More Intelligent Design

[warch]

Saw this on a friend's refrigerator. Made me laugh.
From the New Yorker

INTELLIGENT DESIGN
by PAUL RUDNICK
Issue of 2005-09-26
Posted 2005-09-19

Day No. 1:
And the Lord God said, “Let there be light,” and lo, there was light. But then the Lord God said, “Wait, what if I make it a sort of rosy, sunset-at-the-beach, filtered half-light, so that everything else I design will look younger?”
“I’m loving that,” said Buddha. “It’s new.”
“You should design a restaurant,” added Allah.

Day No. 2:
“Today,” the Lord God said, “let’s do land.” And lo, there was land.
“Well, it’s really not just land,” noted Vishnu. “You’ve got mountains and valleys and—is that lava?”
“It’s not a single statement,” said the Lord God. “I want it to say, ‘Yes, this is land, but it’s not afraid to ooze.’ ”
“It’s really a backdrop, a sort of blank canvas,” put in Apollo. “It’s, like, minimalism, only with scale.”
“But—brown?” Buddha asked.
“Brown with infinite variations,” said the Lord God. “Taupe, ochre, burnt umber—they’re called earth tones.”
“I wasn’t criticizing,” said Buddha. “I was just noticing.”

Day No. 3:
“Just to make everyone happy,” said the Lord God, “today I’m thinking oceans, for contrast.”
“It’s wet, it’s deep, yet it’s frothy; it’s design without dogma,” said Buddha, approvingly.
“Now, there’s movement,” agreed Allah. “It’s not just ‘Hi, I’m a planet—no splashing.’ ”
“But are those ice caps?” inquired Thor. “Is this a coherent vision, or a highball?”
“I can do ice caps if I want to,” sniffed the Lord God.
“It’s about a mood,” said the Angel Moroni, supportively.
“Thank you,” said the Lord God.

Day No. 4:
“One word,” said the Lord God. “Landscaping. But I want it to look natural, as if it all somehow just happened.”
“Do rain forests,” suggested a primitive tribal god, who was known only as a clicking noise.
“Rain forests here,” decreed the Lord God. “And deserts there. For a spa feeling.”
“Which is fresh, but let’s give it glow,” said Buddha. “Polished stones and bamboo, with a soothing trickle of something.”
“I know where you’re going,” said the Lord God. “But why am I seeing scented candles and a signature body wash?”
“Shut up,” said Buddha.
“You shut up,” said the Lord God.
“It’s all about the mix,” Allah declared in a calming voice. “Now let’s look at some swatches.”

Day No. 5:
“I’d like to design some creatures of the sea,” the Lord God said. “Sleek but not slick.”
“Yes, yes, and more yes—it’s a total gills moment,” said Apollo. “But what if you added wings?”
“Fussy,” whispered Buddha to Zeus. “Why not epaulets and a sash?”
“Legs,” said Allah. “Now let’s do legs.”
“Are we already doing dining-room tables?” asked the Lord God, confused.
“No, design some creatures with legs,” said Allah. So the Lord God, nodding, designed an ostrich.
“First draft,” everyone agreed, and so the Lord God designed an alligator.
“There’s gonna be a waiting list,” Zeus murmured appreciatively.
“Now do puppies!” pleaded Vishnu. “And kitties!”
“Ooooo!” all the gods cooed. Then, feeling a bit embarrassed, Zeus ventured, “Design something more practical, like a horse or a mule.”
“What about a koala?” asked the Lord God.
“Much better,” Zeus declared, cuddling the furry little animal. “I’m going to call him Buttons.”

Day No. 6:
“Today I’m really going out there,” said the Lord God. “And I know it won’t be popular at first, and you’re all gonna be saying, ‘Earth to Lord God,’ but in a few million years it’s going to be timeless. I’m going to design a man.”
And everyone looked upon the man that the Lord God designed.
“It has your eyes,” Zeus told the Lord God.
“Does it stack?” inquired Allah.
“It has a naïve, folk-artsy, I-made-it-myself vibe,” said Buddha. The Inca sun god, however, only scoffed. “Been there. Evolution,” he said. “It’s called a shaved monkey.”
“I like it,” protested Buddha. “But it can’t work a strapless dress.” Everyone agreed on this point, so the Lord God announced, “Well, what if I give it nice round breasts and lose the penis?”
“Yes,” the gods said immediately.
“Now it’s intelligent,” said Aphrodite.
“But what if I made it blond?” giggled the Lord God.
“And what if I made you a booming offscreen voice in a lot of bad movies?” asked Aphrodite.

Day No. 7:
“You know, I’m really feeling good about this whole intelligent-design deal,” said the Lord God. “But do you think that I could redo it, keeping the quality but making it at a price point we could all live with?”
“I’m not sure,” said Buddha. “You mean, what if you designed a really basic, no-frills planet? Like, do the man and the woman really need all those toes?”
“Hello!” said the Lord God. “Clean lines, no moving parts, functional but fun. Three bright, happy, wash ’n’ go colors.”
“Swedish meets Japanese, with maybe a Platinum Collector’s Edition for the geeks,” Buddha decided.
“Done,” said the Lord God. “Now let’s start thinking about Pluto. What if everything on Pluto was brushed aluminum?”
“You mean, let’s do Neptune again?” said Buddha.

