An act of "Intelligent Design"

There's an old joke that I receive in my e-mail inbox every so often that notes: "They'll never take God out of the classroom or stop the children from praying as long as there are tests."

Some folk believe that the separation of church and state means taking God out of all legal documents. But I know they will find strong argument every time they try, not only from the evangelicals but also from the insurance companies.

The parachute in every insurance document I've ever read is the "Act of God" clause. This clause, as I assume most know, shields the insurance company from liability if the damage is due to an occurrence of nature, like a tsunami, or any other "Act of God." Of course, one can always buy policy riders that cover certain "Acts of God" but that, as you might expect, is extra.

Recently, as I have posted, some scientists have been arguing that perhaps intelligent design, or some kind of unspecified superior intellect, and not evolution is responsible for the complexity of life forms. This is good to see that some in the scientific community are open to the possibility that a supreme being pushed over the first domino. I have a hard time believing the "big bang" theory -- at least a "big bang" theory that doesn't take into account that something had to light the creational firecracker that produced the resultant "big bang."

Scientists don't like to take anything on faith. They are the professional "Doubting Thomases," which I think is good for humanity. Playing the devil's advocate and taking an opposing position forces proponents to prove their case. If the proponents succeed in proving their position, the body of knowledge is enhanced and progress is made; e.g. Columbus' disagreement with the concept of the "flat earth." If it were not for those who believed the earth was flat, Columbus might never have set sail in the belief they were wrong.

I don't think God would necessarily care whether we believed in Him or not. If He wanted us all to believe in His existence, we would've been born with that pre-existing knowledge. As such, we're given a clean slate when we are born to determine our own beliefs and change them as we see fit. And, to me, that's an act of "Intelligent Design."

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UPDATE -- Charles Townes, an 89 year old physicist and Nobel laureate, has been awarded the Templeton Prize. Townes, the co-inventor of the laser and maser, received the prize for his advancement of spirtual knowledge. The physicist shocked the scientific community in the mid-1960s by suggesting that science and religion are converging, suggesting that the two disciplines should accept shared common ground.