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By Dr. Angus J.L. Menuge
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| Is Intelligent Design (ID) welcome in science? Not according to a witty new documentary by the noted speechwriter, columnist, and media host Ben Stein. Opening April 18, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a fascinating film about intolerance toward ID in the scientific community. In the current climate, even when academicians have a relevant doctorate and a track-record of peer-reviewed publication, their careers suffer if they argue that the scientific evidence points to an intelligent source.
Design Excluded From Science
In 1992, Dean Kenyon, a biology professor at San Francisco State University, was barred from teaching introductory biology classes after he shared his misgivings about evolutionary theory (including his own theory of chemical evolution) with his students. William Dembski was removed from his position as Director of the Michael Polanyi Center at Baylor University in 2000 after making his pro-design views known. In 2003, Nancy Bryson was dismissed from Mississippi University for Women immediately after she gave a lecture on scientific criticisms of chemical and biological evolution to a group of honors students. Three years ago, Caroline Crocker, a cell biologist at George Mason University, was forced to leave after discussing problems with Darwinian theory and mentioning the alternative of Intelligent Design. More recently, Guillermo Gonzalez, a brilliant astronomer at Iowa State University and author of 68 peer-reviewed science articles and a college-level text book on astronomy from Cambridge University Press, was denied tenure after publishing the book, The Privileged Planet, in which he argues that our solar system is “fine-tuned” for intelligent life and ideal for scientific investigation.
It is not even necessary to believe in design to get into trouble. Richard Sternberg, a scientist with two doctorates in evolutionary biology at the Smithsonian Institute, does not support ID. However, as editor of the scientific journal Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, Sternberg allowed the publication of a peer-reviewed article by Stephen Meyer, summarizing the failures of Darwinism in explaining the origin of biological information. He suffered immediate consequences. A 2006 Congressional report by Mark Souder, Intolerance and the Politicization of Science, concluded that Sternberg was subjected to an orchestrated campaign of character assassination and intimidation designed to force him to resign.
By turns humorous and sad, Ben Stein travels throughout the United States and Europe, interviewing both the expelled scientists and several members of the Darwinian scientific establishment, including Richard Dawkins of Oxford University and P.Z. Myers of the University of Minnesota at Morris.
Should Lutherans Care?
Historically, Lutherans have upheld creation as a fact discernible by natural reason (Rom. 1: 18-20; Psalm 19). Several of the great scientists at the forefront of the scientific revolution were Lutherans whose scientific work was guided by design, e.g. Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Joachim Rheticus. According to historian of science Peter Barker, Kepler believed “he had discovered the part of God’s providential plan that embodies the pattern of the cosmos, and the divine laws by which God regulated its moving parts.” These scientists believed in coherent laws of nature and the rationality of their own minds because they believed this is a designed world.
Stein’s main point is not to advocate the specific version of design popular today. It is to remind us that science is supposed to be a free and open inquiry, willing to pursue the evidence wherever it leads. Sometimes the evidence may pose problems for thoughtful believers. Sometimes it may confirm belief in a higher intelligence. If science is to retain its reputation for objectivity, it must not be captive to any ideology.
Dr. Angus J. L. Menuge is professor of philosophy at Concordia University Wisconsin. He may be reached at Angus.Menuge@cuw.edu
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