This chapter is titled ' Current Debate About Intelligent Design Ultimately Concerns Purpose'. The previous chapter is here. In this chapter the author examines Intelligent Design (ID) -- or rather what the proponents say about it. The author argues that the proponents of ID critiques Theory of Evolution (TE), yet fails to give an alternative theory for the effect that we observe today. Saying that a theory is bad is one thing, but giving an alternative model is another thing. And unless an alternative model could be provided, one gets stuck.
The other argument the author made is that ID boils down to using 'god of the gap' argument. 'God of the gap' argument is the sort of argument where natural explanation of an event is not possible possibly due to our present ignorance, divine hand is invoked to explain the cause; but when the later generation through a more developed scientific knowledge explains the cause in a natural way, the divine hand is removed from the scene. Thus, over a period of time, the space that the divine one operates in is reduced considerably. Though the proponents of ID argue that their is not a 'god of the gap' argument, it boils down to such argument, argues the author. The author thus finds ID unsatisfactory.
When the book first came out, ID was an adversary to TE. But today as it stands five years later, I think it's fair to say that ID is no longer an attractive option for the Christians. Those working at Biologos or Faraday Institute for Science and Religion have made ID redundant -- or close to that!
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