Only a Theory by Kenneth R. Miller
Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul Examined
Only a Theory (Published by the Penguin Group, Copyright by Kenneth Miller 2008, ISBN:978-0670-01883-3) is Kenneth R. Miller's response to the slick public relations campaign orchestrated by the various supporters of the Intelligent Design movement. As a professor of biology and a devout Christian, Miller is uniquely qualified to speak to both sides of the issue and help the average person to understand the more complex science involved. Having testified at the infamous Kitzmiller v. Dover trial in 2005, Miller has seen the lengths that those within the Intelligent Design community will go to in order to further their agenda.
Defining the Word "Theory"
In common conversation, a person suggesting that they have a theory on a subject generally means that they have a guess about it, possibly an educated guess, but a guess none the less. As Miller explains, science defines the word in a completely different way. In general parlance, "hypothesis" and "theory" are synonymous. In science they are antonyms.
A scientific theory is a construct that takes into account all the available facts and creates a framework that explains them. All scientific inquiry begins with a hypothesis. To that hypothesis, facts and experimentation are applied and if the hypothesis holds up to the facts, experimentation and peer review, it comes out the other side as a theory. A theory is considered to be the pinnacle of the scientific process, set far above facts.
This distinction is one of the most important misunderstandings between those who speak in scientific terms and those who don't. Miller gives it only a cursory examination however, since his insights are more concerned with the hidden agenda of the Intelligent Design movement than the genuine misunderstandings of science in the public sphere.
The Hidden Agenda
Miller examines the roots of the Intelligent Design movement, the so called Creation Science of the 1970's and 1980's that was soundly defeated in the United States Supreme Court in 1987 when the idea of creationism or creation science was determined to be a religious doctrine and therefore not appropriate for study in science classrooms under the terms of the United States Constitution's First Amendment which clearly separates the state from any and all religion. While many felt that the decision in the case of Edwards v. Aguillard soundly defeated the idea of creationism in public school classrooms, those advocating such teaching simply changed the name of their concept from "creationism" or "creation science" to the neutral sounding "intelligent design" and returned to fight another day, under the new name.
What frightens Miller about the Intelligent Design movement isn't simply the idea that they might inject the concept of a supernatural creator into the study of evolution, but that once they succeed in wedging the supernatural into one science that they will proceed to do so in all branches of science. In Miller's view, the goal of the Intelligent Design movement isn't simply the revising of the study of evolution to suit their religious views, but to inject religion into the study and pursuit of science in all its forms. He makes a compelling case by citing the movement's own documents and quoting its own leading lights as they advocate exactly that.
The Greatest Challenge
Miller feels that America's scientific soul is up for grabs and if the voices of the scientific community don't sit up and take notice of that fact, their silence will allow the advocates of the supernatural to seize the public consciousness and win the battle before it is even joined. As Miller points out, many scientists feel that the question isn't even worth bothering with, but if science doesn't start fighting back, then the United States of America is in real danger of losing its place as the preeminent scientific country in the world.
Encouraging Science to Leave the Laboratory
Miller approaches the subject in a way that many of his peers simply refuse to. He takes I.D. seriously. His examinations show that Intelligent Design has no hope of gaining legitimate scientific standing but at the same time he sees that as a public relations exercise, I.D. has fared remarkably well. Miller cautions that scientists ignore that public relations exercise at their peril, lest one day they find that political will has supplanted scientific truth.
Only a Theory is a sobering look at just what is at stake in the fight over the way evolution is taught in public schools.
Only A Theory
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