The Anti-Evolutionary Arguments We See Here

John E. Rylander (rylander@prolexia.com)
Tue, 8 Sep 1998 15:11:13 -0500

As one who's really open to God having done things via natural means or not,
I must confess dismay at the chronically low quality of the
anti-evolutionary arguments presented here. I guess I'm echoing what Howard
said here, for reasons complementary to those he expressed.

There are some significant arguments to be made, in my view, along the lines
of evolutionary theory being the best scientific theory by far but NOT
therefore being either precisely and exhaustively true nor even being
demonstrably -likely- to be precisely and exhaustively true (perhaps it's
akin to Newtonian physics, e.g., and in any event ET's insight is limited to
the scientifically accessible aspects of the physical world, contra
Dawkins).
As a corollary, one could further argue that we should in principal be
prepared to accept things like ID theory -should they ever prove
empirically/scientifically superior- to evolutionary theory (which they
certainly don't -right now-).

But instead, from nearly all anti-evolutionary comers, we get some higher or
lower degree of rhetorical sophistication combined with scientific and
logical dross, pretty much always in the directions of grotesque caricature,
gross exaggeration, or just sloppy confusion.

It's a pity. It really is.

--John