[Forwarded to me by Paul Nelson - WRE]

> 
>       C U R R E N T   B A P T I S T   P R E S S   N E W S
> 
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> 
> Date: October 24, 2000
> 
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> 
> Intelligent design controversy continues to fester at Baylor
> 
> By Art Toalston
> 
> WACO, Texas (BP)--When it comes to creation and evolution,
> science increasingly is a subject of debate at Baylor University.
> 
> A noted scientist who holds to "intelligent design" of the
> universe rather than Darwinian-style evolution was removed Oct.
> 19 from his post as director of a Baylor think tank after
> refusing to rescind a statement he had circulated on campus and
> the Metanews e-mail list focused on science and religion.
> 
> The prof, William Dembski, had stated:
> 
> "The report [a Baylor-commissioned study of the university's
> Michael Polanyi Center for Complexity, Information, and Design
> headed by Dembski released Oct. 17] marks the triumph of
> intelligent design as a legitimate form of academic inquiry. This
> is a great day for academic freedom. I'm deeply grateful to
> President Sloan and Baylor University for making this possible,
> as well as to the peer review committee for its unqualified
> affirmation of my own work on intelligent design. ... My work on
> intelligent design will continue unabated. Dogmatic opponents of
> design who demanded the Center be shut down have met their
> Waterloo. Baylor University is to be commended for remaining
> strong in the face of intolerant assaults on freedom of thought
> and expression."
> 
> Dembski, whose publishers include Cambridge University Press,
> remains under contract at Baylor and now holds the post of an
> associate professor.
> 
> Opponents of Dembski's work at Baylor, which is affiliated with
> the Baptist General Convention of Texas, have interpreted
> Dembski's references to "dogmatic opponents" and "intolerant
> assaults" as references to themselves and their opposition to
> Dembski's thinking on intelligent design.
> 
> Also putting the Waco, Texas, university in the spotlight has
> been a letter by eight Baylor science professors declaring,
> "Intelligent design is not a science," that made its way into the
> Congressional Record.
> 
> The eight professors were writing to Rep. Mark Souter, R.-Ind.,
> complaining of a Capitol Hill conference on intelligent design
> May 10.
> 
> The Congressional Record entry, including Souter's comments and
> the professors' full letter, can be seen at a Southern Baptist
> Convention Internet site, www.Baptist2Baptist.net.
> 
> Intelligent design is "an old philosophical argument that has
> been dressed up as science" and has not undergone substantive
> peer review in the scientific community, the eight professors
> wrote.
> 
> While many scientists believe in God, the profs wrote,
> "Materialistic science does not say that there is no God. Rather,
> it says that God, due to His supernatural and divine nature,
> cannot be proved or disproved, thus we cannot consider His role
> in the natural phenomena we observe. Therefore, the existence of
> God is not a question within the realm of science."
> 
> Souter, in his remarks entered into the Congressional Record,
> stated, "I am appalled that any university seeking to discover
> truth, yet alone a university that is a Baptist Christian school,
> could make the kinds of statements that are contained in this
> letter. Is their position on teaching about materialistic science
> so weak that it cannot withstand scrutiny and debate?"
> 
> Souter noted, "Today, qualified scientists are reaching the
> conclusion that [intelligent] design theory makes better sense of
> the data" for such questions as "whether the DNA code is the
> result of natural causes or an intelligent agent."
> 
> The Congressional Record entry has received ongoing attention
> since its publication in mid-June.
> 
> The controversy over Dembski and the Polanyi Center was sparked
> by a 26-2 vote by Baylor's faculty senate on April 18 calling for
> dissolution of the center, which had been created at the
> initiative of Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr.
> 
> The faculty senate vote came just three days after the center
> sponsored a four-day conference on the role of naturalism in
> science featuring leading proponents of both Darwinian evolution
> and intelligent design theories. At issue during the conference
> was the question: Is the universe self-contained, as widely held
> throughout the scientific community, or does it require something
> beyond itself to explain its existence and internal function?
> 
> The controversy prompted Sloan to create an external review
> committee, chaired by a Baylor faculty member but otherwise
> composed of scholars from other academic institutions. The
> committee's report was issued Oct. 17 and affirmed by Sloan.
> 
> Among the committee's conclusions: "... research on the logical
> structure of mathematical arguments for intelligent design [has]
> a legitimate claim to a place in current discussions of the
> relations of religion and the sciences."
> 
> The field of pursuit is new, having "only just begun to receive
> response in professional journals," the external review committee
> said, yet Baylor "should be free, if it chooses, to include in
> its coverage this line of work, when carried out professionally."
> 
> Among the review committee's other recommendations were placing
> the center under Baylor's Institute for Faith and Learning and
> discontinuing use of the Polanyi name because the late Hungarian
> chemist for whom the Baylor center is named, while having built a
> reputation for studying the interaction of science, philosophy
> and religion, did not believe that an agent of intelligent design
> is needed to explain the growth of the living world.
> 
> The committee also suggested that an advisory committee of Baylor
> faculty be appointed "to assist in planning and reviewing the
> science and religion component" of the institute.
> 
> The external review committee's endorsement of study in
> intelligent design prompted Dembski's e-mail statement, which
> caused controversy on campus and led to his demotion.
> 
> Michael Beaty, director of the Institute of Faith and Learning,
> in an official statement announcing Dembski's dismissal, said,
> "The theme of the report emphasized the need for individuals
> associated with the center to work together in a collegial
> manner." Dembski's actions after the release of the report, Beaty
> said, "compromised his ability to serve as director."
> 
> Dembski, in response to the statement by Beaty, told the Waco
> Tribune-Herald, "I think it needed to be clear in my statements
> that there was tremendous opposition to this center, and it would
> not have been an accurate representation if there was not some
> reference [to the conflict]."
> 
> Dembski holds Ph.D. degrees in mathematics from the University of
> Chicago and in philosophy from the University of Illinois at
> Chicago. He has done post-doctoral work in mathematics at MIT, in
> physics at the University of Chicago and computer science at
> Princeton University. He earned a B.A. in psychology and M.S. in
> statistics also from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a
> master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.
> 
> Dembski's writings include a book titled, "Intelligent Design:
> The Bridge Between Science and Theology," published by Inter
> Varsity Press in November 1999, and 1998 Cambridge University
> Press book titled, "The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance
> Through Small Probabilities."
> 
> Jay Losey, a Baylor English professor and faculty senate
> chairman, told the Waco newspaper, "I think everyone is saddened
> when a colleague is demoted, but these things happen. In this
> case, in my judgment, the colleague was intemperate in remarks
> that he made. There has to be accountability."
> 
> Losey told The Lariat, the Baylor student newspaper, that "there
> is deep, genuine concern on the part of Baylor faculty regarding
> some of the statements made in the e-mail. Deep, genuine
> concern."
> 
> Losey, to the Tribune-Herald, also said, "Baylor faculty will
> accept Dembski and [another center associate, Bruce] Gordon as
> colleagues, provided that they do what all of their other
> colleagues at Baylor University are doing," Losey said. "That is
> disseminating their best thinking in peer-review journals and
> presses that have readers reviewing manuscripts submitted for
> publication."
> 
> Sloan, in a statement in conjunction with the external study
> committee's report release Oct. 17, had said, "I am pleased that
> the central mission of the center has been affirmed and that the
> committee has underscored the fact that support of academic
> freedom includes protecting controversial ideas."