was a trial that stopped the teaching of intelligent design in public schools. The court ruled that teaching it would go against the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This amendment says the government cannot favor one religion over another.
- In 2005, during the Dover trial, a United States judge decided that Intelligent Design was a type of creationism. Because of this, it was ruled to be against the First Amendment.
- H. Allen Orr wrote an article for the New Yorker magazine called Devolution: Why intelligent design isn’t. This article explains why many scientists do not agree with intelligent design.
Images for kids
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Use of the terms "creationism" versus "intelligent design" in sequential drafts of the 1989 book Of Pandas and People.
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The idea of irreducible complexity was made popular by Michael Behe in his 1996 book, Darwin's Black Box.
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The Discovery Institute's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture used banners based on The Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel. Later it used a less religious image, then was renamed the Center for Science and Culture.
See also
In Spanish: Diseño inteligente para niños
