Letter submitted to the editor of the Baylor "Lariat" (lariat@baylor.edu),
2000/04/13

Re: <http://www.baylor.edu/~Lariat/Archives/2000/20000412/art-front01.html>

While a common refrain from Michael Polanyi Center (MPC) Director
Bruce Gordon and MPC supporter Charles Garner is that critics of the
MPC "misunderstand" the center, it appears that Garner has
misunderstood something about the MPC.  Garner claimed that the MPC
studies "theistic evolution".  But MPC Director William Dembski is on
record that "Design theorists are no friends of theistic evolution."
(<http://www.baylor.edu/~William_Dembski/docs_critics/pennock.htm>).
Garner used "theistic evolution" as a contrast to "atheistic
evolution", but the usage typical to Dembski and other Intelligent
Design Creationists (IDCs) is that "theistic evolution" is the concept
that God utilized the processes of evolution in order to instantiate
creation.  In counterpoint, IDCs hold that God intervened at various
points in history to accomplish tasks that cannot be attributed to the
normal course of evolutionary process.

Gordon and Michael Beatty dismiss the concern over which organizations
outside the MPC include the MPC in links on web pages, saying that the
MPC has no control over this kind of reference.  While it is true that
links may be made without consultation or prior approval, it is also
true that a polite request to a webmaster to remove an unwanted link
typically does result in its prompt removal.  Has the Polanyi Center
officially requested such removal of links, or is the public disavowal
unmatched by any action?

Those outside organizations link to what they believe are like-minded
organizations.  If all of this is due to "misunderstanding", perhaps
the fault does not lie with those outside organizations for reading a
message, but rather with the MPC for sending it.  If Dembski and
Gordon are suddenly changing direction, they have failed to make that
clear.  Dembski's articles linked from the MPC page certainly give no
indication that there is anything other than business as usual afoot
(<http://www.baylor.edu/~William_Dembski/articles.htm>).

Seattle's Discovery Institute was mentioned as one of those outside
organizations whose web page links to the MPC cause concern.  William
Dembski is a Senior Fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for
Renewal of Science and Culture and Bruce Gordon is a Fellow there
(<http://www.discovery.org/crsc/index.php3>).  Dembski is also
referenced as a "key figure" in the "Wedge" movement
(<http://www.touchstonemag.com/docs/issues/12.4docs/12-4pg18.html>).

Wesley R. Elsberry
Graduate Student
Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Texas A&M University