This past weekend, I was fortunate to be able to attend the Greer-Heard Debating Design forum. It was supposed to have been held at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, but because of Hurricane Katrina, they had to find another location. And thanks to Willian Lane Craig, the venue was changed to Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Cobb county, just 5 miles from my house.
The debate was between William Dembski and Michael Ruse. There were also four other panel members – William Lane Craig, Francis Beckwith, Martinez Hewlett, and Wesley Elsberry. Since it was only Friday night and most of Saturday, the presentations were very short, so it wasn’t too informative. But, the highlight was being able to meet Dembski and Craig, shake their hands, and give them some words of appreciation for what they are doing.
I applaud Ruse for coming into “enemy” territory. He was humorous and fairly civil. But, his defense of evolution and attack of ID were pretty lame. His arguments for evolution were Darwin’s finches and the archaeopteryx. And his attacks against ID were things Pat Robertson had said, why are there imperfect designs, why does God allow calamaties, and the motives of IDers. Basically, he had no logical arguments against ID.
They allowed two open times to ask questions from the audience. They shouldn’t have allowed that and should’ve prescreened the questions. It was pretty obvious that most of the questioners did not know much about ID.
But, I did try to strike up conversations with some people there and there were a handful that were educated about the topic. And it was fun to chat with them about ID and the whole controversy.