About twenty years ago I began reading and hearing about a new movement among scientists, most of them Christian (but certainly not all). The movement has become known as Intelligent Design (ID). That theory says that the evidence found in biology, paleontology, zoology, geology, astronomy, and other sciences increasingly contradicts the generally held dogma that all life on earth is the result of Charles Darwin’s concept of Natural Selection (and its more modern version of Neo-Darwinism). ID asserts that a growing body of evidence infers that life is the result of an intelligent designer. As scientists increasingly discover the incredible complexity in biological systems as well as finding vast gaps in the geological record, the probability that life originated and developed by pure undirected chance grows infinitesimally small.

Unfortunately, ID is still viewed with skepticism and derision by most of those in the scientific establishment. It is systematically excluded from scientific discussions, academic curricula, and scientific journals. Just as many now discredited doctrines once dominated the scientific community, Darwinism now prevails. In my opinion, however, Darwinian and neo-Darwinian theories will become decreasingly possible to defend in the future.

I offer this short review of ID to honor the memory of the man who was probably most responsible for bringing ID out of the shadows and into the light. That man was Phillip E. Johnson, a long time Professor at the University of California- Berkley School of Law. In 1991 he published a groundbreaking book titled Darwin on Trial. He became a vocal critic of Darwinian evolution and a strong proponent of ID. Johnson was a founding member of the Discovery Institute, a think tank of scientists and other intellectual Darwin doubters and ID adherents headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Sadly, Phillip Johnson passed away on November 2nd of this year at the age of 79. His legacy will stand as ID continues to gain new converts and Darwinism fades into the sunset of history as have many other dogmatically held scientific theories throughout history. Below is a bibliography of some of Johnson’s key works. I strongly challenge any open-minded person, Christian or nonChristian, to read some of his books and others published by the Discovery Institute (see https://www.discovery.org ).

 

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