June 4, 2001
Last week's main event was a major
conference May 24-26 at Calvin College titled "Design, Self-Organization
and the Integrity of Creation," hosted by Bill Dembski. Philosophers John
Haught and Alvin Plantinga kicked off the event on Thursday night. The scientific
plenary talks were by Dembski, Paul Nelson, Jonathan Wells, Jed Macosko, and
Scott Minnich, with breakout sessions by a number of others. The Friday banquet
speaker was Calvin College philosopher Del Ratzsch, author of the recent, well-received
book Nature, Design, and Science.
One auditor described Del's talk as "a good historical perspective of past
design movements and how they failed," thus contributing a sense of history
and some warnings about mistakes to be avoided. I am told that about 200 persons
attended the conference, largely professors from a variety of colleges and universities.
Conferences are important not only for what is said in the lectures and workshop
sessions, but as a sign that discussion of Design in biology has become almost
a routine matter in the academic world. The issue is steadily being taken from
a marginalized status ("that issue is no longer on the table now that Darwinism
has triumphed") to an active status where more and more people recognize
that an intellectual revolution may be in prospect. Conferences also give new
people an opportunity to emerge and gain recognition as important voices in
the discussion. I can't comment on most of the lectures, because I was not present,
but reports concur that the prize for the best talk would probably go to Jed
Macosko, now a chemistry postdoc at Berkeley. Jed made very effective use of
a videotape produced in France, The
Voyage Inside the Cell, which gives a vivid picture of the irreducible
complexity of the basic biochemical processes of cellular activity. Because
he lives in Berkeley, Jed could give me a private showing of the video with
his own narration. I found the whole presentation stunning, as did the audience
at Calvin.
At the end of this month the major Wedge participants will gather again in Kansas
City for a two-day symposium sponsored by the Kansas
Intelligent Design Network. The Kansas Intelligent Design Network grew out
of the Kansas political controversy described in Chapter 3 of The
Wedge of Truth, and it has provided a whole new dimension to the ongoing
battle over science education standards in that state. The Calvin conference
was basically by and for professors; the Kansas City conference will be basically
by and for citizens who want to be well informed about how to counter the dogmatic
advocacy of scientific naturalist philosophy in the science curriculum. The
conference title is "Darwin,
Design and Democracy II: Teaching the Evidence in Science Education."
I urge any of our friends from the midwest to consider attending.
The Wedge has at least three important components, maybe more. There is an academic
component, illustrated by events like the Calvin Conference. There is a citizen
component, illustrated by events like the upcoming Kansas City Conference. Finally,
there is a religious component, illustrated by our many speaking events at churches
and seminaries. An outstanding example of this third kind of event is the conference
June 25-27 at The Southern Baptist Seminary in
Louisville, Kentucky. The conference theme is "Equipping for Ministry in
Today's University Culture", and I will be giving the primary plenary session
lectures. [For information about the Conference call 1-800-626-5525, x 4119.]
I am constantly reminding people that all three components are important. We
need to improve and expand our scientific work, and we need to pay careful
attention to the sensitivities of the scientific and academic communities. We
can win some people over that way, but we are opposed by powerful vested interests
who will not be swayed by scholarly arguments alone. We also need to build our
citizen base, and to educate the very large number of dedicated people in the
religious world about how they can more effective challenge the ruling naturalistic
definition of knowledge. We won't achieve a breakthrough in science merely by
making a scientific case, no matter how good that case is. We also need to build
a growing community of educated people, especially students, who know what is
at stake and who can't be bluffed by authority figures who claim that they have
overwhelming evidence that natural selection did the creating-- but who don't
understand the difference between evidence and philosophical prejudice.
I'm off today for speaking events in Washington, D.C. and Chicago. Wednesday
evening June 6 at 7:00 PM, I will be speaking at Capitol
Hill Baptist Church on "Intelligent Design and Freedom of Thought -
The Coming Breakthrough."
Thursday, June 7, I am at Christ Church of Oak
Brook (Illinois) lecturing at 7:30 PM on "What
About Evolution?"
Then on Friday, June 8, I am giving the opening banquet lecture at a Wilberforce
Forum Conference at the Westin O'Hare Hotel in Chicago. Other speakers include
host Chuck Colson, Jack Kemp, Richard John Neuhaus, and a host of other distinguished
people. It is still possible to register. Just click on the link for details.
I hope to see as many of you as possible at one or more of the events this month.
Copyright 2001 Phillip E. Johnson. All rights reserved. International
copyright secured.
File Date: 6.04.01