Intelligent design (ID)

(see also ‘creationism') The idea that the universe and the species within it are far too complicated to have arisen by complete chance. The order and organisation throughout the universe is understood to point strongly to the existence of an intelligent designer, identified as God. The underlying thinking for this could be broadly described as biblical, although the drive to emphasise the idea over against the theory of evolution is a modern phenomenon.

Reference is sometimes made to certain biblical texts that illustrate aspects of the idea, such as Romans 1.19, 20 and Hebrews 11.3. Particularly within the United States, although increasingly in the UK, the promotion of the concept within schools has become controversial. Some view the concept as fundamentally unscientific, while others maintain that it is a legitimate counterbalance to what they see as the often unquestioned teaching of evolutionary theory.