As a Christian I have always felt uneasy with the Intelligent Design (ID) crowd when they don’t attempt to identify who the intelligence behind their theory is. If you are a Christian you shouldn’t be uncomfortable to name the God of the Bible as the intelligent agent of the ID theory. Those Christians, who don’t fully commit to naming Jesus as the God behind the ID theory, as Christian scientists, have an obligation to be a Christian first and then a scientist second.
To downplay, that the intelligence behind ID, is the God of the Bible, in an attempt to gain some credibility with the scientific community, does a disservice to the cause of Christ; and in my opinion is unnecessary. The idea that certain structures, like the eye, are irreducibly complex is very strong evidence that there must be an amazingly powerful designer in play. To then say that we don’t know if this designer is divine or not is, in my opinion, both foolish and shortsighted – who else could it be but God?
Great Christian scientists in the past, such as Newton, Kepler, Boyle and Faraday were not afraid to say that God was the powerful force helping them in the scientific fields they were involved in. In fact, when Kepler was asked what he was doing, when he was searching the far reaches of the universe, he said that he was, “Thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” Can a scientist believe in both God and the Bible? History shows that not only can he, but he has! Genius, discovery, and the Bible have long been companions in the quest for knowledge.
For Christian ID advocates to try to gain credibility for ID at the expense of Christ, by leaving him out of the equation, is too high a price to pay to try to gain credibility for the ID theory. If science is uncomfortable with creationism because of its supernatural element then so be it. In the last analysis you can never use science to prove God. It is important to note that God doesn’t want to be proved, but to be trusted and loved. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” is a faith statement, and God doesn’t need science to try to prove what in the final analysis must be accepted by faith. I believe in ID but I’m not comfortable in leaving the intelligent agent a mystery to solve when I already know who that agent is.