Dembski Interviewed By CitizenLink

William Dembski was recently interviewed by Citizen Link about his new book The Design of Life. Question number 4 truly shows the clash between Modernism and the ID movement.

4. Does your research conclude that God is the Intelligent Designer?

I believe God created the world for a purpose. The Designer of intelligent design is, ultimately, the Christian God.

The focus of my writings is not to try to understand the Christian doctrine of creation; it’s to try to develop intelligent design as a scientific program.

There’s a big question within the intelligent design community: “How did the design get in there?” We’re very early in this game in terms of understanding the history of how the design got implemented. I think a lot of this is because evolutionary theory has so misled us that we have to rethink things from the ground up. That's where we are. There are lots and lots of questions that are now open to re-examination in light of this new paradigm.

What is interesting about this answer in the wake of the many recent atheistic evolutionary books, is the paradigm shift being as subtle as atheism's borrowing from the Image of God. I am all for science opening up the field of science to alternative answers to how the world functions scientifically. However, to act as if Christian scientists are somehow just being morally and philosophically neutral is I think somewhat deceptive.

I love the idea that scientists would use the naturalistic world to demonstrate that there must be Super Naturalistic explanations of the world, but isn't science really assuming God must exist in order to even have a scientific conversation in the first place? In other words, he is writing to "try to develop intelligent design as a scientific program". I think this is wonderful and certainly would move science in the right direction. One need not be a believer in the Christian God in order to live the Image of God within him (however bent it may be) and look at the world to see how the Creator made it from a scientific perspective. Yet the unbeliever is not morally neutral and will forever seek to circumvent the True God and his revelation to man, while using the very Image within him and scientific evidence to do so.

Again, notice how he starts his answer. "I believe God created the world for a purpose. The Designer of intelligent design is, ultimately, the Christian God." I say, "Amen!" Does he start with this presupposition or has the God given evidence led him to that conclusion? Could it be both?

Again, I think at some level, even unbelievers could discover some of the hows of God's creation, such as his question, “How did the design get in there?” (What a simple yet profound question to ask from a scientific standpoint.) For example, when I look at the painting on my wall, I just say, "Wow. What a nice painting. Who painted it?" Or when I see a car, I don't ask, "Did Ford make that or did it evolve? Sure will be nice to see that thing evolve back into the ground." Therefore Romans 1 is right to say that all men know God is the Creator, for He explains the God given evidence all around us.

In conclusion, I think Dembski needs to be careful. For he is often treading on Holy Ground when looking to science to answer some of the questions from a Naturalistic perspective (I simply mean scientific here and not philosophical) when God has clearly spoken in His word. God is the Creator. He created language. He is able to speak. It truly is where the Christian must start...and end.