Tired of Intelligent Design

I'm now officially sick and tired of discussions about intelligent design versus Evolution. Most arguments are rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of the word "theory" and misunderstanding Evolution and the theory of natural selection.

First of all, a theory is not the same as an hypothesis in scientific terminology. An hypothesis is a proposal to explain something. A theory is an hypothesis that can be falsified and tested and is backed up by observable evidence. It normally takes a long while for an hypothesis to be promoted to theory.

Secondly, evolution and the theory of natural selection are not the same thing. Evolution is easily observable on flies, bacteria and other organisms in laboratories. Intelligent design uses evolution but tries to challenge the theory of natural selection. Where natural selection proposes that evolution has been happening through the survival of the organisms best suited to their environment, Intelligent design proposes that evolution was guided by a designer, which of course means God. Intelligent design is, however, not a theory. It can never be falsified, tested scientifically and most importantly it will never be useful for scientific purposes.

Finally, why shouldn't we teach children that natural selection is a theory and not a fact, so that they can keep an open mind? Because we don't do the same with any other theory we teach. Teaching this specifically for the theory of natural selection would unfairly make it seem like this theory is any less accepted than most scientific theories. We don't tell children to keep an open mind about newtonian physics, we simply teach it as fact. This is even though Newton's laws of physics, unlike natural selection, have since been superceded by other more general theories. Natural selection has of course been modified through the years, but the basic idea is still the same.

Personally I see no conflict between belief in God and the theory of natural selection.