Karsten Pultz, author of Exit Evolution, writes to update us:
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Intelligent design is doing very well in Europe these days.
In the large German-speaking parts we now have the newly established Zentrum für BioKomplexität und NaturTeleologie, led by palaeontologist Dr. Günter Bechly. Getting this Institute off the ground was a quantum leap forward in the task of promoting ID not only in the German-speaking parts, but in Europe as a whole.
In Poland, the En Arche Foundation is currently doing wonderful work translating and publishing a whole bunch of ID-books. They are also very active arranging talks featuring prominent ID-researchers. Recdently, they hosted Dr. Jonathan Wells.
In France Dr. Michael Denton’s Evolution Still a Theory in Crisis is currently being translated. Denton would have been travelling to Paris this summer, but due to the pandemic situation, his trip may be cancelled. In the UK, the Centre for Intelligent design has an awesome new web page and seems to be doing very well.
In Scandinavia, ID-related activity is also increasing. The Danish ID organization Origo is just about to release a translation of Dr. Lee Spetner’s The Evolution Revolution and currently a translation of Dr. Michael Behe’s Darwin Devolves is also in progress, with the release expected in 2021.
The Norwegian branch of the same organization, now operating under the name BioCosmos, has already translated Darwin Devolves. The Norwegian ID community had a great stroke of luck when a billionaire donated a considerable amount to support ID projects in Norway last year through the BioCosmos foundation.
In Denmark we do not have a tradition of private funding. All education, culture, and social activity is funded by the state (yep, sounds like communism) and people in general would find it strange and maybe even insulting if an organization asked for money from private individuals. Because ID is not exactly popular, we who try to promote the hypothesis are not just up against mainstream science spokespeople but education and media. We struggle to get anything done because there’s simply no money.
Disinformation about ID has been spread over past decades and the ordinary Dane therefore believes that ID is either creationism, theistic evolution, or some sort of new age phenomenon. The foes of ID have been really busy poisoning the well. The disinformation annoyed me for some years so last autumn I decided to do something about it. I wrote a book explaining the ID hypothesis in detail, why it’s science and not creationism, that it’s not theistic evolution but in fact is a scientific hypotheses which places itself in opposition to evolution. Hence, it is also critical of theistic evolution. This new book, Enter ID, has just been released.
Because no publishing company in Denmark will have anything to do with a critique of evolution or ID, my wife and I established one ourselves, just to get this book out—a lot of work to get one single book out, of the sort that doesn’t produce any significant income. If it goes really well maybe a thousand to twelve hundred copies will be sold, not many, but that’s because Danish is a minority language.
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Good luck in the publishing trade, Karsten!
See also: Karsten Pultz: A motorhead looks at design in nature