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University of Toronto Biochemist Admits Most ID Critics Can’t Win a Debate with Us

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OK, I admit that headline forced me to leave out a couple of qualifications, strictly for the sake of brevity you understand. Here’s what Lawrence Moran of the University of Toronto told Forbes writer John Farrell in a recent interview:

“Most scientists and science lovers cannot win a debate with the best intelligent design creationists,” he said. “That’s because their knowledge of science is nowhere near as good as they think it is. One of the other reasons for debating creationists on my blog is to educate the non-creationists. I spend almost as much time criticizing fellow scientists as I do attacking creationists.”

Farrell, you may remember, is the guy who wrote a review for National Review of Stephen Meyer’s latest, Darwin’s Doubt, focusing on a bone he had to pick with Meyer over the use of an ellipsis. In his blog post, Farrell talks with Dr. Moran who runs his own blog, Sandwalk, which often seems to be a kind of running commentary on what we write at Evolution News & Views.
So there you have it, in the view of an ID critic, most ID critics, whether professional scientists or amateurs like John Farrell who fancy themselves as “science lovers,” “cannot win a debate with the best intelligent design creationists.” I would add, that’s why they focus on ephemera (like punctuation) or insults and name calling. The latter is Moran’s typical style of “debate” — for example, see his post on Ann Gauger’s most recent article here. He includes no substance at all and replies to Dr. Gauger with insults only (“superstition,” “delusional,” “cult”). He also gets her name wrong (“Gauger,” not “Guager”) along with the name of Discovery Institute’s program that hosts us at ENV (the Center for Science & Culture, not “Center for Science and Technology”).
Leave aside the gratuitous reference to creationism, which Moran knows perfectly well that we don’t advocate if he reads us as regularly as he seems to do, and if words have any meaning. Give him credit, though, for accuracy on this point: Most ID critics could not stand up in an encounter with an ID advocate like Meyer. You’re right! I agree. They couldn’t. Could you, Dr. Moran? That’s something I’d love to see.
And why couldn’t they? “That’s because [the critics’] knowledge of science is nowhere near as good as they think it is.” Perhaps — certainly their knowledge of ID, the evidence and arguments it brings to bear, is almost invariably inadequate. A classic instance would be Richard Dawkins, who is totally ignorant on the subject of ID from what you can tell of his writing. Yet Dawkins is hailed (as in this from The Guardian on the new second volume of his memoir) as a master scourge of “creationists.” And so it goes.
UPDATE: In a post in response, Larry Moran points out that his full name is spelled Laurence, not Lawrence. I apologize for the error. He also writes, regarding the prospect of ID critics debating ID proponents, “Naturally, David Klinghoffer thinks I was referring to him.” Obviously, I don’t think that. As I said, I would like to see someone like Meyer, not myself, put up against someone like Dawkins or Coyne. Those leading New Atheists, among others, have avoided debates with the likes of Dr. Meyer. Moran also gripes that we omitted his reviews from Debating Darwin’s Doubt. True, as I explained in the Introduction, the volume of serious critiques necessitated leaving out some critics. In honesty, I have not read Moran’s posts reviewing Meyer’s book, but I doubt readers miss all that much by skipping over someone whose signature contribution to the ID discussion is to call ID proponents “IDiots.”
Image: Philosopher’s Walk, University of Toronto, by SimonP (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons.

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Evolution News
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and the editor of Evolution News & Science Today, the daily voice of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, reporting on intelligent design, evolution, and the intersection of science and culture. Klinghoffer is also the author of six books, a former senior editor and literary editor at National Review magazine, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Commentary, and other publications. Born in Santa Monica, California, he graduated from Brown University in 1987 with an A.B. magna cum laude in comparative literature and religious studies. David lives near Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children.

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