Debating Darwin: the 'intelligent design' movement; a new generation of anti evolutionists has arisen based on the perceived inadequacies of Darwin's theory

Christian Century, July 15, 1998 by Edward B. Davis

schools in the 1920s.

Johnson wants Americans to think more critically about evolution and about tough religious questions related to it; so do I. In my opinion, the teaching of evolution should be coupled with serious discussions both of its perceived religious implications and of the various ways religious thinkers have responded to it. Public schools seem unable to undertake such highly inclusive, controversial conversations, given the prevailing interpretation of the antiestablishment clause of the First Amendment. An accomplished legal theorist, Johnson might better direct his efforts toward persuading his colleagues to reconsider their interpretation of the Constitution rather than toward criticizing the basic tenets of what remains scientifically a well-supported theory of the origin of biological diversity.

Book reviewed in this essay:

Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution By Michael J. Behe. Free Press, 292 pp., $25.00.

Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds. By Phillip E. Johnson. InterVarsity, 131 pp., $15.99.

The Creation Hypothesis: Scientific Evidence for an Intelligent Designer. Edited by J. P. Moreland. InterVarsity, 335 pp., $13.99 paperback.

Edward B. Davis is professor of the history of science at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania.