2012 a great year for advances in the Intelligent Design Movement

The following is copied and pasted from a C4ID (Centre for Intelligent Design) emailing


The big story of 2012 was the junking of 'junk DNA'. The 95% or so of DNA which Darwinists have claimed for years was simply debris demonstrating the truth of the evolutionary story has been well and truly debunked by the findings of the Encode project. At least 80% and probably our entire DNA is active, pointing to a vast and complex system of switches and controls which oversee our genetic code.

None of this is a surprise to ID theorists who have been saying for years that 'junk DNA' was a suspect proposition. See, for example Jonathan Wells' excellent book The Myth of Junk DNA (Discovery Institute Press 2011). All this makes the often-repeated assertion that ID makes no predictions sound rather hollow!

Another milestone was the publication of Thomas Nagel's Mind &Cosmos - Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is almost certainly false (Oxford University Press 2012). Now the intriguing thing about Nagel, a world renowned philosopher, is that, although he is an atheist, he finds the inability of Darwinism to explain mind, consciousness and rationality in any coherent way fatal to the materialism which dominates contemporary science.

You may just have noticed that the same Thomas Nagel selected Stephen Meyer's book Signature in the Cell in 2009 as a book of the year. And in his recent book he writes revealingly,

'Even if one is not drawn to the alternative of an explanation by the actions of a designer, the problems that these iconoclasts (ie Michael Behe, Stephen Meyer) pose for the orthodox scientific consensus should be taken seriously. They do not deserve the scorn with which they are commonly met. It is manifestly unfair.'

I get a sense that the academic tectonic plates are beginning to move!

A further highlight was the Tyndale Philosophy Conference in Cambridge in July on 'Design in Nature?' which featured, among others, Prof Steve Fuller and Dr Stephen Meyer. The proceedings of this conference will become available freely on YouTube - see http://www.tyndalephilosophy.org.uk/Events/proceedings.html

Our own well-attended conference at Malvern in September on 'Darwin or Design?' with Prof John Lennox and Dr Doug Axe explored the science and implications of the current controversy. The proceedings of these conferences are also being made available on YouTube.

In addition, Dr Emma Carter joined the team as Academic Liaison Consultant. We are currently in the process of refreshing our web site at www.c4id.org.uk .

And, if you are still wondering about a novel Christmas present, what about a copy of Explore Evolution available from http://www.exploreevolution.co.uk/ - if you use special offer code QXAP the book will cost just £7.00 including postage and packing!

So thank you again for all your support in 2012. Have a great Christmas and on behalf of everyone at C4ID I wish you a very happy 2013 when it comes. We will certainly be around!

Best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

Dr Alastair Noble

Director

Centre for Intelligent Design

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