problem of evil

house-on-sand-foundation-scaled
House on Sand

Darwin’s Rhetorical Foundation of Sand: Theological Utilitarianism

On this ID the Future, biophysicist Cornelius Hunter explores Charles Darwin’s theological arguments for his theory of evolution. By theological, Hunter doesn’t mean that Darwin was arguing for theistic evolution. He means that Darwin received what is known as theological utilitarianism from the intellectual culture of his youth, which had strong deistic tendencies. Read More ›
contagious coronavirus, view of a floating health threatening viruses in a city environment (3d illustration)

Evolution, Design, and COVID-19

With respect to the coronavirus epidemic and evolution, the bottom line is that, while of course the virus is dangerous, the situation can be compared to a strong storm on the ocean. The waves may be huge and the surface roiling, but the deeper waters continue as they always have, essentially undisturbed. In a similar way, although superficially it changes very rapidly, some researchers think that the coronavirus and many other virus types have remained basically the same for tens of millions of years. Read More ›

Problem of Evil

Jay Richards discusses the problem of evil for the theistic and theistic evolutionary perspectives. He notes the common answer that theists give: God allows man to have free will and this liberty brings evil into the world. The evolutionist’s answer to the question makes the problem more acute: God sent everything into existence at once and therefore could not create everything in perfect moral order right away.

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Time flies. Red vintage alarm clock falling down into blue and white paint with splash effect. Abstract art background.
Time flies. Red vintage alarm clock falling down into blue and white paint with splash effect. Abstract art background.

The Gods Must Be Tidy!

When as a boy I read “The Scouring of the Shire” near the end of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, I could not understand why Tolkien felt the need to tack on such an anti-climactic and shabby bit of evil. Only later, as I began to notice modernity’s penchant for ugliness in the world beyond Middle Read More ›

Intelligent Design is not Optimal Design

I was recently on an NPR program with skeptic Michael Shermer and paleontologist Donald Prothero to discuss intelligent design. As the discussion unfolded, it became clear that they were using the phrase “intelligent design” in a way quite different from how the emerging intelligent design community is using it. The confusion centered on what the adjective “intelligent” is doing in Read More ›