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Page 3

Furthermore, the evidence for intelligent design destroys the philosophical position taken by secular evolutionists. This position is honestly described by a leading evolutionist, the geneticist, (Professor) Richard Lewontin (his emphasis), as follows:

"We take the side of science in spite of the absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for we cannot allow a divine foot in the door." ⁶

The true scope of natural science. The true scope of natural science is the observation of presently existing phenomena, dealing with phenomena that are known by their effects, such as electricity, and carrying out experiments to test theories concerning observations that are repeatable. It is not within its scope to investigate once-and-for-all events, like creation. However, because of their present existence and repeatability, it can investigate, by observation and experiment, those secondary causes, or natural laws, created by God to uphold His creation and ensure the continuity of created things.

Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), philosopher, lawyer, and statesman, first proposed the scientific method as a means for distinguishing genuine scientific theories from non-science. According to a modern textbook, ⁷ the scientific method is applied as follows:
1) define the problem;
2) collect information on the problem;
3) form a hypothesis;
4) experiment to test the hypothesis;
5) reach a conclusion.

Renowned philosopher of science Karl Popper, (born 1902 and now deceased) reminded the world that genuine scientific theories are ones that can be scientifically tested. In his major work, Die Logik der Forschung, published in 1934, ⁸ Popper stressed the importance of falsifiability as being a criterion for determining testability. If a theory could not be subjected to a falsification test, it was only pseudoscience. He singled out Marxism and psychoanalysis as examples of pseudoscience.

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⁶ Richard Lewontin, "Billions and Billions of Demons," in The New York Review (9 January 1997), p. 31.
⁷ See Bigs et al, Biology - The Dynamics of Life (Columbus, Ohio: Merrill Publishing Co., 1991).
⁸ K.Popper, The Logic of Scientific Discovery (published in Austria in 1934).