The Soul of Science
A metanarrative has become ingrained in our culture which states that science is the means by which we threw off our religious superstitions and entered a brave new world of reason and progress. Does this metanarrative itself need to be overthrown? In this work Discovery Institute Fellows Nancy Pearcey and Charles Thaxton explain how Christian theism has played a vital Read More ›
Darwinism: Science or Philosophy
This volume presents papers presented at an early conference at Southern Methodist University in 1992 which was a landmark event in uniting scholars who now make up the intelligent design movement. Phillip Johnson, Program Advisor for Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, explains that evolution is based upon assumptions of naturalism, which are often unsupported by the evidence. Johnson Read More ›
Is Intelligent Design a Dumb Idea?
Introduction: How is this becoming a “current problem”? The notion of “intelligent design” for explaining what we see in the world of living things — including ourselves — is becoming a matter of open controversy of late. For example, in policy statements from the National Association of Biology Teachers and the National Science Teachers Association (available on the Internet), you’ll Read More ›
The Deniable Darwin
The End of Materialist Science
Simply the thing you are shall make you live. Old Spanish Proverb For the moment, we are all waiting for the gate of time to open. The heroic era of scientific exploration appears at an end, the large aching questions settled. An official ideology is everywhere in evidence and everywhere resisted. From the place where space and time are curved Read More ›
Darwinism: Science or Naturalistic Philosophy?
Open Debate on Life’s Origins
Can scientists change their minds about controversial ideas? Can they reject theories if evidence requires? That may depend upon what theories are at stake. Consider a disturbing case in California involving a distinguished biology professor, Dean Kenyon. A year ago, Kenyon was removed from his biology classroom at San Francisco State University after a few students complained to administrators about Read More ›
The Harmony of Natural Law
In her Dec. 15 letter responding to my December 6th editorial-page piece “A Scopes Trial for the ’90s” Eugenie Scott claims that Prof. Kenyon and I misunderstand the nature of science. What she means, of course, is that we understand it — and its current arbitrary prohibitions — all too well. The Kenyon case underscores a fact that Dr. Scott Read More ›
Danger: Indoctrination
When most of us think of the controversy over evolution in the public schools, we are likely to think of fundamentalists pulling teachers from their classrooms and placing them in the dock. Images from the infamous Scopes “monkey” trial of 1925 come to mind. Unfortunately, intolerance of this sort has shown itself in California in the 1990s as a result of students complaining about a biology instructor. Unlike the original Scopes case, however, this case involves a distinguished biology professor at a major university — indeed, an acknowledged expert on evolutionary theory. Also unlike Scopes, the teacher was forbidden to teach his course not because he taught evolutionary theory (which he did) but because he offered a critical assessment of Read More ›