From Jerry himself at Why Evolution Is True:
Reader Mark called my attention to the fact that John Templeton Foundation (JTF) has bestowed its annual Templeton Prize on someone who’s not only a deeply misguided religious philosopher, but also has promoted intelligent design and criticized naturalism.
Thanks to Jerry for spelling that out…
Having made clear that he does not attend the same Bible Study as Plantinga, Coyne then says,
All of this casts doubts on Templeton’s claim to be increasingly down with science, for, after all, Plantinga is pretty much an intelligent design creationist. Although he’s waffled on this a bit in the past, he seems to have settled on ID creationism. I’ll quote Michael Ruse from The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2011, and, having read Plantinga’s book, I concur with Michael:
Now, Plantinga has given us a full-length treatment of his views on science and its relationship to religion. I can only say that either he has changed his mind in the last year [when said he didn’t dismiss Darwinism] or, shall we say, he was not being entirely forthcoming. There is a chapter of the book on Intelligent Design Theory and I challenge any independent person to read it and not conclude that Plantinga accepts this theory over modern evolutionary theory, especially the dominant modern Darwinian evolutionary theory. But read the chapter yourself if you have doubts about what I claim. Make your own judgment.
Remember, Ruse is usually soft on theists. More.
Lots of people are “soft” on the idea that Templeton can do what it wants with its money. We’ve wondered about some of its choices in the past too. But this one establishes that Templeton is not in Coyne’s pocket any more than in anyone else’s.
See also: Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga wins Templeton Prize “an American scholar whose rigorous writings over a half century have made theism – the belief in a divine reality or god – a serious option within academic philosophy”
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