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The US journal “Skeptical Inquirer” covers anything which can loosely be described as “pseudoscience”.

The latest issue (November/December 2005) concentrates on “intelligent design”

To whet your appetite, here is part of a letter by John Clinger, Richmond, Virginia:

The pro-evolution community is missing a great teaching opportunity regarding Intelligent Design. . . .

Perhaps a few teaching points will illustrate how ID falls apart upon critical examination:

How many designers were there? (One per solar system? One per planet?)

Were there different designers for mammals, reptiles, insects, etc.?

Were there competing designers, such as for predators versus prey?

Were there subsequent designers? (The Wright brothers may have designed the first successful airplane, but they did not design the 747.)

Is the original designer still designing or retired? (or dead?)

Did the designer make mistakes? (If not, why have millions of women died during natural childbirth? Why did dinosaurs and various species of protohumans die out?)

Is mankind a better designer than the original? (Are eyeglasses, heart pacemakers, insulin shots, artificial hips, incubators, etc., evidence of improvements mankind has made over the poor original design?)

Is only one inhabitable planet in this solar system evidence of massive inefficiency on the part of the designer? (Is this worse than the typical government program?)

Who designed the designer? (If the original designer didn’t need to be designed, then why does anything else?)

Are we made in the designer’s image? If so, then what does the designer need legs for?

High schools should teach not just what we know but also how we know what we know.

Salaam Ken Smith

— Dr Ken Smith – Christian, husband, unpaid mathematician, skeptic, … “Although I have received plenty of venomous letters over the years, I was not prepared for the volume of hate mail the article [on Gandhi] generated.” Philip Yancey in “Soul Survivor”