The intelligent design movement has celebrated ID-friendly developments within the Roman Catholic Church. A comparably important development is the ascendancy of ID within the insular enclaves of creationism.
At some point, if a group of people will not give ID a fair hearing, it is time to “shake the dust off your sandals” and reach out to others. I have often thought that the die-hard critics of ID will never be persuaded. The only reason to engage the die-hards is to expose their fallacies, not to persuade them. If the die-hards remain resistant to considering ID, it would be good to search for new places where ID theory may find a welcome hearing.
ID has its best chance in 2 communities:
1. creationists (about 50% of the population)
2. the undecided middle among the Theistic Evolutionists (about 25% of the population)
Which is roughly 210 million people. It is within this pool of people that ID can cultivate fruitful inquiry to advance science. I intend to write on the superiority of the ID paradigm for advancing medical research and biotechnology in an upcoming essay at Uncommon Descent. I alluded to some of the ideas at : How IDers can win the war and Airplane magnetos, contingency designs, and reasons ID will prevail.
Creationists have been the unsavory associates of ID. Johnnyb and myself are among these unsavory associates, but I’m glad we’ve been given an opportunity to reach out to our unsavory brethren through Uncommon Descent because these unsavory associates have the potential to be a vast pool of future talent for ID research. And if any one accuses me of shameless marketing of ID to people of faith, I point them (again) to the Nation Center for Selling Evolution (NCSE) to People of Faith.
If one carefully examines ID literature, one will hardly find appeals to Biblical authority in ID arguments. I have often said that it is the theology-free nature of ID which makes it especially appealing to people in insular creationist enclaves.
Deep down, within these insular enclaves, some are too afraid to open their eyes to the physical facts lest they be de-converted. Deep down, some wonder if their faith is only rooted in their biases and upbringing and might not withstand exposure to theology-free science.
But ID is breaking down the barriers through theology-free science. It’s been heart-warming to see pastors, campus missionaries, church workers with no scientific background studying Michael Behe’s writings. They get more exposure to bio-chemistry than they’ve ever known in their life through Behe. They then become more friendly to encouraging the next generation to attend the nation’s best secular universities to study science, medicine, and engineering. They have far less fear that somehow Darwinian evolution can de-convert their kids because their kids are now armed with material and resources which were not available in generations past.
We now have the potential of a large infusion of creationists who were once scared to enter scientific fields. These large numbers of workers will be a great development for everyone. I should mention, that since the advent of ID, the field of biology has been exploding. There is no evidence the strong pro-ID leanings of this nation are eroding interest in the life-sciences. Where we’re really hurting is the other sciences and engineering, not biology!
Testament of the ascendancy of ID within the creationist community is the fact a major organization with strong creationists ties, in a month-long, multi-million dollar outreach, prominently featured four ID luminaries affiliated with the Discovery Institute.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Aug. 18 /Christian Newswire/ — Author and Christian broadcaster Dr. D. James Kennedy connects the dots between Charles Darwin and Adolf Hitler in Darwin’s Deadly Legacy, a groundbreaking inquiry into Darwin’s chilling social impact. The new television documentary airs nationwide on August 26 and 27 on The Coral Ridge Hour. For station listings, go to www.coralridge.org/darwin.
What: New TV documentary, Darwin’s Deadly Legacy
When: August 26, 27, 2006
Where: Nationwide; details at www.coralridge.org/darwin
The program features 14 scholars, scientists, and authors who outline the grim consequences of Darwin’s theory of evolution and show how his theory fueled Hitler’s ovens.
The one-hour program features Ann Coulter, author of Godless; Richard Weikart, author of From Darwin to Hitler; Lee Strobel, author of The Case for a Creator; Jonathan Wells, author of Icons of Evolution; Phillip Johnson, author of Darwin on Trial; Michael Behe, author of Darwin’s Black Box; Ian Taylor, author of In the Minds of Men, and Francis Collins, Director of the Human Genome Project.
These are good developments. I welcome creationists going even farther and studying the works of Michael Denton, Frank Tipler, John Barrow, David Berlinski, John Angus Campbell, John Davison, Jeffrey Schwartz, Charles Townes, and more people than I can possibly list….
Creationists should view the theology-free science of ID as a science like any other (such as physics, chemistry, information science etc.). ID should be viewed as a theology-free ally, not a replacement for creationist beliefs. And with this in mind, I believe ID can find, through the creationist community, a welcome place where ambitious explorations of ID can be made in various fields of science, medicine, and biotechnology.
Salvador
PS
Incidentally Coral Ridge was the same organization which aired my interview in The Intelligent Design Controversy in Higher Education. If the main stream media refuses to cover these issues fairly, and if educational institutions impede the flow of information on these issues, then other avenues of getting ID into public awareness can and will be explored.