[Buddha]

I got to do the ocelots and tigers, too. Jesus was the one who threw in the damn apes. I forget who came up with salmonella.

[barefoot serpent]

until late in day 6 I thought this was just a summary of a Queer Eye episode.

[Clodfobble]

I kept waiting for some sort of punchline about how nothing intelligent could ever come out of a committee.

[warch]

My favorite bit is the god known only as a clicking noise.

[DanaC]

That was very funny. I laughed out loud......which was mildly embarrassing because I was covering reception in centre for the lunch hour and an entire waiting room full of people heard me snort :P

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Dana, all you can do in that case is share the joy.

Religious-wise, I find a Divine Wisdom in a Creation that goes of itself, and goes with a remarkable freedom. Saves the Almighty a lot of bother, not having to bust a separate miracle for each species. This is how I'd do it if I were The Eternal.

And as for the "can God make a weight so heavy he can't lift it?" "Well -- it's a Mystery," on alternate Wednesdays I'd switch off the making and the lifting. You know -- resistance training on a really Universal machine. And I ain't even Mormon.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I.D. debate.

[BigV]

Ok, OK! you had me at kneecap!! I'd hang out in this guy's front yard anytime.

[Happy Monkey]

I saw that earlier, but the updates are pretty fun, too.

[OnyxCougar]

*sigh*

[Beestie]

Originally Posted by OnyxCougar

*sigh*

Don't look now but...

THE Vatican has issued a stout defence of Charles Darwin, voicing strong criticism of Christian fundamentalists who reject his theory of evolution and interpret the biblical account of creation literally.

Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of evolution were "perfectly compatible" if the Bible were read correctly.


His statement was a clear attack on creationist campaigners in the US, who see evolution and the Genesis account as mutually exclusive.

"The fundamentalists want to give a scientific meaning to words that had no scientific aim," he said at a Vatican press conference. He said the real message in Genesis was that "the universe didn't make itself and had a creator".

This idea was part of theology, Cardinal Poupard emphasised, while the precise details of how creation and the development of the species came about belonged to a different realm - science. Cardinal Poupard said that it was important for Catholic believers to know how science saw things so as to "understand things better".

His statements were interpreted in Italy as a rejection of the "intelligent design" view, which says the universe is so complex that some higher being must have designed every detail.

Evolution in the bible, says Vatican

[OnyxCougar]

these are the same people who think that birth control is bad, that missionary position is the only "acceptable way" to have sex, and that if you enjoy sex, you're sinning. Oh yeah, and you can buy your way to heaven.

Yeah, like I'm going to listen to them.

Genesis is not meant to be a scientific treatise.

A clear reading of the hebrew text gives clear, unambiguous understanding of what the book is saying. The book says HaShem (God) made the universe, sun, moon, stars, earth, all plants, animals and men and women, in six literal, 24 hour days. (It says "yom" and "yom" preceded by a number always, with no exeptions, means a 24 hour day)

From timelines in the bible that can be historically validated outside of the book itself, this happened about 6,000 years ago.

That is what the book says. I don't care what the ID people think or the Catholics think, or anyone else thinks. That is what the book says. Learn the Hebrew and read it. You'll find out that that is what the book says. You'll notice Jews don't have a problem with all this ID/evolution crap because most of the can read Hebrew and read the text for themselves. The book says days. The book says that HaShem breathed life into the man.

Now whether you believe that or not is your opinion. But the fact remains that the book says what it says. It does NOT say that God created the universe over "billions of years" or "periods of time" ago, and that he let events happen making minor adjustments here and there until man evolved from a primordial soup.

And MY opinion is that if you read the book of Genesis (within which there are NOT allegories or parables) literally (as it was intended), it is perfectly clear what the book is saying.

Again, your agreement with the book itself is strictly a matter of opinion. But the book says what it says, I don't care how Cardinal whats his nuts wants to capitulate and compromise to make the Catholics feel more "hip" and "with it". Because that's all he's doing. The whole ID movement is compromising as well. I'll say it again. Either you believe the Genesis account, or you believe in evolution. There is no middle ground, because the text of the book allows no middle ground. It's just not there. I'm sorry, ID people. Read the freaking book.

And as a side note, people like the ID people and this Cardinal do more to hurt Christians than help them. I lump them in the same category as Bush and Robertson. I am proud to say I'm not a Christian like they are a Christian. IMO, they aren't Christian at all.

[Troubleshooter]

Originally Posted by OnyxCougar

You'll notice Jews don't have a problem with all this ID/evolution crap because most of the can read Hebrew and read the text for themselves.

Actually I've noticed a dearth of opinions on creationism from the jews.

Why don't you cite something for us since you seem to be so tuned in on the issue?

[OnyxCougar]

Originally Posted by Troubleshooter

Actually I've noticed a dearth of opinions on creationism from the jews.

Why don't you cite something for us since you seem to be so tuned in on the issue?

Since you have "noticed a dearth of opinions on creationism from the Jews", why don't YOU cite it?