Monday, February 2, 2009

21st Century Controversary--Man and Monkey

As you already know from class, the Scopes Monkey Trial was about more than just teaching evolution or creationism. In a larger sense, it was a face-off between embracing or rejecting modernity in an ever-changing world.

To bring the issue full-circle, please watch this clip called "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" from PBS Nova.



To watch the entire program (a 2 hour show divided into 12 segments), click here. Now that you know the story, the players, the case and subsequent ruling, imagine that the Kitzmiller v. Dover ruling has been appealed. As a Supreme Court Justice writing the majority ruling, you must answer the following crucial question: "Is Intelligent Design a scientific alternative to evolution, or religion in disguise?" Be sure to provide reasoning for the opinion you provide.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

In my opinion intelligent design is a type of religion in desguise because it is the theory that living things show signs of being designed and not just random genetic mutation. There for it falls under the religious idea that humans were gods creation and did not just evolve over time.
_melissa oderifero

Anonymous said...

With intelligent design being the assertion or belief that physical and biological systems observed in the universe restult from purposeful design by an intelligent being rather than from chance or undirected natural processes I think that people percieve it as a type of religion. I feel that it is more of a way of thinking than anything. It is almost like demagoguery where they just base beliefs off of peoples ideas and fears. ponder...

~Kyrstyn Manfull period 5

Anonymous said...

Katelynn Frantz
History-2
2-3-09

All most anything could inspire someone to fight for a revolution.From equal rights which we saw in the Civil war to having our own country with fair rules.As for me fighting for issues that i think should happen i would definitely fight for equal rights.I know we have that here in America but i would fight for is in lets say Iraq or Afghanistan.Women are treated like dirt there.I mean common why should you have to hide your face in public?How does that show respect to men?If I was them and I knew what it was like in America i would fight for what they have.Even if it cost me my life in the making.

Anonymous said...

Intelligent design is just relegion in disguise. Becuase, intelligent design is also known as creationism like how "Of Pandas and People" started as creationism and in the index of biology books was under creation science.

Landry Bertsch Period 5

joetta said...

Thinking and looking back on the Scope's Trial...one might say that evolution is a type of religion while others state that it is just a belief. But doesn't all religions have beliefs...I'm not saying that evolution is a religion, but its rare for someone who believes in Jesus Christ to believe in evolution. Its also rare to find someone who is an atheist who believes that a god created the earth.

The problem that people have with evolution is that when teaching or discussing evolution, people's opinions on the subject are very strong and sides clash in an attempt to prove one's point, as in the case in the Scope's trial.
Joetta Lorenz

Anonymous said...

Chris Selph
Period 5

I think that intelligent design in religion in disguise. While science is based on facts to prove a point, religion is based on faith to prove something is true. Since intelligent design cannot be proven with scientific method, it cannot be a science.

Anonymous said...

The lines are clearly drawn. One is either for or against the other. There is really not a border line. If you're religious then you are probably for the belief of God making the earth and his creatures. If you're more for a scentific view, then you probably believe in evoulution. There is no real way to tell. We can't test either. It is proven that humans do have around 98 percent ,give or take one percent,of DNA as chimpanzees. Also, Scopes had no reason to be convicted because everyone has the right to belive what they want. Kids or anyone should know at least a little about each in order to make a reasonable decision.
-LM EM

Anonymous said...

I believe that intelligent design is just a disguise for a few reasons. First off they idea for intelligent design came straight from the bible making it there a religious idea. Then you got the fact of no scientific proof of man just popping up out of nowhere though we do have scientific proof of lesser humans (I guess you could call it) through fossils and bones found through out the earth. That plus the fact that we already know that evolution takes place cause we have studied it through the study of a species of bird on the Tristan archipelago in the South Atlantic. It's called natural selection, we all have slowly adapted to survive our habitat.

Brandon Busby P-4

Anonymous said...

intellegent design has no scientific fact so i don't see how it can be science.... religion is based on faith, while science is based on the scientific method. so i don't belive that intel. design can be either.
-brandon o'hara p.5

Bryceth said...

Oddly enough, my English class is working on research papers already, and someone is writing their paper on evolution. During some research time in the library this person and I got into a conversation about exactly this topic. Intelligent design seems to be just a way to say that, "yes I am a believer of God, BUT evolution makes some good points too". Saying this, I too believe that intelligent design seems to be a more believable and more religious way that appeals more to the scientific-religious body of people out there. I think that it is a good way to settle differences between two groups of people, and no one likes conflict.

Bryce Kantorowicz

Anonymous said...

