From My Bookshelf
14
William A. Dembski and Sean McDowell, Understanding Intelligent Design. Everything You Need to Know in Plain Language, Eugene, Oregon, Harvest House Publishers, 2008.
978-0-7369-2442-9.
The "Culture Wars" are becoming very intense (even in Britain, where the phrase is not used, and where some say there is no "war" because there is virtually no resistance, or counter-argument, to the growing tide of secular materialism). The front line of the war will always (at least, while present circumstances prevail) be evolutionism, also known as Darwinism. Perhaps the best-known name on the non-materialist side (after Phillip Johnson) is Bill Dembski. Dembski, with Sean McDowell (a school science teacher, educator and writer), here present a book which is vital and valuable in various respects. First, it gives clear definition of the various ideologies and approaches - it tells us exactly what ID is, and what it is not, and what exactly the rival theories consist of; and also, it faces squarely the situation non-materialists are in, and gives much vital information as to how ID can be defended, and materialism disputed (pages 171-212). The second of these is very important, because many well-meaning Christians (we just have to call them "well meaning"; naive would be more accurate) still operate as though we live in a former age, when gentlemanly debate and civilised respect still determined the way the world was ruled; here - writing about internet defenders of Darwinism - Dembski tells us that "a more vicious bunch is hard to imagine" (p. 184), and this is, sadly, the tone of most materialists and anti-theists today. Also, the book equips non-materialists with several chapters full of information as to why ID has truth and logic on its side, and the nature of materialist deception (Chs. 3-8); of course, all this will be rejected by the Darwinists, who have lots of "evidence", argument, and disputation of their own - but it is still vital that the rest of us know these facts (remember that this book, and many like it, will not ever be read, or even known of, by anti-ID people, or materialists; this book is a primer for those who would upturn the Western materialist world-view/value system, not a weapon, itself, with which to engage the enemy).
Intelligent Design means the theory that the physical facts of the world, and things present in nature, give evidence of the existence and role of a designer, a designer who is possessed of mind or purpose, and is thus vastly superior to humans; but the designing activities of humans may be a way of conceiving of the designer, by analogy. All theists of necessity accept a kind of ID, insofar as they believe in the existence of a being who has originated everything as the result of purpose or intention; such people are not IDrs in the specific sense, however, since they may not believe that nature gives scientific evidence of this design/designer. ID "does not identify the designer. Why not? The question of the identity of the designer goes beyond the scientific evidence for design into philosophy and religion" (p. 46). ID contrasts with both Theistic Evolutionism and Creationism. The former (also called "Evolutionary Theism") accepts the idea of different kinds of life coming into existence by a gradual, accretive process, but shows that nature shows no evidence of a designer (p. 44). Creationists, however, begin with the Bible ("Biblical Creationism" is perhaps more accurate), and "old earth" creationists are said, here, to accept the microevolutionary idea of species changing to suit different environments (but no Creationist would accept macroevolution) (p. 45). It is extremely valuable to have these positions, and labels, defined exactly.
This is a brilliant, invaluable book; but sadly, this is only the case for anti-materialists or theists, since the people with all the power and influence in our society (whom I call the rulership), particularly in Britain, are determined to protect the supremacy of materialism in the sciences, academia, media, and culture (in politics, they have already, surely, been fully successful - how else could we have the abortion laws we have?). Thus, in the recent display of intellectual Stalinism at the Royal society ("The world's oldest scientific institution"), the scientific establishment has shown that it will brook no possible questioning of the hard-line materialism to which it is clearly committed, any questioning of which must come from "Creationism"; which means - at least in some peoples' eyes - we're all Creationists now.