Re: ASA, ID, Blogs and my observations

The ASA has consistently provided significant space for proponents of ID to
advance their ideas. The evidence for this in PSCF is easily found as far
back as the 1980s (when ID was in its infancy, and even before that) right
down to the most recent issues. The same is true at our annual meetings, at
which Phillip Johnson and Michael Behe have been plenary speakers (have I
missed anyone else in this category?) while large and small symposiums on ID
have been present at many other meetings--including a large one (several
hours) at the Pepperdine meeting I was in charge of and a smaller one (with
Bill Dembski, among others) at the meeting this summer.

If there is tension between some proponents of ID and some opponents within
the ASA, I would say it boils down to two main things. (1) A number of ID
proponents in the ASA were probably hoping to persuade the ASA officially to
endorse ID. It's now clear that this is not likely to happen, and I do not
believe it should happen since it would be a signicant break with our
tradition of being a forum for the exchange of views rather than an
organization to advance a particular view (on this type of topic). There
has probably been some disappointment about this among those who support ID,
a disappointment that has not been overcome by the fact that the ASA
continues to encourage discussion of ID. (2) Now that ID has become a major
force in the ongoing controversy about evolution in public schools, some in
the ASA have been involved in efforts to defend science education as
presently practiced; while others in the ASA have joined forces politically
with other critics of science education (including YECs at the grass roots
in Kansas) to take on mainstream science. This is bound to lead to some
heated exchanges, but as long as the journal and annual meetings remain open
to resonsible expressions of both ID and TE (not to mention OEC and other
views), I believe that the organization as a whole will continue to be
important to all of its members.

Ted
Received on Mon May 30 09:53:51 2005