Intelligent design is the assertion that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection. It has been used as an argument for the existence of God, modified to avoid specifying the nature or identity of the designer. Some non-evolutionary atheists use this assertion as an explanation for the existence of extraterrestrial beings.
One Theorist: William Albert "Bill" Dembski (1960-present).
Intelligent design's primary proponents, believe the designer to be the God of Christianity, yet not all those who accept this theory hold this belief. Advocates of intelligent design argue that it is a scientific theory and seek to fundamentally redefine science to accept supernatural explanations. Dembski's views on evolution have been a source of considerable controversy within both the mainstream scientific and creationist communities. Dembski does not accept Darwin's "Universal Common Descent" and he has also been criticised by some in the traditional creationist community for not supporting the biblical "Young Earth" creationist position.
"The elite in our culture are materialistic and atheistic. Intelligent design challenges their materialistic science and materialistic evolutionary theory. If you look at discipline after discipline, it's been evolutionized — medicine, business, religion, literature. [...] If we are right, all these superstructures built on evolution need to be questioned. [...] Intelligent design is the only view opposed to the reductionist materialism that prevails in the academy and in the scientific view the elites of the culture. Most of the unwashed masses, and I count myself among them, believe there's a sense of purpose. We're giving a voice to those people, saying: 'The science backs you up."
- William A. Dembski
Relevant Source: Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science and Theology
A controversial book (1999) by Wiiliam A. Dembski in which he presents an argument in support of the conjecture of intelligent design. In it, Dembski defines the term "specified complexity", and argues that instances of it in nature cannot be explained by Darwinian evolution, but instead are consistent with the notion of intelligent design. He also derives an instance of his self-declared law of conservation information and uses it to argue against Darwinian evolution. The book is a summary treatment of the mathematical theory he presents in "The Design Inference" (1998), and is intended to be largely understandable by a nontechnical audience. Dembski also provides a Christian theological commentary on, and analysis of, what he perceives to be the historical and cultural significance of the ideas.
"Darwinism is the totalizing claim that [natural selection] accounts for all the diversity and complexity of life. The evidence simply does not support this claim.... [There] is always a temptation in science [to] think that one's theory encompasses a far bigger domain than it actually does." - ID: The Bridge Between Science and Theology
Confirmed Witness: The Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a conservative public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design and its Teach the Controversy campaign. to teach creationist anti-evolution beliefs in United States public high school science courses. In 2005, a federal court ruled that the Discovery Institute pursues "demonstrably religious, cultural, and legal missions", and the institute's manifesto, the Wedge strategy, describes a religious goal: to "reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions".
Started in 1996, the Center for Science and Culture is a Discovery Institute program which: supports research by scientists and other scholars challenging various aspects of neo-Darwinian theory; supports research by scientists and other scholars developing the scientific theory known as intelligent design; supports research by scientists and scholars in the social sciences and humanities exploring the impact of scientific materialism on culture. encourages schools to improve science education by teaching students more fully about the theory of evolution, including the theory's scientific weaknesses as well is its strengths. - Discovery's Center for Science and Culture