In the wake of news reports early last month that Antony Flew, one of the most prominent atheists of the last century just “switched sides” and believes there must be some kind of God based on scientific evidence, this gives added support to the logic presented in what has become known as Intelligent Design theory.  It should be noted here, however, that Flew still rejects the notion of a God of revelation, instead he prefers to be known as a deist.  To see a news article on Flew’s highly publicized “conversion,” click here.

It is therefore important for Christians to present the chief ideas of Intelligent Design to their school boards, their university administrations (including professors), and to anyone else spouting the discredited ideas of Darwinism and the evolutionists.  But it should be done with “gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).  Put simply, many of the ideas of evolution are irrational.  As the book of books put it in Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of God.”

In recent days a number of apologists have assisted with helping me compile the following list of resources on Intelligent Design.  Actually, what sparked this was an inquiry from a University of Wisconsin at Stout student asking for help in writing an article about a local school district considering introducing Intelligent Design into its curriculum.  This inspired me.  My thanks go out to Robert Velarde, Michael Hamblin, Bill Kesatie, Joe Renick, and Pastor Brett Peterson.  Kesatie  They have pulled together a large number of links, both pro and con to ID, including some really well-written articles that may be helpful, Kesatie noted.  It’s at: 

http://www.christiancadre.org/topics/evolutionid.html

Velarde, a graduate student at Denver Seminary, was particularly helpful.  Besides the Ideacenter (http://www.ideacenter.org) and Intelligent Design Network (http://www.intelligentdesignnetwork.org) web sites, he suggests checking out the excellent resources at these sites:
http://www.arn.org/
http://www.designinference.com/
http://www.discovery.org/csc/

Velarde thinks a good approach for the student I was corresponding with is to “suggest books on Intelligent Design that are written by non-Christians in order to avoid claims of bias (despite the fact that often such claims are based on faulty reasoning, especially in the case of William Dembski with his oodles of academic credentials.)"  Kesatie recommends William Dembski's book, The Design Revolution. In it, Kesatie noted, “he tackles the toughest questions he has ever been posed regarding this new, important area of science.”

Michael Hamblin notes that in the IDEA Center's "Intelligent Design FAQs & Primers" page at http://www.ideacenter.org/resources/faq.php is the helpful "Primer: Intelligent Design Theory in a Nutshell":

http://www.ideacenter.org/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/1136

He also noted that there are message boards available on this topic where people can post questions.  Some are:

http://www.iscid.org/boards
http://www.arn.org/boards

“There are a LOT of resources out there, and it just takes a lot of browsing to get a feel for where to find what you're looking for, Hamblin noted. “It's generally pretty well organized.”

Much of the following section is from Hamblin's slightly edited post.  In it he quotes Dr. Norman Geisler’s, Systematic Theology, Volume II. p. 462-3, which gives an introduction to Intelligent Design.  Caution: some of this material may be repetitious from what has already been noted above.  Velarde added more titles to the books section, including several recent  titles by or edited by colleague (and personal friend), Dr. Francis Beckwith of Baylor University.

"A third group of creationists has emerged; its adherents attempt to avoid the internal debate between fiat and progressive creationists. The intelligent-design movement was founded and championed by UC-Berkeley professor Phillip Johnson (see his Darwin on Trial and Reason in the Balance); other major leaders include Baylor professor William Dembski (see his Mere Creation) and Lehigh professor Michael Behe (see his Darwin's Black Box). By concentrating on the issue of intelligent design versus purely naturalistic evolution (and instead of focusing on issues such as the age of the earth and the extent of the flood), the intelligent-design movement hopes to accomplish the following:
       1. Form a unifying "wedge" that can break the bulwark of naturalistic evolution around the academic community.
       2. Strike at the Achilles heel of evolution by revealing its naturalistic philosophical commitment and thereby destroy its plausibility and privileged position in the academic community.
       3. Provide a scientific alternative to naturalistic macroevolution that is free of the trappings of biblical and religious language.
       4. Provide an umbrella under which young- and old-earth creationists can work against naturalistic evolution.”

 Websites

    * International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design
  http://www.iscid.org
      Investigates complex systems apart from external programmatic constraints like materialism, naturalism, or reductionism.

    * Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness Center
      http://www.ideacenter.org
      Organization dedicated to promoting intelligent design theory and fostering good, spirited discussion and a better understanding over the creation-evolution issue.

    * Origins
      http://www.origins.org/
      "This site features scholarly and popular resources concerning intelligent design and philosophical theism."

