Re: chapter and verse on design

Valid points. ID is simply built on shifting sand and can mean anything. A
letter in the Times (of London) today said ID was the same as the anthropic
argument.

Michael
----- Original Message -----
From: "bivalve" <bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com>
To: "ASA" <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 6:49 PM
Subject: chapter and verse on design

>> Fair enough, Michael. I don't have a lot of such quotations handy, but
>> I
>> suspect there are quite a few more. Let me offer a very prominent one,
>> from
>> Behe, Darwin's Black Box, pp. 193-4:
> [...]
>> I think I can find a few more, but surely this one is explicit enough,
>> yes?
>
> Unfortunately for the credibility of ID, there are also quotes that
> clearly deny design in natural processes. E.g., Johnson's assertion that
> one is either created by design or by mindless molecular processes. As
> billions and billions of molecular processes go into the development of
> each human, and no molecule is known to have a mind, this assertion
> implies that God is not involved in human development and growth.
>
> Similarly, a moderately recent post quoted Dembski as saying that
> evolutionary continuity is OK, yet he has also recently boasted that
> molecular evolution will be dead in the water in a few years. This
> ridiculous claim not only demonstrates an opportunity to learn from Ahab's
> advice on premature boasting but also totally ignores the scope of
> molecular evolution. Even the most rabid antievolutionists admit the
> ongoing intraspecies evolution, and some are not ignorant of the many
> examples of new species currently evolving. Thus, even if enough gaps
> were found to make Johnson happy, there would still be a large role for
> molecular evolution; a model like Behe's would give a very large scope for
> molecular evolutionary studies.
>
> Such self-contradiction to me suggests an effort to say whatever seems
> likely to go over well, without regard for truth, rather than a careful
> effort at deception. However, neither is acceptable.
>
>
>
> Dr. David Campbell
> Old Seashells
> University of Alabama
> Biodiversity & Systematics
> Dept. Biological Sciences
> Box 870345
> Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0345 USA
> bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com
>
> That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted
> Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at
> Droitgate Spa
>
>
Received on Wed May 25 18:24:32 2005