Supporting Intelligent Design Will Hurt Conservative Causes

Short term success in promoting creationism will ultimately backfire. According to TNR:

"In the long run, though, intelligent design will probably prove a political boon to liberals, and a poisoned chalice for conservatives. Like the evolution wars in the early part of the last century, the design debate offers liberals the opportunity to portray every scientific battle--today, stem-cell research, "therapeutic" cloning, and end-of-life issues; tomorrow, perhaps, large-scale genetic engineering--as a face-off between scientific rigor and religious fundamentalism. There's already a public perception, nurtured by the media and by scientists themselves, that conservatives oppose the "scientific" position on most bioethical issues. Once intelligent design runs out of steam, leaving its conservative defenders marooned in a dinner-theater version of Inherit the Wind, this liberal advantage is likely to swell considerably."

The crux of the argument: Believing in a fallacy (ID) prevents reasoned arguments about the ethical use of science. Religious conservatives would be wise to drop the "evolution debate" and focus on the ethical use of science.