A case of unintelligible design

Educators, philosophers, scientific community demonstrate that ID is a religious argument lacking empirical support

Television documentaries can help fire up your imagination. I vividly recall the golden age of Pakistan Television when some great documentaries were presented with Urdu translation. One particular favourite of that time was Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. Aired during the otherwise repressive and ideologically parochial rule of General Ziaul Haq, this amazing series based on Dr Sagan’s book was enough to introduce a young, impressionable mind to the infinite wonders of the universe. There were several other documentaries of the same nature. Where a translator could attach a personal footnote, like calling the Big Bang Theory, “Kun Fayakun” as per the Islamic interpretation, he would, without tampering with the actual message of the script. One such documentary, if I recall correctly, was about Darwin’s research on evolution. Even the most retrogressive ruler of this country had no problem with science. And we grew up all right.

Fast-forward to year 2014. A news report captures my attention. The Khyber-Pakhtunwa (K-P) government, it claimed, was pondering over curriculum changes, in which among many other things, the chapter on the theory of evolution would be replaced with one on the intelligent design theory. But what is intelligent design there? Here is what Wikipedia has to say on the matter: “Intelligent design (ID) is the pseudoscientific view 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’. Educators, philosophers, and the scientific community have demonstrated that ID is a religious argument, a form of creationism which lacks empirical support and offers no tenable hypotheses.”

When I was at school, the theory was only part of the science textbooks, not of Islamiyat, Urdu or English textbooks. I am assuming that has not changed to date. Why would somebody then want to remove a legitimate scientific theory and replace it with pseudoscientific speculation? I mean, how do you plan to help your children become doctors, engineers or scientists if this is your approach towards science and education? One shudders to think how a mind shaped by such education would react to the debate on the use of polio vaccine.

I subsequently saw another report in which the provincial administration had denied that it planned to remove any chapter on political history of the province. Nothing on science though. There are only two possibilities. One, the report mentioned earlier might have escaped the provincial government’s notice and that it was purely based on hearsay. Two, something of the sort is indeed about to happen. In this age of media monitoring, I find it hard to believe that a government can miss a report carried by a major news source.

Here is a quick background for you. When the PTI was given mandate to form the government in K-P, it found a willing ally in the shape of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). The JI leadership, however, wanted the education portfolio in the provincial government. Given that after the Eighteenth Amendment, curriculum development was devolved to the provinces and that the JI has a history of association with militant outfits, it was wisely decided not to offer the ministry to the party. And a bright young man, Atif Khan from the PTI, was given the charge. However, during the recent political crisis brought in by the politics of sit-ins, thanks to its shuttle diplomacy, the JI gained considerable ground and has been leveraging its newly won clout to dictate its terms to the provincial government. So, there is a serious chance that it might have prevailed on this crucial issue.

And here are my concerns. You can write, rewrite and edit history. You can debate intricacies of religious teachings every time the government changes. However, you can tamper with science and mathematics only if you want your children to fail in the wider world. Also the Jamaat’s recent anti-science attitude is beyond my comprehension. Its members are considered better informed than members of any other religious political party. Its founder, Maulana Maududi, has made a liberal use of knowledge from other scriptures and the scientific information of the time in his Tafheem-ul-Quran. And since it is well known that science is always a work-in-progress, a never-ending quest, there’s no point in taking offence at a mere scientific theory.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2014.

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