Christian Fundamentalists believe that the Bible is literally true - the Bible (seemingly) says the world was created in 7 days, and there's no obvious mention of ID in there. So at least it is a step away from the pure creationist position.

Unless a person is a scientist, does it really matter what they believe about the origin of the wolrd? Of course not! It only matters to fundamentalists, whether they be Christian, Muslim, Atheist or whatever. The rest of us are more concerned about the issues that matter, in the real world.

It doesn't matter when you say it like that but it does matter when the people who do care about these things are in control. The head of the USA is a fundamentalist. This leads to a serious problem as the person is biased over issues that other, opposite end of the scale fundamentalists, are biased against (such as abortion). It then causes an uproar because there are many people caught in between the 2.

Does it really matter what they believe about the origin of the world?


So why does it matter what people believe about the origin of the world? To be honest it is hard in the UK to really understand what the big issue is over in the US about ID. From the safety of Europe, where religion really is separated from the State, in the case of France, or is so diluted that it has no more than a theoretical impact, in the case of the UK, the whole idea seems so ridiculous its almost funny.

Its only when you get here to the US and see a church on every street corner that you realise that this is no joke. The ID debate is the tip of the iceberg and the underlying encroachment of fundamentalist ethics and christian morality is the real problem.

Think about the undermining and potential repealment of Roe v. Wade, being driven by christian ‘pro-life’ groups, and supported by the born again christian Bush.

 http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/10/17/120359.shtml

Or the fact that Bush believes God told him to invade Iraq.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1586978,00.html?gusrc=rss

Or the ending of funding for charities across the world (not just in the US) unless they promote abstinence only birth control.

 http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0510/S00363.htm

Or the fact that some fairly powerful people in the US government believe that hurricane Katrina was God’s judgement on New Orleans.

 http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/05092903.html

One of the big issues in the US for radicals seems to be gay rights. Gay rights? But surely that’s an issue from the 60s, not now? Not in the US, where its becoming more and more of an issue (again).

The promotion of the Christian morality – the one should accept injustice as God’s will and not rebel against authority – has been central to the maintenance of the State since the medieval era, and played an integral part through missionaries in the repression of the colonies from the 17th century onwards. It was with good reason that the European revolutions in the 18th century were aimed at the Churches as much as the Monarchs.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_revolution

So you ask why we should care about what people believe about the origin of the world? Well the ‘intelligent design’ issue has never been just about proposing one theory against another. It is about religion, and nothing else. It is about the spread of a very particular type of fundamentalist christianity into every aspect of public life in the US. If you are naive enough to believe that what happens in the US does not matter to the rest of the world, then sure, you can believe this has nothing to do with you. Aside from the fact that it illustrates just has shockingly bad the US education system is, the trial currently taking place is a important for anyone who cares about the rising tide of fundamentalism.

While I am not going to go so far as to say that organised religion has never been, and can never be, anything other than repressive, I will say that we cannot oppose the State without opposing religion in the case of the US, any more than we can do so without challenging the media.