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Intelligent Design Explained

In speech at Washburn, Phillip Johnson says goal is to question evolution

Original Article
Intelligent design isn’t meant to re-insert God into science but rather to question the mechanisms of the Darwinian theory of evolution.

That is what Phillip E. Johnson, a retired law professor who is sometimes called the “father of intelligent design,” told a group of Washburn University students and members of the community Saturday night.

“I thought it went well,” said Craig Freerksen, community director of Christian Challenge, the student organization that brought Johnson to campus. “We had a great turnout from the community and the student body.”

Johnson participated in a question and answer session called “Asking the Right Questions About Darwinism.” He responded to queries about holes in Darwin’s theories and why he feels able to participate in the scientific debate as a nonscientist.

He said Darwin and other evolutionary science leaders of the time wrote for a general public they thought could not only understand the theory but would also agree with it.

“I have appointed myself to respond to the authors of these books,” Johnson said.

Johnson began the discussion by explaining that he became involved in the movement after having been aware of the legal efforts to have creationism taught in schools. He said creationists took on too much by trying to challenge evolution and the geological history of the Earth by relying on the Bible’s account in Genesis.

“I was looking for a different way to approach the problem, an easier way into it, to see if there could be some way to discuss the subject of biological evolution and the controversies that surround it without getting into so many different areas of science and without getting into the question of whether some reference to Biblical authority or reliance on it is improper in science,” he said.

According to Johnson, Darwin admitted that the fossil evidence at the time didn’t support his theory but asserted that future discoveries should fill in the gaps. Johnson said in the 1980s a debate began within the scientific community because some thought that fossil discoveries weren’t supporting a key part of Darwinian evolution.

Johnson said many evolutionists have tried to force intelligent design to take the negative argument, forcing proponents to disprove evolution. He asked they provide proof that what they assert is true first.

“I insisted on saying I’m not going to assume that the theory is true,” he said.

The examples from scientists claiming to have observed the process of evolution don’t satisfy him either. One example is of a moth population that had been predominately light colored, became predominately dark colored during the Industrial Revolution and then reverted to the light color later. Evolutionists explain the change as a result of tree bark darkening from industrial pollution and then lightening again after environmental reforms. The change in the moth’s color is explained as a means of helping it blend in with the bark to hide from birds.

Johnson said he is even willing to overlook the fact that the species of moth is nocturnal and hides in the tree canopy during the day.

“This tells us nothing of the evolution that matters,” he said. “What was clear to me was that it said nothing about how you get moths and trees and birds in the first place.”

Joe Foreman Jr., a senior at Washburn, said he thought the discussion went well and that Johnson presented many ideas that needed to be discussed more openly.

“We aren’t really given the option to have our own thoughts,” he said of his science classes.

Topeka West High School biology teacher Donnie Palmer, who describes himself as a supporter of intelligent design, said he just wanted to follow the evidence, even if it took him closer to evolution.

“The idea of being able to question the evidence and come to our own conclusions is how I like to teach science in my own classroom,” he said.

Lindsey Geisler is a freelance writer in Topeka. She can be reached at lindsey.geisler@gmail.com.