Reply #3: Even Einstein believed in a *type* of intelligent design [View All]

[evermind]

if you put any weight on quotes from him such as "God is subtle but he is not malicious".

The point about Intelligent Design (with caps) is that it is a deceitful attempt to weasel a fundamentalist, anti-scientific critique of evolution in through the back door.

Religion of a non-fundamentalist kind is perfectly compatible with science - for example one could believe that a creator set up the universe in such a way that evolution was inevitable (indeed, anthropic principle arguments in physics approach this idea - (Edit: though obviously they have nothing to say about a creator)).

IMHO, the last thing you want to do in the ID argument is start allowing generous interpretations of the words being used by fundamentalists to push their agenda - rather, look at that agenda and let that determine what meaning you attach to the words they choose.