ID: Religious Motivation = Religion?
This is the 4th in a series of posts considering the objection of ID critics that ID is nothing more than religion. In my last post, I answered two assertions put forth in support of this claim. What about a third, that is, that because some intelligent design scientists are religiously motivated in their work, their work must be considered religion.
The claim that intelligent design is religious rather than scientific because intelligent design scholars might have religious motivations for their work is found everywhere. In fact, opponents typically spend much time publicizing the Christian beliefs of many of the leaders of the intelligent design movement when attempting to discredit intelligent design.
But, if one’s religious beliefs are enough to disqualify one as a scientist, then wouldn’t the public have to dismiss much of the progress made during the scientific revolution? Many great scientists of the time, including Galileo and Newton were motivated by religion do their work. Nancy Pearcey and Charles Thaxton state that…
… the driving impulse of Newton’s scientific work was… to defend Christian faith against what he saw as an encroaching mechanistic explanation.
Others were also overt in the role their Christian faith played in their scientific discoveries. Morris Kline states that science was a religious quest in which…
… the search for the mathematical laws of nature was an act of devotion which would reveal the glory and grandeur of (God’s) handiwork.
Instead of trying to refute the arguments of intelligent design scholars, opponents commit the genetic fallacy and reject the claim on the basis of their suppositions that its origins are religious.
Additionally, all scientists have some philosophical and religious commitments in their lives. Atheism, after all, is a philosophical supposition about the nature of the universe. Should we reject science performed by an atheist because of his religious worldview? Of course not. We judge the science on its own merits and do not discount his work because of his religious views.
Next, I’ll consider another objection by ID critics attempting to equate ID with religion.