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A COMPANION to the AUDIOBOOK Chapter 3: Doubts About Darwinism 71 A COMPANION TO THE AUDIOBOOK ChaPTeR 3: Doubts about Darwinism 71 my seat as far as it would go. I felt satisfied by my interview with Wells and was anxious to determine whether the most up-to-date scientific evidence supports the existence of the intelligent designer he had talked about. Still, though, some pesky questions continued to bother me. I remained troubled by the intersection of science and faith. I needed to resolve whether these two domains are destined to be at war with each other, as some people claim. Can a scientific person legitimately entertain the idea of the supernatural? How much can empirical data tell us about the divine? Should scientists merely stick to their test tubes and let the theologians ponder God? Should pastors be allowed to poke their nose into the research laboratory? Can science and faith ever really CHAPTERbe partners in pursuit3: DOUBTS of the ultimate ABOUT answers of life? DARWINISM I knew I needed to get some answers to those questions before I could go any further. I pulled the blanket up to my neck and decided to get some sleep. Tomorrow, I’d be planning another journey. foR fURTheR eVIDenCe More Resources on This Topic Denton, Michael. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. Bethesda, Md.: Adler & Adler, 1986. Hanegraaff, Hank. The Face That Demonstrates the Farce of Evolution. Nash- ville: Word, 1998. Johnson, Phillip. Darwin on Trial. 2nd ed. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993. Wells, Jonathan. Icons of Evolution. Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2000. 9780310339281_csCreator_sc_int.indd 71 9/4/13 2:14 pm 1 CHAPTER 4: WHERE SCIENCE MEETS FAITH ChaPTeR 4: Where Science Meets Faith 97 for further evidence More Resources on This Topic Dembski, William. The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2004. McGrath, Alister. Glimpsing the Face of God. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2002. Meyer, Stephen C. “Evidence for Design in Physics and Biology.” In Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe, ed. Michael J. Behe, William A. Dembski, and Stephen C. Meyer. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1999. ——— . “Modern Science and the Return of the God Hypothesis.” In Science and Chris tianity: Four Views, ed. Richard F. Carlson. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2000. Moreland, J. P. Chris tianity and the Nature of Science. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1989. Witham, Larry. By Design: Science and the Search for God. San Francisco: Encounter, 2003. 2 9780310339281_csCreator_sc_int.indd 97 9/4/13 2:14 pm 130 The CaS e foR a CR eaT o R the same radiance, and she greeted us with love and told us that her most precious possessions were her New Testament and her handmade Four Spiritual Laws.” Bill smiled. “You asked whether God can use cosmology to change the life of a scientist,” he said. “Yes, I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it happen with all kinds of skeptics. Once I gave a talk at a college in Canada on the kalam argument. Afterward a student said, ‘ I’ve been an agnostic all my life. I’ve never heard anything like this. I now believe that God exists! I can hardly wait to go share this with my brother, who’s an atheist.’ ” Craig glanced out the window as he pondered what else to say. Then he turned to me once more. “Certainly there have been earlier ages when the culture was more sympathetic toward Chris tianity,” he said. “But I think it’s indisputable that there has never been a time in history when the hard evidence of science was more confirmatory of belief in God than today.” I leaned over and punched the “stop” button on my recorder. I couldn’t think of a better segue to my next interview. Now that Craig CHAPTERhad made a powerful5: THE case EVIDENCEfor God as Creator ofOF the COSMOLOGYuniverse, it was time to consider the laws and parameters of physics. Is there any credi- bility, I wondered, to the claim that they have been tuned to an incom- prehensible precision in order to create a livable habitat for humankind? for further evidence More Resources on This Topic Craig, William Lane. “Design and the Cosmological Argument.” In Mere Cre- ation, ed. William A. Dembski. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1998. ——— . Reasonable Faith. Rev. ed. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1994. ——— , and Quentin Smith. Theism, Atheism and Big Bang Cosmology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. Moreland, J. P., and Kai Nielsen. Does God Exist? Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 1993. 