Scott Eugenie C, Matzke Nicholas J
National Center for Science Education, Inc., 420 40th Street #2, Oakland, CA 94609-2509, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 May 15;104 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):8669-76. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0701505104. Epub 2007 May 9.
Although evolutionary biology is replete with explanations for complex biological structures, scientists concerned about evolution education have been forced to confront "intelligent design" (ID), which rejects a natural origin for biological complexity. The content of ID is a subset of the claims made by the older "creation science" movement. Both creationist views contend that highly complex biological adaptations and even organisms categorically cannot result from natural causes but require a supernatural creative agent. Historically, ID arose from efforts to produce a form of creationism that would be less vulnerable to legal challenges and that would not overtly rely upon biblical literalism. Scientists do not use ID to explain nature, but because it has support from outside the scientific community, ID is nonetheless contributing substantially to a long-standing assault on the integrity of science education.
尽管进化生物学对复杂生物结构有诸多解释，但关注进化教育的科学家们不得不面对“智能设计论”（ID），该理论拒绝接受生物复杂性源于自然的观点。智能设计论的内容是早期“创造科学”运动所提出主张的一个子集。这两种神创论观点都认为，高度复杂的生物适应性乃至生物体绝对不可能由自然原因产生，而是需要一个超自然的创造主体。从历史角度看，智能设计论源自这样一种努力，即创造一种形式的神创论，使其更不易受到法律挑战，且不会公然依赖《圣经》字面主义。科学家们并不用智能设计论来解释自然，但由于它在科学界之外获得支持，所以智能设计论仍在对科学教育的完整性发起长期攻击中起到了很大作用。
