The Questioning Christian

So Evolution Hasn't Had Enough Time to Work, Eh?

"Mutations in a single gene may have turned the AIDS virus from a fairly benign infection of monkeys and apes into a global pandemic that has killed more than 25 million people, researchers said yesterday."  Washington Post, FINDINGS, June 16, 2006, p. A16.

The intelligent-design crowd is going to have to take that into account when they say that evolution just couldn't have produced human beings and other species, because (they claim) there just hasn't been enough time for all those mutations to have survived and reproduced ....

The Continuing Creation: Not Carpentry, But Bonsai

This year marks Ben Franklin's 300th birthday.  A philosophy professor claims that Franklin would have favored the teaching of intelligent design.  (Hat tip: TitusOneNine.)    Let's assume the professor is right.  What exactly would Franklin have said that God designed?  

Many intelligent-design proponents claim that what God designed was the actual universe itself.  They see God as akin to a carpenter or a sculptor, who took raw material of some sort and fashioned it into what he wanted. 

But we have a lot of evidence indicating that the universe has evolved, and continues to do so.  Over billions of years, observable processes following seemingly-understandable laws have been transforming the raw energy of the Big Bang into stars, planets, and us.  We're a long way from completely understanding those processes and laws, but we're working on it. 

It's tough to ignore all that evidence.  (Although a lot of IDers seem to try.)

I wonder.  Maybe God is more like a bonsai gardener than a carpenter.  

Intelligent Design: Strong and Weak Versions

We need to distinguish between the weak version and the strong version of “intelligent design.”  The weak version is something many evolutionists could readily accept.  The strong version is nonsense.