There has been much discussion recently about intelligent
design; the idea that natural organisms display unmistakable
evidence of design in their composition. For some people, this
is just another way that fundamentalists are attempting to
insert religion into scientific discussion. For others, it is
the recognition of modern science that the material world could
not have brought itself into existence through natural means
alone. So is it religion posing as science or enlightened
scientific observation? For most of human history, it has been
recognized that operations in the natural world involve design,
necessity, and chance. People of faith recognize that many
things are the way they are because “God made it that way.” Most
everyone also understands that some things work the way they do
because of natural laws. What goes up must come down. There is
also some randomness observed in nature, even if we recognize
that nothing can occur without God allowing it. Things sometimes
happen for no apparent reason. Pr