         "This web site identifies with the "Intelligent Design" approach to origins, making use of the ideas of many leaders in this movement, such as Phil Johnson, Mike Behe, and Bill Dembski. Our primary goal is to make the case for design--that the universe and life appear to be designed by an intelligent creator. We believe the primary issue of contention in science and our culture is not when or how God created, but if God created--is there a Creator at all other than blind natural forces."

  * Access Research Network
      http://www.arn.org/
In particular, note this page:
     Phillip E. Johnson
      http://www.arn.org/johnson/johome.htm

  * Discover Institute: Center for Science and Culture
     http://www.discovery.org/csc/ 

 

Online Forums

  * ISCID Forums
     http://www.iscid.org/boards

 * The ARN Design Forum
     http://www.arn.org/boards

 * Illustramedia
     http://www.illustramedia.com/
      Producers of the video "Unlocking the Mysteries of Life" (shown at the July '03 RTB Dallas meeting).

 

Articles 

    * The Terrible Strength and Weakness of Naturalism
An Interview of Phil Johnson by Tal Brooke
SCP Journal, volume 21:4-22:1, Spring 1998
http://www.scp-inc.org/publications/journals/J2104/j2104_1.htm
    * An interview in Berkeley
http://www.scp-inc.org/publications/journals/J2404/PhilJohnsonInt.php  

 

Books

    * To Everyone An Answer (IVP, 2004), edited by Francis J. Beckwith, William Lane Craig & J. P. Moreland.  Two chapters in particular:
"An Information-Theoretic Design Argument" (chapter 5) by William Dembski and "Darwin, Design and the Public Schools" (chapter 16) by Francis Beckwith.

    * Law, Darwinism and Public Education: The Establishment Clause and the Challenge of Intelligent Design by Francis Beckwith (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).

    * Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing
http://www.arn.org/arnproducts/books/b093.htm

     * Michael J. Behe, Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution
Touchstone, 1998. ISBN: 0-684-83493-6

    * William Dembski, The Design Inference

    * William Dembski, Intelligent Design

    * William Dembski, Signs of Intelligence

    * Phillip E. Johnson, The Wedge Of Truth
"The Wedge of Truth reveals the latest breakthroughs in the Design Movement as Phillip E. Johnson finds the very wedge of truth that can split the foundational beliefs upon which the philosophy of science and the theory of evolution rest. Professor Johnson, of U. C. Berkeley's prestigious Boalt Hall School of Law, raises questions that such evolutionists as Stephen J. Gould of Harvard and Richard Dawkins of Oxford do not want to deal with in public debate (They will often resort to changing the subject or ad hominem character attacks to deflect the direction of the argument). More and more, Phillip Johnson is unmasking the pretense of evolution, showing that it is indeed the equivalent of the emperor with no clothes in inventing ways of explaining away a complex universe without God. This is a great edition to his line of books."
    * Phillip E. Johnson, Reason in the Balance
    * Phillip E. Johnson, Darwin on Trial
    * Phillip E. Johnson, Defeating Darwinism
         "With all of the complicated scientific debate swirling around the topic of evolution, is there an easy way to understand the basic issues without oversimplifying?  Phillip Johnson says there is: the key to defeating the false claims of Darwinism is to open our minds to good thinking habits.  Here is first-rate advice on avoiding common mistakes in discussions about evolution, understanding the legacy of the Scopes trial, spotting deceptive arguments, and grasping the basic scientific issues without getting bogged down in unnecessary details.
          "In the bestselling and critically acclaimed Darwin on Trial and Reason in the Balance, Phillip Johnson exposed the misleading claims of evolutionary naturalism.  Defeating Darwinism provides a new and powerful treatment of these issues.  Johnson aims not just to defeat a bad theory, but to defeat it the right way--by opening minds to the truth.
          "Phillip Johnson is our age's clearest thinker on the issue of evolution and its impact on society.  Quickly cutting through the technical brush, Johnson goes straight to the logical foundations of the controversy and exposes the fallacies propping up the decaying edifice of Darwinism."   Michael Behe, author of Darwin's Black Box"

 * Robert C. Koons, Ph.D. Realism Regained: An Exact Theory of Causation, Teleology, and the Mind, Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN: 0195135679
      The Abstract, Table of Contents, Introduction, and Conclusion of this book are available on Dr. Koons' website:
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/philosophy/faculty/koons/main.html

 * J. P. Moreland, The Creation Hypothesis: Scientific Evidence for an Intelligent Designer
Intervarsity, 1993. ISBN: 0830816984