Advocates of intelligent design at the Seattle-based Discovery Institute have influenced Santorum. They accept many Darwinist concepts, such as the notion that humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor. They see a weakness in Darwinian theory because of the lack of much evidence of natural precursors to the animal body types that emerged in the Cambrian period 500 million years ago. How did we get from random chemicals to creatures with eyes and spines? They say that gap in knowledge leaves open the possibility of intervention by an outside force.But is this really from whence his influence came? Santorum is, in fact, a very conservative man who is adamantly against the teaching of evolution. He has stated:
“I believe in Genesis 1:1 -- God created the heavens and the earth. I don't know exactly how God did it or exactly how long it took him, but I do know that He did it. If Gov. Huntsman wants to believe that he is the descendant of a monkey, then he has the right to believe that -- but I disagree with him on this and the many other liberal beliefs he shares with Democrats.”This does not track with influence from the DI. Santorum may have gotten his “academic freedom” ideas from them, but it is not clear he got much else. What it tracks with is influence from one of the young-earth organizations such as the ICR or AiG.
That is what has people running scared. As far as they are concerned (and I think they are right), he doesn't really want equal footing for evolution and ID. He very plainly derides evolutionary theory and he wants evolution education gone. He just can't come right out and say it.
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I would find it hard to believe a Roman Catholic has been directly influenced by ICR or AiG.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be a bit surprised if their reach didn't extend to just about every denomination. The thing I need to remember is that the rank and file will often think very different things from the denominational leaders. I just wish he (and others who promote this legislation) were more honest about what their goals are.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I can tell, Mathews is wrong about the DI too. With the exception of Behe, I haven't seen anything to indicate that the other DI people accept common descent at any level. Dembski might have toyed with it in the past, but he certainly can't do that now at SWBTS. The DI may have realized that the other side is weakest on the origin of life and therefore be emphasizing that more, but I don't see any sign that they have changed their opposition to common descent in general. If I've missed it, I'd like to see the evidence. I don't really know how many inroads the YECs have made on Catholics, but I have seen books in Catholic bookstores that seem to take a YEC approach.
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