Creationism (which Ayala obviously conflates with ID) is the biggest aberration that can be conceived — not to science — but to faith. It is an atrocity that it attempts to solve the challenge of theodicy; that is how to reconcile the existence of evil in the world with that of God, placing on God the blame for everything that goes wrong.
I cannot conceive anything more disastrous to religion than intelligent design. According to its promoters, God would be responsible for tsunamis, the earthquake in Haiti, the eruption of Vesuvius. Genetic defects would be a punishment from God, as well as the cruelty of nature and the living world. Did you know that 20 per cent of pregnancies are hindered before the third month because the human birth canal is very imperfect? And do you think it seriously to consider that 20 million abortions a year may be God’s fault?”