How is 'Intelligent Design' any different than 'Creationism'?

Question

Yes, I'm an atheist and no, I'm not trying to start a fundie 'cut & paste' session. Please just share your opinions.

Answer 1

Good question - it's not.

ID is just a watered down (or should I say, "watered up", since it's more complicated than creationism) version of creationism, and a means of introducing and luring people to believe in the Creation. Wankers.

Answer 2

Creationism is a broad sweeping categorization of beliefs about how the universe, the earth, and life for that matter came into being. These positions vary from a literal 6 day creation to deistic proposition that God started it and has let natural processes take their course in history. Most all major world religions have some kind of creation story, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism among other. The primary concern of creationism is doctrine of creation. Some have taken the doctrine of creation in superimposed it onto science and come up with "creation science." We'll come back to this later. One premise of creation is God. Whoever God is up for debate in many creation circles, but the fact that "God is" isn't contested by creationism, it's assumed. The secondary premise of creationism is that God created something. The extent, methodology, and timeframe for that creation is up for debate, but the fact that God "struck the match to start the fire" isn't.

Intelligent Design as defined by William Dembski, a major proponent of Intelligent Design, is the study for patterns in nature that suggest intelligence. Intelligent Design is much more narrowly defined than creationism. Intelligent design is analogous to forensic science. Forensic scientists look for clues to construct a logical explanation based on the clues. This is called abductive reasoning. Intelligent design look for clues in nature that suggest intelligence, nothing more or nothing less.

The major difference between Creationism and Intelligent Design has to do with the premises and conclusions. First, creationism assumes God exists, while Intelligent Design says nothing about God, but says everything about intelligence. It does not name that intelligence. Second in terms of methodology, Creationism precludes intelligence in the form of God and concludes creation. Intelligent Design goes the other way, in that it looks at nature and concludes intelligence. As stated, it says nothing about God. It is up to the theology and philosophy to determine what that intelligence could be. It could be the God of the Bible, Zeus, the Force of Star Wars, or an alien for that matter. The example I like to use is a house. Creationism would assume a builder--they know for whatever reason that the builder exists, and that that builder built a house. Intelligent design would see the house, and conclude it was built. It says nothing about the builder, which could be a builder, a computer controlled assembly line, or a magician. The builder is not the point. The fact that the house was built is the point. Creation science differs from intelligent design in that it interprets evidence through the lens of creation. Creation Science creates models that are formed with the Bible in mind. Intelligent Design does nothing of the sort.

Answer 3

Fundamental Theory in Chemistry is simply.
Matter cannot be created only changed from one form to another.

Now if you are an atheist then the word creation does not exist.

Intelligent Design is the use of one's Intellect to design matter that already exists.

Creation means to make 'matter' from nothing.
Only by believing in a supreme being can a person even think about accepting the word or meaning of the word "Creation".

If you believe in a God then you live as He has taught and it seems logical to enjoy a life following the teaching of Christ. They are not bad teachings. And one day you die. (We all do that) and there is No God there to greet you.
What the heck you have enjoyed a happy life.
But if you say, Naaah God is a myth, and you live how you want (which is fine, freedom of choice is acceptable) and you die like everyone else does.
And here is the very thing you said is all bull ... Aren't you going to feel stupid ... So take out some insurance ... IT IS FREE also.

To put the words Athiest and Creation in the same statement is a total contradiction of you own beliefs.
Think about it.
It is simply a state of mind and your own private realm. It doesnt cost or maime you or anyone else to believe in protection of yourself, now does it?

Answer 4

From my understanding, it's a little bit broader than Creationism. Creationism is like the 6 day Biblical interpretation, where Intelligent Design is a more all-encompassing idea that no matter how it happened, be it Evolution, or some other way, God was still at the helm of it.

Answer 5

Well hiya fellow atheist...

Intelligent Design is, I think, our being created by a higher intelligent being, ergo, God.

Creationalism is the belief in the literal interpretation of the account of the creation of the universe and of all living things related in the Bible.

So, they are quite similar, except that Intelligent Design can be expanded to include not just only God, but perhaps aliens, Beings that live on other planes of reality, etc.

Hope that clears it for you

Answer 6

Intelligent Design recognizes that the preponderance of the evidence supports design in the universe, from the smallest bacteria to the stars and planets, and that design had to come from a higher intelligence. Creation reveals the designer and shows the mechanism for creation.

Answer 7

Intelligent design is nothing more than politically correct nomenclature for creation.

The nano-second the word "creation" is used, atheists everywhere start chanting "separation of church and state!".

So, to answer your question, there is no difference except in the nomenclature utilized to convey the same concepts.

Answer 8

Intelligent Design only states that evidence shows that there was a creator. It doesn't name the creator and uses Science alone to determine what happened in the past.

Creationism is Christian and uses the Bible along side Science to determine what happened in the past.

Answer 9

It really isn't. Creationism says "Christian God did this", Intelligent Design says "a generic creator did this"...but the implication from the proponents of ID is that it's a Christian God. (Especially since you don't hear many Muslim or Hindi ID supporters!)

Answer 10

I don't know, but it seems intelligent design just is a reference that material reality was indeed created by an intelligent being. This leaves open the process the design undertook. This can be interpreted as somewhat open ended, leaving room for one to theorized that God created the process of evolution to carry out his/her/its intelligent design to maturity.