re: #121 Daria Emmons

All true, and yet I honestly believe that at the heart of evolution v. intelligent design is whether God created the universe.

To the extent that Maimonedes would have been a religious philosopher in 2009, I cannot see how he would not believe in intelligent design.

As I said before, I believe intelligent design is not science. But the question of whether or not God created the universe and interferes in our lives today is the central one in Judaism and all major religions, and so it is also intellectually dishonest to deny that.

Again, I am not saying this as a believer in intelligent design, but rather as someone who has spent years studying religion and come to this conclusion.

Daria: You make your points well, but I would argue that the theory of evolution…and even, I would venture, the “Big Bang theory”…say nothing about whether God created the universe, only about how it was created. Anything past that is a rhetorical construct, I think.

Neither does either theory offer any answer as to whether, or how, God intervenes in our daily lives. Since there’s no way of proving it, it will remain a question of religion and not of science.

I believe you’re onto something by making that connection, though. I’m guessing that a lot of people are uneasy with the theory of evolution because interpreting it as a hands-off proposition for God would imply that mankind is totally on its/our own today with no hope of a supreme power rushing in to stop us from our self-destructive folly. Make sense?