Saturday, October 31, 2009

The Legacy of Darwin and Intelligent Design

I attended and participated in this conference in Castle Rock, CO, last night and today. It was superb--a world-class conference in every way.

Steve Meyer present the essence of his information argument the first night, covering a huge range of material in an approachable, but challenging way. He thus outlined the major argument of his magisterial work, Signature in the Cell. (Amazingly, we had met in 1986 in Dallas. I forgot; he remembered!) On Saturday morning, Michael Behe winsomely explained the nature of ID and illustrated it with material from Darwin's Back Box and (to a lesser degree) The Edge of Evolution. Then Steve Meyer interviewed the inimitable David Berlinski on Berlinski's life and his take on Darwinism. (I was able to give Dr. Berlinski a copy of my book, On Pascal.) John West gave a stellar presentation on the social and political implications of Darwinism. The conference ended with a panel discussion moderated by Craig Smith that included myself (the minor leaguer), Mike Behe, Steve Meyer, and John West. We discussed how to take the ID message to "the next generation."

Despite the attacks on the web page and the attempts to jam their phone lines, the conference was very well attended. The Douglas County Events Center was perhaps 70% filled, not counting the bleachers. There were perhaps 1000 people. I was heartened to see many Denver Seminary students. Many books and DVDs were available and seemed to be selling well.

I encourage you all to visit Shepherd Project web page (when it is de-hacked) and pick up these DVDs or audio files. All the presenters did an excellent job. I was honored to play a small part in this and to get to hang out with these folks for two meals and some other informal time. It was a near-heaven experience for me.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

the nature of ID = the nature of MAGIC.

You fucking moron.

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. said...

I published this mindless scatology to demonstrate the mentality (or lack thereof) of so many of the Darwinists. There are no arguments, just pointless, and rude invective. Of course, the author does not say who he or she is.

We will not stoop to your level; we will give the arguments, whether you listen or not. Some people will listen.

Sarah Schoonmaker said...

"Bob," please leave the land of the thoughtless and moronic by telling how ID = magic.

Sarah

Daniel said...

It was an incredible conference. I was also heartened by the turn out. Not just ID nerds like us but also lay Christians who care about the Faith and the place of faith in schools, public policy, truth. May Christians continue to have their minds and hearts stirred for truth and as John West noted: [these] 'ideas have consequences'.

Anonymous said...

The Shepherd Project web site was up and running this morning!!

Mr. Guthrie said...

I believe bob is bobxxxx, an athiest blogger who has posted comments on my blog and others (see Christianity Today Magazine Blog under the title "Alec Hill Responds", comments section.) His only arguement is to label ID or Creationism magic. I am afraid we will have to wait a very long time before bob actually explains his position with anything approaching reasoned discussion.