Simon Says Without A Winner

In regards to the "Intelligent Design" debate, Andrew Sullivan (a believing if not practicing Catholic) wrote that clinging to creationism in the face of overwhelming scientific theory and fact is not religion but superstition. That a belief in something so demonstrably unlikely is so far from the core of religion and science that it falls into superstition.

In many ways, I agree. Sunday's "West Wing" had Intelligent Design as a central issue and argued that it shouldn't be considered science, which it shouldn't. But it missed the reasoning: because Intelligent Design theory can't be proven wrong. Scientific inquiry assumes that an idea can be proven false, even evolution. Intelligent Design is inherently not science.

But is it superstition? Andrew's argument, though, strikes me as flawed and I am not as quick to dismiss a belief in creationism as superstition. Couldn't I just as easily say that the transubstantiation of the bread and wine is demonstrably false, therefore it's superstition. Or that--more central to Catholicism--a virgin birth and a resurrection are demonstrably false, therefore belief in them is superstition.

On the other hand, not just anyone gets to be resurrected, so it would make sense that only Jesus was resurrected and not anyone else. But what of the Assumption of Mary? Lazarus? Elijah? It seems like many individual pieces of Christianity or any religion could be dismissed as superstition, but what is more important is their place in the whole.

Or maybe superstition is defined only when we lose the meaning and message of the words and assume only their literal veracity. So maybe Christian evangelicals who talk about Genesis should extoll Adam & Eve's relationship with each other and God as a model for marriage (before the fall that is) rather than trying to argue for their historical existence.

Maybe there is a divinty student who could advise me. :)

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As a final thought, all Catholics should see the Simpsons episode where Bart and Homer become Catholic after Liam Neeson (voicing a kindly priest) converts them. Marge is very upset and complains, "And what's with all the standing and sitting and kneeling? It's like Simon Says without a winner."