9780310339281_csCreator_sc_int.indd 130 9/4/13 2:14 pm 3 160 The CaS e foR a CR eaT o R supernaturally intervene, the otherwise inexplicable fine-tuning of physics, operating day in and day out ever since creation, also seems to warrant the term “miraculous.” And miracles are the province of God. I was pondering this thought as Collins and I emerged from the building, taking deep breaths of the fragrant autumn air and basking in the sunshine. Looking up, I could see the blazing sun on one side of the blue sky and the faint moon on the other. My mind turned from the abstract world of physics to the planets and moons and stars and galaxies that populate the universe. What other evidence of fine-tuning, I wondered, might be waiting in the cosmos? Could our very existence on a life-sustaining rock on the outskirts of the Milky Way tell us anything about the Creator who has CHAPTERthus far been so highly 6: THEsuggested EVIDENCE by cosmology and physics?OF PHYSICS I made my decision as I drove away from the campus: it was time to quiz an astronomer about what we can learn from the mystery and grandeur of the heavens. for further evidence More Resources on This Topic Collins, Robin. “The Argument from Design and the Many-Worlds Hypothe- sis.” In Philosophy of Religion: A Reader and Guide, ed. William Lane Craig. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2002. ——— . “The Evidence for Fine-Tuning.” In God and Design: The Teleological Argument and Modern Science, ed. Neil Manson. New York: Routledge, 2003. ——— . “A Scientific Argument for the Existence of God: The Fine-Tuning Design Argument.” In Reason for the Hope Within, ed. Michael J. Murray. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1999. ——— . “The Teleological Argument.” In The Rationality of Theism, ed. Paul Copan and Paul Moser. New York: Routledge, 2003. Dubay, Thomas. The Evidential Power of Beauty. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1999. Leslie, John. Universes. New York: Routledge, 1989. 9780310339281_csCreator_sc_int.indd 160 9/4/13 2:14 pm 4 CHAPTER 7: THE EVIDENCE OF ASTRONOMY ChaPTeR 7: The Evidence of Astronomy 203 for further evidence More Resources on This Topic Denton, Michael. Nature’s Destiny. New York: The Free Press, 1998. Gonzalez, Guillermo, and Jay Wesley Richards. The Privileged Planet. Wash- ington, D.C.: Regnery, 2004. Jastrow, Robert. God and the Astronomers. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1992. Sampson, Philip. Six Modern Myths. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2000. Ward, Peter, and Donald Brownlee. Rare Earth. New York: Copernicus, 2000. 5 9780310339281_csCreator_sc_int.indd 203 9/4/13 2:14 pm 230 The CaS e foR a CR eaT o R by science (even as to why) sometime in the indefinite future for materialist reductionalists.21 That mystery was going to take me even deeper inside the awe- inspiring, microscopic realm of the cell. As I started my rental car and began to drive down the asphalt road from Lehigh’s Mountaintop Cam- CHAPTERpus, I remembered 8: THE that S tephenEVIDENCE Meyer, the philosopher OF BIOCHEMISTRY of science I had already interviewed about the relationship between science and faith, has written extensively on DNA. This seemed like a good time for a new chat about where the arrow of genetics might be pointing. for further evidence More Resources on This Topic Behe, Michael J. Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution. New York: Touchstone, 1996. ——— . “Darwin’s Breakdown: Irreducible Complexity and Design at the Foundation of Life.” In Signs of Intelligence, ed. William A. Dembski and James M. Kushiner. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos, 2001. ——— . “Evidence for Design at the Foundation of Life” and “Answering Sci- entific Criticisms of Intelligent Design.” In Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe, ed. Michael J. Behe, William A. Dembski, and Stephen C. Meyer. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2000. ——— . “Intelligent Design Theory as a Tool for Analyzing Biochemical Sys- tems.” In Mere Creation, ed. William A. Dembski. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1998. 9780310339281_csCreator_sc_int.indd 230 9/4/13 2:14 pm 6 CHAPTER 9: THE EVIDENCE OF BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION 260 The CaS e foR a CR eaT o R for further evidence More Resources on This Topic Meyer, Stephen C. “The Cambrian Information Explosion: Evidence for Intel- ligent Design.” In Debating Design, ed. Michael Ruse and William Demb- ski. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ——— . “DNA and the Origin of Life: Information, Specification, and Expla- nation” and “The Cambrian Explosion: Biology’s Big Bang.” In Darwin- ism, Design, and Public Education, ed. John Angus Campbell and Stephen C. Meyer. Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2003. ——— . “Evidence for Design in Physics and Biology.” In Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe, ed. Michael J. Behe, William A. Dembski, and Stephen C. Meyer. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1999. ——— . “The Explanatory Power of Design: DNA and the Origin of Infor- mation.” In Mere Creation, ed. William A. Dembski, 113 – 47. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1998. 7 9780310339281_csCreator_sc_int.indd 260 9/4/13 2:14 pm 288 The CaS e foR a CR eaT o R might someday account for mind . is like the alchemist’s dream of producing gold from lead.61 I leaned forward and started the car.
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