I conclude that ID is just as scientific, and just as religious, as neo-Darwinism. As such it should be given a position of parity with Darwinism in the schools. This is not likely to happen in the near future, because of the courts’ homage to a sharp separation between religion and science, and because of an illegitimate doctrine of church and state. But on the intrinsic merits of the case, the two positions should at least be taught side-by-side.

Schools typically claim to be open to all significant points of view. Students learn to think critically by being exposed to different positions for evaluation. No human theory is infallible. Mistakes can be found in the writings of neo-Darwinists and of ID writers alike. To expose children only to the neo-Darwinist position, and to make the (to my mind fantastic) claim that it is “fact, not theory” is to deprive them of a serious opportunity for critical thought and to impoverish their education. That kind of dogmatism is, to my mind, the final proof that evolutionism is religion as well as science. Those who deny that orthodoxy, like the ID writers, are by that very denial making a substantial contribution to science.