Intelligent Design
Meyer · Behe · Dembski · Discovery Institute
Core claim
Some features of nature are best explained by an intelligent cause, not undirected processes — and that is scientifically detectable.
DNA
A genuine digital code carrying specified information. In all experience, information traces back to a mind (Signature in the Cell).
Molecular machines
Systems like the bacterial flagellum are "irreducibly complex" — remove a part and function collapses (Behe, Darwin's Black Box).
Fossil record
The Cambrian explosion shows body plans appearing abruptly — a pattern hard for gradualism to explain (Darwin's Doubt).
The cosmos
Physical constants are fine-tuned for life on a razor's edge — pointing beyond chance.
A designer?
Yes — design is inferred from the evidence. For the Christian, that Designer is the Word of John 1.
Theistic Evolution / Darwinism
Collins · BioLogos (God-guided) — or undirected (Darwin, Dawkins)
Core claim
Life's diversity arises through common descent by mutation and natural selection over deep time — sufficient without invoking design.
DNA
"Code" is an analogy; sequence and function are shaped by mutation, drift, and selection across billions of years.
Molecular machines
Complex systems can be built stepwise by co-option of parts that once served other functions (exaptation).
Fossil record
The Cambrian unfolded over millions of years; precursors exist and the record is incomplete.
The cosmos
Fine-tuning may reflect deeper physics or a multiverse; or, for theists, the lawful means God chose.
A designer?
Darwinism: none required. Theistic evolution: God is real, but evolution is his chosen method — not detectable in the science.