College spotlight to focus on intelligent design

OREM — At today's Religion and the Humanities Conference, your neighbor in the audience could be Adam or an ape.

It all depends on your view of the theory of evolution.

"Intelligent Design: Toward an Intelligent Discussion" is the theme of this year's conference, being held at Utah Valley State and Westminster colleges. The event is open to the community, and at least 100 people are expected to attend.

"Intelligent design has been an important topic of discussion in the national arena and is of interest to our local community as well given the recent proposed legislation to require public school teachers to address intelligent design as an alternative theory to evolutionary biology," Brian Birch, UVSC's religious studies program director, wrote in an e-mail.

ID is an alternate theory to Charles Darwin's evolution and argues that organisms have such complexity they were created by a higher power.

President Bush has praised the merits of intelligent design. In Kansas last year, the state school board changed the science curriculum to allow criticisms of Darwin's theory.

And in Utah, Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, sponsored an "origins of life" bill that would change the way evolution is taught in public schools. The bill failed in the House last winter, and Buttars said he will not carry another bill on the topic this coming session.

"Utah is a very religious and socially conservative state, which would lead one to think that most in our state are more skeptical of science," Birch said. "However, given its theology, Mormonism is much more open to the claims of science than most conservative Christian groups."

The most prominent proponent and the most prominent critic of intelligent design, Paul Nelson and Michael Ruse respectively, will speak at today's conference. Other speakers will address the merits of both evolution and intelligent design.

"Although it is popular to pit science against religion, the relationship between the two has a rich history in which religious thinkers and scientists alike have attempted different forms of integration and reconciliation," Birch said.

In related news, the National Science Teachers Association will discuss the do's and don'ts on teaching evolution, plus host a panel discussion about how to address students' and parents' concerns about evolution, when it comes to town Dec. 7-9.

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Contributing: Brandy A. Lee

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com, jtcook@desnews.com