Thursday January 22, 2004

Subject: Pin faith on something firmer than a flagellum

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"Evolutionary biology doesn't have a clue how the flagellum works," and therefore, says William Dembski in his talk on "intelligent design," God - which is what intelligent design always means - must have made flagella (see "Creationist challenges Darwinian theories," Jan. 20).

So the existence of intelligent design - God - depends on our understanding of how a flagellum works? We work out how the flagellum works, which we already in fact do know (as usual with creationists' arguments, they are way behind the times), and bye-bye God?

We used to not know how the sun rose. So we invented Ra. Now we know how the sun rises. And Ra no longer exists.

Tying God to our understanding of the workings of the world makes God's existence a little tenuous, doesn't it? If we are clever, God ceases to exist?

If the continued existence of the creationists' God depends on our ignorance of the world, no wonder creationists are trying to stifle science.

But would it not be better to pin a faith in God on firmer foundations? God's existence does not depend on our puny minds. God simply is, for all time, whether we know how a flagellum works or we do not.

SANDY HARCOURT

professor, anthropology