Dear Human Events:

If Mac Johnson is to be believed, intelligent design (ID) advocates are Neanderthals–their theory “dressed up in a lab coat and a mail order Ph.D.” [“Intelligent Design, and Other Dumb Ideas,” November 15]

Mr. Johnson regurgitates the tired falsity of Darwinists everywhere. Leading ID advocates have reputable Ph.D.s, and avid readers of Human Events (HE) know as much. Michael Behe does biochemical research with his University of Pennsylvania Ph.D.; Jonathan Wells does biological research with his U.C. Berkeley Ph.D.; Stephen Meyer researches the history and philosophy of science with his Cambridge University Ph.D.; etc.

This kind of argument is called “poisoning the well.” That is, HE readers are supposed to dismiss ID scientists because they are not reputable. Unfortunately for Mr. Johnson, it is his reputation that should now be in question.
But perhaps we should be gracious to Mr. Johnson: As he did not actually quote any ID advocates in his long article, and because he cannot define the theory properly (“it essentially states that every thing is the way it is because God wanted it that way”), we can safely assume he has not read their work, and hence he missed the dust jacket blurbs about the Ph.D.s.

Sincerely,
Logan Paul Gage
Discovery Institute