text: can someone please explain to me what intelligent design is? i’ve been trying to find out what the straight dope is on this and i’ve not heard anything that makes a whole lot of sense. is this a hybridization of mainstream religion and science? how much of each is used to ascertain the validity of its conclusions? and who determines those conclusions? if i didn’t know any better, it sounds like mainstream fundamentalism trying a last ditch attempt at pulling the plug on scientific plausibility by throwing in a bunch of conjecture that has no real place in the area in question. (if you can’t blind them with brilliance, baffle them with bs.) it would be like having a scientist tell you that in reality the world is round and then having someone say “yes, but what is reality”? i’m not an atheist but i do see the necessity in keeping religion and science separate, because putting them together is like oil and water, they don’t mix very well. well, for the universe to exist, there had to always have been something or someone. the big bang theory says there was always something (two particles crashing into each other and beginning this statistically impossible chain reaction resulting in life).  creation says there was always an intelligent being who actually designed the universe and its contents, including humans.  this is more logical actually. after all, the odds of 2 particles crashing and creating life is about as logical as putting a lot of watch parts into a box, shaking it and getting an intact watch out of it.  the bible does not contradict science, it is actually supported by science.  the problem is that many misunderstand it.