Jewish Reactions To Intelligent Design - Non-Orthodox Movements

Non-Orthodox Movements

Non-Orthodox Jewish leaders and rabbis, through their rabbincial assemblies and organizations, have resisted the movement to recognize intelligent design or creation science as a scientific theory, or to include it the curriculum of public schools. The 68th General Assembly of the Union for Reform Judaism passed a resolution, The Politicization of Science in the United States, in which it opposed the teaching of intelligent design in the schools: "Intelligent design proponents are increasingly, and with success, seeking to use public schools to advance this concept, suggesting that "intelligent design" holds scientific merit equal to the theory of evolution. The overwhelming majority of the scientific community, which supports theories that are testable by experiment or observation, oppose treating intelligent design, which is neither, as scientific theory." According to Jeffrey H. Tigay, writing in Conservative Judaism (the official publication of the Conservative movement), "a literal reading of the Bible, on which "creation science" implicitly insists, misses the point of the Bible itself, which seems uninterested in literal interpretation. Like poetry and certain kinds of prose, which sometimes speak in metaphors and symbols, the Bible as a whole does not intend these stories to be taken literally."

Rabbis have often expressed this opinion even while distinguishing their own theistic views of life from those of Darwinism. For example, to Rabbi Michael Schwab, a pulpit rabbi in the Conservative movement, "What Darwin sees as random, we see as the miraculous and natural unfolding of God’s subtle and beautiful plan." However, Schwab disagrees with the intelligent design movement's claim, that the existence of God can be proven as "a practical scientific theory that has equal evidence in science as evolution." Schwab writes, "We cannot prove God’s existence through science anymore than we can prove that there is an afterlife in that manner. God's existence is not subject to empirical data, there is no experiment to be done in this matter of which the results can be replicated in the future."

To Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, vice president the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL), an interdenominational Jewish organization, the intelligent design theorists themselves have unscientific goals. "Excluding those Darwinians who understand their position to be a proof against the existence of a creator — itself a kind of fundamentalist position — the primary interest of evolutionary biology is the deepening of our understanding of life, regardless of the theological implications. The premise of intelligent design theory is that it can provide evidence that confirms the existence of a specific kind of creator. If it failed to do so, then not only would the theory be wrong, but the proponents of it would see themselves as having failed in their pursuit of knowledge and in their attempt to confirm what they already believe."

Rabbi Steven Morgen, the rabbi of congregation Beth Yeshurun in Houston, Texas, asked his congregation, "So why do I, as a Rabbi, object to having our schools teach “intelligent design” as part of the science curriculum when they teach the theory of evolution? Because it is not science. The scientific method of discovering "truth" involves developing an assumption (or hypothesis), and then attempting to prove or disprove that assumption by experiment and/or observation. There is no experiment we can create that will prove or disprove that an Intelligent Designer interfered in the natural progression of life on earth to create different organs or species of animals."

Morgan goes on to explain his own beliefs. "Can I describe how God was involved in this process? No. Can I prove that God was involved in this process? No. As I said, our beliefs are not science. They are not provable. But I believe that God was involved because even if we can explain scientifically how all this might have happened through the evolutionary process, it is still a miraculous world to me, and so I believe that whatever we discover scientifically to be "the way it happened" is how God made it happen. I believe that God not only created the Universe in this way, but that God continues to exist in our lives whenever we recognize God’s presence. God cares deeply about us and is there for us when we call upon our Creator."