Is the Debate About Intelligent Design a Continuation of the Crisis Initiated by the Theory of Evolution?

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Name OLA Student ID Unit Unit Co-ordinator Assessment 3 Catherine Latham 43669 REL 11 OUA Dr Heather Foster Christianity Essay Christianity 5.1 ‘Is the debate about Intelligent Design a continuation of the crisis initiated by the Theory of Evolution, demonstrating that it remains a contentious issue for many Christians today?’ Discuss the crisis and why some Christians react favourably and others unfavourably before providing an answer to the question posed. When Charles Darwin published ‘On the Origin of Species’ in 1859, he was well aware of the controversy his theory of evolution would provoke. Interestingly this often, heated debate still exists more than a century and a half later. Evolution is accepted as scientific fact by all respected scientists and indeed many theologians, however millions of people still question its accurateness. Proponents of ‘Intelligent Design’ question the veracity of evolution through natural selection. This paper will argue that the debate about Intelligent Design is a continuation of the crisis initiated by Darwin’s theory of evolution and it remains a contentious issue for many Christians today. Like all religions, usually in response to a crisis of some description, Christianity has changed throughout its history. However, the concept of modernity is regarded as a particularly profound crisis for Christianity. (Weeks, O’Toole & Crowe, 2012, p100) A number of interconnected events beginning with the development of modern science and changes in social and political ideologies since the time of the Industrial Revolution, succeeded in shattering the antiquated social structures of Christian Europe. (Weeks, O’Toole & Crowe, 2012, p101) The period referred to as the Enlightenment in the eighteenth and nineteenth century brought with it a change in ideologies. (O’Toole & Crowe, 2012, p110) Society was changing and rather than
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