Posted by Guest Contributor on July 31, 2005 10:21 PM

By Russell Durbin







First of all, in what sense is Dembski a scientist at all? And who are all these “other scientists? And in what sense are their credentials “stellar”? More stellar, say, than Duane Gish, John Baumgardner, or Russell Humphreys, who have been peddling young earth creationism for decades? Leaving all that aside, though, Chapman merely mentions the names and (allegedly stellar) credentials. Nothing about the substance of their work. Certainly nothing about the numerous resounding refutations of their ideas, or the lack of any positive reviews by competent scientists in the fields being (mis)represented. Dembski’s treatises purport to prove evolution mathematically impossible. Are there any reviews by reputable biologists or mathematicians? What do they say? Behe’s bestseller “Darwin’s Black Box” purports to demonstrate that biological structures are “irreducibly complex”, and therefore could not have evolved. This argument has been so thoroughly debunked that Behe has now retreated to the position that if there is any biological structure for which a mutation-by-mutation account of its history, back to the origin of life, is not proved, miraculous intervention remains the preferred explanation. In reality, it is not “they” who are on the defensive. Again, we see Chapman’s rhetorical style, perhaps cribbed from George Lucas: No need to refer to the actual substance of the dispute, just broad strokes indicating the brave and virtuous nature of the Rebels, and the cowardly and dishonest nature of the entrenched minions of the Imperial Order.

When, in reply, Discovery Institute produced, first 100, and now over 400 scientists brave enough to confront their colleagues with a “Dissent from Darwin” statement, the Darwinist judges said, Well, we still have far more scientists who support evolution (as if that had been the issue).

Whoa! There “they” go again! Who are these Darwinist judges? Where did they say or imply that “the issue” was the magnitude of the supporters/dissenters ratio? Perhaps Chapman is referring here to Project Steve. Beyond its primary goal of parodizing these ridiculous lists, the point of Project Steve was two-fold:

  1. that science is not done by vote or petition; whether the DI recruits 100, 1000, or 100,000 supporters, that doesn’t make their “theory” a theory. And
  2. more to the point, unlike the “Dissent from Darwin” statement, the “Project Steve” statement actually states something of substance.

With what bold statement do the DI’s supporters confront their colleagues?


(A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism)


By contrast, the Project Steve statement reads:


(NCSE Project Steve)

Notice the difference? The Steve statement actually has some substance to it. Where any scientist could, in good conscience, sign the “Dissent from Darwin” statement (that is, if they didn’t suspect the DI would be misrepresenting them as supporters of IDC), would the DI supporters be comfortable signing the Steve statement? Coincidentally (?) the contrast between the two statements is very much analogous to the difference between a theory that makes testable predictions and one that equally accommodates, ex post facto, all outcomes.




“The Darwinists”? That must be “they” again. Who are these shadowy figures? Let’s examine the DI’s facile use of this convenient handle. In this context, of course, “Darwinist” denotes critics of ID in general (i.e. virtually all scientists) and in particular those “entrenched dogmatists” who supposedly maintain a stranglehold on every major scientific journal and academic institution in the world. But when trying to create the impression that “the controversy” they want to teach is a scientific one, rather than a political/religious one, the IDists take advantage of several narrower and more technical uses of the term, sometimes found in the scientific literature:

  1. It was used by Stephen Jay Gould, for example, to distinguish Darwin’s original conception of continuous gradual genetic change from (the probably more realistic) view of jerky transition between more or less steady states of quasi-equilibrium.

Call me cynical, but I suspect the DI knows that when they use words like “Darwinism” or “Darwinian” in, say, a school board setting or a public opinion poll, these are not the senses in which the word is perceived. The word “duplicitous” comes to mind.

In any case, what evidence is there that “they” are any harder on evolution skeptics than, say, on astrologers or UFO theorists?


Let’s list those breakthroughs. Let’s see… there was the Meyer article. And Behe & Snoke, and… um… gosh, what are the others? Leaving aside the suspicious circumstances surrounding the editorial acceptance of the Meyer article, the presence in one obscure journal of one contribution from a philosopher (who has signed a creationist loyalty oath) hardly qualifies as the substantial presence in the scientific literature needed to seriously challenge a well accepted theory.



“Attacked”? I guess it would be asking too much to supply a link or a reference, so readers might judge the merits of the case for themselves. “Relatively unimpressive”? Wait a minute. Is this not the very same essay that implied that “they” (those dastardly Darwinists) unfairly dismissed Phillip Johnson’s criticisms because he’s not a scientist? And now Sternberg’s critics (scientists all, I believe) are “relatively unimpressive” …because they hold fewer doctorates? How about Bruce Chapman, the author of this diatribe? How many science degrees does he boast? How about addressing some of the substance of the charges, rather than number of degrees of the principals involved?


“The Darwinists”? “decided”? “the challenge to Darwin”? If we can manage not to be distracted by three (3!) weasel words in one sentence–“Darwinists (defined as ….?) decided (in a secret strategy meeting, perhaps?) to dispatch the challenge to Darwin (that “challenge” being…?)”–we might wonder: who is redefining science? Perhaps the most venerable and prestigious general scientific journal in the world is Nature. How do you suppose they arrived at that title? Was it, perhaps, because Natural and Supernatural Phenomena was considered just too cumbersome?

At this point Chapman devotes a long paragraph to the tussle over definitions of science “traditionally” held by school boards. Frankly, who cares? As long as the point is not to leave a door ajar for sneaking in supernatural explanations for natural phenomena. Because that would be a radical revision of the scientific enterprise, at least relative to the last two centuries or so.


(emphasis added)



As evidenced by…? Note, again, another important weapon in the IDC armamentarium: the the PowerWhine: equal parts “poor me” and unsubstantiated allegation.


As evidenced by…?


Supposed standards? Chapman tells us (with the usual lack of any references to the real world) that “the Darwinists are prepared to do all they can” (nothing specific, just “all they can”), and–even though we don’t know what nefarious schemes “they” have up “their” sleeves–we can state without fear of contradiction that they are applied selectively to “Darwin skeptics”. (Parapsychology and crystal power advocates can expect an indulgent wink and a nod.)



So, to prevent exposure of the incapacity of their theory,



Hard to say. Lord knows “they” have no scruples. But is it really intolerant to question whether, say, a Young Earth Creationist is as qualified to teach biology or geology as the next person? Should Jonathan Wells’s well publicized statement that he undertook graduate studies after prayerful consultation with Rev. Sun Myung Moon with the express purpose of “destroying Darwinism”, be considered irrelevant to the credibility of his “challenges” to evolution? I don’t know. Would it be deplorable (anti)religious bigotry to be influenced, in the choice of a physician, by whether he is a disciple of Mary Baker Eddy?


See, the “Emperor” is “the Darwinian establishment”. “Certificates of Official Observation” are advanced degrees and academic credentials. The “little boy” is Jonathan Wells, Stephen Meyers, and company. The “unorthodox personal views and associations” would be, for instance, being an ordained minister in Rev. Moon’s Unification Church, say, or having signed a fundamentalist Christian college’s loyalty oath promising to hew to to the divine special creation of man.

Well, let’s turn this analogy around. What “clothes” do the DI fellows use to disguise their predisposition to reject evolution? Why should we not examine the scientific objectivity and bona fides of a group:

  5. that publishes tripe like this diatribe?
