It looks like CSC contributor Michael Egnor is not the only professor of medicine to stick his neck out for intelligent design and face severe personal attack. Dr. John Marshall of The University of Missouri–Columbia lectured this week on his own campus with the title “Intelligent Design: Is It Science or Religion?”

From both news and private reports, it sounds like he was verbally attacked in the Q&A session for his reasonable view that ID should be “part of the scientific discussion.” According to one news report:

Rather than convince detractors that intelligent design was truth, Marshall repeatedly said he wanted the theory to become part of the scientific discussion, asking scientists to have tolerance toward his view.

One attendee told me he was astounded by the level of immaturity and name-calling from professors hostile to Dr. Marshall’s position.

Earlier on April 6th Dr. Marshall debated chemistry professor Kenneth Schmitz at The University of Missouri–Kansas City as to whether or not ID is science.

Though he was mostly calling for civil dialogue and open discussion, Dr. Marshall said that “as a theory, I believe that intelligent design fits the evidence of biology better than Darwinian evolution.” As his example shows, this is a tough claim to make in today’s university environment.