I am not a Scientist!

I was recently accused of not being a scientist in general terms. I want to clarify here -- I am not a scientist in specific terms either. I am not a trained scientist, but what does that have to do with not wanting Intelligent Design in the science classroom?

Seriously, why is that important? Can only a scientist understand Intelligent Design or its negative impact on science education? Do I have to be a scientist to understand evolution? I fully admit that there will be details of biology I will never understand, I am not trained in it, but I want to see a biologist normalize a 3,000,000 record database or build a secure web-based application. I have my expertise and they have theirs. I bet many of them use computers, but that doesn't make them a computer programmer -- just like I use many aspects biology but it doesn't make me a biologist.

Does this prevent me from appreciating what I do know of evolution or trying to understand Intelligent Design? I certainly hope not. In fact if being a scientist was a requirement for understanding Intelligent Design why are the only books about it published in the popular press? I put to you that the target of the Discovery Institute is not the scientist but the layman. They want us to take their battles to our school boards, post support for them in blogs, write letters to editors with our opinions. Of course they only want believers to respond and wish the rest of us would just shut up. To bad!