On DI's 'General Questions' page, they make their general ID statement as cited above, which is a very general statement, that doesn't address the common descent question, where there is some divisiveness within the mainstream ID camp. But they do address the question further down the page.
Regarding that question, as well as ID's compatability with NDE, they state, "It depends on what one means by the word "evolution." If one simply means "change over time," or even that living things are related by common ancestry, then there is no inherent conflict between evolutionary theory and intelligent design theory." Given that statement, they now agree with common descent, although not necessarily a consensus view of its members in its early days.
They also state that ID is not Bible based, nor is it the same as Creationism. They state, "Unlike creationism, the scientific theory of intelligent design is agnostic regarding the source of design and has no commitment to defending Genesis, the Bible or any other sacred text. Honest critics of intelligent design acknowledge the difference between intelligent design and creationism."
Answers in Genesis, AiG, is however Bible based, and their precepts (cited above) are definitely contra to science. Furthermore, Ken Ham does not endorce ID as a concept.
While Creationism and ID agree that an intelligence created life, the seminal ID concept only addresses biologic life, and not the universe 'in toto'. ID address biologic life, and the tenetative mechanisms for both adaptability (evolution), and novelty and complexity (gene tweaking).
Due to personal beliefs, there are obviously those within the ID community that believe by faith alone, that one God created everything, i.e. the Universe and everything in it. Some are YECs as well. But ID as a disipline is NOT grounded in, nor even REFERS to scriptural references for substantiation. It looks more at statistical probabilities, possible methods of alteration, and the existence of engineering principles (ligament attachment points and the geometry involved as one example).
Similarly, there are scientists that accept NDE as the sole cause of the phylogenetic cascade, but may accept theistic evolution, a vague concept that allows for an intelligence that set the stage, including for some adherents a preloading of biologic life, then left the theater.
But do those scientists employ their faith based concepts in the lab? No, nor do IDists who are objective inquiry based in their pursuit of design inferences. I am one of the latter, who sees design inferences on many fronts, and who has arrived at his conclusions by a study of the data, including the same data the evolutionsist look at. Simply differing conclusions regarding much of that data.
My predictons: Adaptive evolution, a function of the embryogenetic process, is a 'built in' function to adapt to environmental variables as well as to minimize extinctions. Extinctions do happen, many over vast time, but so what? When something no longer functions it is eliminated, or redesigned, take your pick. I further predict that adaptive genes are expressed due to a 'designed in' function to produce variability, rather than folding errors/ mutations. This may be a HOX gene process. Time will tell.
The variability from mutational occurences is accepted as the sole source of novelty and complexity, a concensus viewpoint held by 99.9 percent of scientists (if you want to believe dingbat Brian Alters' statement). The actual figure, if there was a way to detemine it, might surprise you. As a working biologic engineer, and even viewed through the 'rational thought' filter which I employ to assess ALL observable data, there had to be intelligent input, likely a form of genetic engineering, at strategic points in time.
By a god? Not necessarily, but more likely via cosmic spirit entities or design teams, either competitively or merely for something to do, or perhaps surogates of a supreme authority. Further, unless all life forms generate consciousness internally (a jump in logic), they exist as vehicles for spirit entities to inhabit, a kind of sabatical from the cosmic realm.
But feel free to conflate ID with Creationism, a sophmoric and frankly dated position to try to uphold the status quo by discrediting detractors of evolutionary theory as 'religious nuts'. But please, don't label it as 'rational thought'.
Cheers
They [the Discovery Institute] also state that ID is not Bible based, nor is it the same as Creationism. They state, "Unlike creationism, the scientific theory of intelligent design is agnostic regarding the source of design and has no commitment to defending Genesis, the Bible or any other sacred text. Honest critics of intelligent design acknowledge the difference between intelligent design and creationism."
I know perfectly well what the IDists claim to the public. The only question is whether this claim is genuine or whether it is an evasi...
Recently, Sean Carroll, Carl Zimmer, and Phil Plait have all decided to stop appearing on BloggingHeads.TV (BHTV), and PZ Myers announced he would not appear on it in the future, after a disastrous decision to have creationist Michael Behe interviewed by the linguist and non-biologist John McWhorter, who failed to call Behe on his standard BS.
I'm hereby publicly announcing that I intend to stay on BloggingHeads.TV.
Why? Two main reasons:
1) Robert Wright publicly said that this was foolish, apologized for the poor editorial oversight that led to it, and says they're going to try never to do this again. This looks sincere to me, and given that it's sincere, people really ought to be allowed more chance than this to recover from their mistakes.
2) Bloggingheads.TV has given me a forum to debate accomodationist atheists who are insufficiently condemning of religion - for example my diavlog with Adam Frank, author of "The Constant Fire". Adam Frank argues that, while of course we now know that God doesn't exist, nonetheless scientific wonder at the universe and its mysteries has a lot in common with the roots of religion. And I said this was wishful thinking, historically ignorant of how religions really arose and propagated themselves, and a continuation of such theistic bad habits as thinking that things of which we are temporarily ignorant are "sacred mysteries". And no one at BHTV complained that I was being too confrontational, or too anti-religious, or that it was unfair to have the diavlog be between two atheists.
If BHTV is willing to let me come on and (politely) kick hell out of atheists who aren't atheistic enough to suit me, then I don't believe that their unfortunate failure to have Behe interviewed by someone who could call his BS, represents any deep hidden agenda in favor of religion and against science.
Rather, I think it represents a commitment to having interesting discussions by people who intelligently disagree with each other and have something courteous to say about it - even if that discussion wanders into the fearsome death zones where science does ("does not!") clash with religion - and this commitment managed to go wrong on one or two occasions.
My friends and fellow antitheists, this is an important commitment while most of the world is continuing to pretend that there is no conflict between science and religion. It's not surprising if that commitment goes wrong now and then. It is not reasonable to expect that a commitment to repeatedly discuss a scary controversy will never go wrong. It may well go wrong again despite Robert Wright's best intentions. But unless it starts to go wrong systematically, I'm going to stay on BHTV, arguing that science and religion are not compatible.
Of course, if most other non-accomodationists jump ship from BHTV as a result of the Behe affair, then it will become a hangout for accomodationists only. "Evaporative Cooling of Group Beliefs" is another reason why you should put forth at least a little effort to "Tolerate Tolerance" - to not insist that all your potential trade-partners punish the same people you've labeled defectors, exactly the way you want them punished, before you cooperate. Yes, Behe is an enemy of science, but Wright is not; and Wright may also dislike Behe, yet not wish to implement exactly the same punishment-policy toward Behe that you advocate; and that needs to be all right, if we're all going to end up cooperating.