I think intelligent design is a religion in desguise. To me it sounds more religious. Science is based on facts and religion is based on believing in God and God made earth and everything on it. Science has not proven intelligent design yet therefore, I don't believe it's creation from science.
-RaeAnna Madigan p.2 =]

Anonymous said...

After reading a few of these one may begin to believe that intelligent design is a sourse of religion. So are we stating that there are two sides to this and no inbetween? or is Intelligent design the inbetween? It may seem believable this being why it could be comsidered a religion. The definition of religion is as follows: a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. The only thing I see to be a factor is the superhuman agency or agencies or devotional ritual observances.

Kyrstyn Manfull period 5 :P

Anonymous said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellegent_design

i think this sums it up pretty well



i'm changing my answer after reading through this wiki page.
i believe its just an excuse as brandon busby said to believe in god and still try and get by believing in the known facts that we have on earth today. aka fossils and other research.

Brandon O'Hara p.5

Anonymous said...

I would definitly say that if intellegent design was anything it would be a religion in disguise. Intelligent design is based on similar ideas and principles of how the Bible states our world was made. The two may not fully agree on everything, but the intelligent design would have to have the closest ideas to what the Bible says.

Evolution may not be considered a religion and some may not agree with what it's saying, but in life there is always more than one way to get an answer to a problem, just like with how our world was created. None of us were around back when the world began, so who are we to decide for sure how it was created. Everyone believes in different principles these days, even with some contradicting ideas. None of us should be told we are not allowed to let others know of the different ideas. Letting others know how we feel the world was created is the same as giving others a breif on our religion, or how we feel something should be done.
Sadie Watson per. 4

Anonymous said...

Inteligent design is a theory or an over arching idea of a series of related facts. a religion, as defined on dictionary.com, is this: a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
this means that inteligent design fits much of the criteria of a religion, it explains the cause of the universe just as a religion would. it also fits other criteria of religion, but the people who believe in inteligent design do not lable it as a religion but as science. therefore i think that it depends on the perspective of the person looking at it.Therefore i believe that the answer is in the eye of the beholder.

Anonymous said...

i think that intelligent design is kind of religion in disguise. Because it just tells you what happened in religion but the scientists are trying to prove other wise and religous people don't like that very much they want to believe what they were taught to believe.

Letesia Left Hand
Period 4

Anonymous said...

In my opinion of intelligent design it is a science. I come from a religious school. In that i learned abouty intelligent design by that it is a true science. It is because of how the body is made. It can not happen from a explosion. It happens because of of something bigger than yourself. If you look at it in a bigger perspective you can see it is not a religion in disguise but it is a science with a diferent view. Its another theory just like evolution wich is also a theory. Therefore its not a relion but just a theory as evolution.

Josh Erger

Anonymous said...

when deciding whether or not intelligent design is based on evolution or religion in disguise, I came to the conlusion its relgion in disguise. Evolution explains how our earth was created and where man supposedly came from but intelligent design clearly states god but avoids meantioning the nature of the identity of the creator. I believe in all means that intelligent design is religion is disguise it just avoids meantioning God and his creations but clearly points all fingers that god created our earth and the people living on it.

Jourdan Lipp

Anonymous said...

Please use this one Ms. Fettig!!=] Not my otherone!


I think that intelligent design is not science. Living things do show signs of being designed. Our DNA is mapped out,but our bodies show that at one point we had less complex structure and somehow we have become more complex. Intelligent design is an interesting idea but it can't be proven and hence can't be repeated by others. Proof and repeatability are two necessary parts of the scientific method.

Lillian Sieckman Period 2

Anonymous said...

I think that intelegent design isn't an alternative to science or religion. I think that intelegent design is just a fancy way of convincing people and the tried to trick you by calling religion and science:) think about it

Ben Sukut
*edited by Ms. Fettig

Anonymous said...

I believe that intelligent design is very much a scientific alternative to evolution. Evolution is in NO way a proven fact, and all "evidence" can be looked at from another perspective. Even Darwin himself once said: "…I am quite conscious that my speculations run beyond the bounds of true science….It is a mere rag of an hypothesis with as many flaw[s] & holes as sound parts." People should know that evolution is not the only scientifically valid hypothesis. there are many archives of researchers and scientists, such as answersingenisis.org, that provide solid logic and evidence against evolution. Students need to know that there are alternatives to evolutionary theory. I personally believe in the validity of the Bible, and I think that people should be given an unbaised presentation of different theories of origin, and decide for themselves what to believe. The current one-sided curriculum gives people no choice.

MR period 5