Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

What advice, on junk DNA, would Jonathan Wells give Francis Collins or Richard Dawkins?

Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

From the Salvo Magazine interview with Jonathan Wells, by Casey Luskin. Wells is the author of The Myth of Junk DNA:

If you could have lunch with Francis Collins and Richard Dawkins, what would you say to them about their use of the “junk DNA” argument? [that there is no design in life]

Actually, Collins no longer relies on “junk DNA.” In 2007 he announced in an interview for Wired magazine that he had “stopped using the term.” In 2010 he wrote that “discoveries of the past decade, little known to most of the public, have completely overturned much of what used to be taught in high school biology. If you thought the DNA molecule comprised thousands of genes but far more ‘junk DNA,’ think again” (The Language of Life, pp. 5–6). Unfortunately, his followers at the BioLogos Institute (which he founded) seem to be unaware of this, because they continue to promote the myth that most of our DNA is junk. I would encourage Collins to set them right.

UD News does not think Collins would succeed. They are not Collins’s followers, they are Darwin’s men. They do not seek more knowledge than Darwin had. They seek to make what he knew part of the bedrock of Christianity.

Unlike Collins, Dawkins seems utterly oblivious to recent developments in genomics. I would encourage him to read some of the scientific literature.

Why? Dawkins can command international attention for not keeping up to date – because millions of tax burdens feel he speaks for them – and they don’t need to keep up to date either. Their champions are fronts for the dead orthodoxies that keep them in place.

Comments
Jonathan Wells is the last person from whom Richard Dawkins and Francis Collins would solicit advice. On a related note there was recently an article posted at Uncommon Descent that examined a statement made by Richard Lewontin some years ago. The author, Kairosfocus, expressed worry that Lewontin's comment about not letting a divine foot in the door was a problem for the objectivity of science. I wonder if Uncommon Descent would allocate the same resources to a similar discussion about Jonathan Wells? For those not familiar here is a quote...
Father's [Sun Myung Moon's] words, my studies, and my prayers convinced me that I should devote my life to destroying Darwinism.
That's incredibly damning if true. It basically tells us that before Wells had even studied the subject he had been instructed to devote his life to destroying it! Does this not color completely anything Wells publishes concerning the biological sciences?Single_Malt
November 3, 2011
November
11
Nov
3
03
2011
07:28 PM
7
07
28
PM
PDT
1 2

Leave a Reply