Saturday, October 15, 2005

ID - Back to Babel?


Dennis Alexander runs a molecular immunology group at Cambridge University and has also written two books on science from a Christian perspective. Recently a version of one of his lectures has been published on the web here. He has recently expanded his attack on Intelligent Design from a Christian perspective. His article is available here entitled "Is Intelligent Design Biblical?" and a shortened version of it is due to be published in the British Christian monthly "Evangelicals Now."

Dr. Alexander makes the accusation that ID people are guilty of "terminological inexactitude." Changing the meanings of words to suit your argument is one of the commonest and most effective ways of deception. Here is Dr. Alexander's accusation:

It should also be noted that in making its case the ID literature uses
the terms ‘naturalism’ and ‘naturalistic’ in a way that is quite different from
their commonly accepted meanings. The Oxford dictionary definition of
‘naturalism’ in its philosophical sense is “a view of the world that excludes
the supernatural or spiritual” and this is indeed how this term is generally
understood. Instead ID proponents commonly use ‘naturalistic’ as a
synonym for ‘scientific’


Sadly Dr. Alexander does not give a single specific example of this terminology confusion. This makes contradicting him difficult and this is a pity as it is a crucially important point. On the basis of the UK system of justice ID people are innocent until proven guilty and Dr. Alexander has notably failed to prove this particular charge.

More evidence please!

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