[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
question 6: why do many atheists on this forum despise the ID movement and argue vehemently that it should not be taught in school. assuming it's not legitimate science, so what? if you are an atheist, why the hell would you care whether or not the 'true' scientific theory of origins is taught to your kids. why the hell would it matter? many 'evolutionists' seem to elevate their ideas to such exalted heights and defend it as if disbelief in the theory would lead to eternal suffering of your soul in gehenna. to me it seems irrational for them to care so passionately abou this issue. if i was an atheist, i really wouldnt give a sh*t about what my kids believed about origins.


[/ QUOTE ]
Intelligent Design should not be taught in a science class because it is not science, it is philosophy. Here is an elementary explanation of the scientific method with an example of a non-falsifiable hypothesis that would be equivalent to intelligent design:

Science proceeds by making observations of nature (experiments). If a hypothesis does not generate any observational tests, there is nothing that a scientist can do with it. Arguing back-and-forth about what should happen, or what ought to happen, is not the way science makes progress.

Consider this hypothesis:

Hypothesis A:

"Our universe is surrounded by another, larger universe, with which we can have absolutely no contact."

This statement may or may not be true, but it is not a scientific hypothesis. By its very nature it is not testable. There are no observations that a scientist could make to tell whether or not the hypothesis is correct. Ideas such as Hypothesis A are interesting to think about, but science has nothing to say about them. Hypothesis A is a speculation, not a hypothesis.

Intelligent design is not testable. It has no predictive value in an experimental setting.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well said.