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A full lecture hall attends Professor Kenneth Miller's lecture on
"God Darwin, and Design: Faith and Certainty in the Scientific World"
on Tuesday evening in the Sciences Lecture Hall on campus.
Prominent biology professor defends evolution, criticizes intelligent design
Lecturer describes issue as "war about culture," not scientific debate
By: Chintan Desai
Posted: 4/5/07
While most guests on the television show "The Colbert Report" become
visibly unnerved by the pressure of the commentator's sharp questions
and largely self-aggrandizing style, Kenneth R. Miller didn't flinch.
Appearing on the show in January of 2006, the professor of biology
at Brown University offered a rebuke of intelligent design and its
proponents.
"I have a higher opinion of God than the people who favor
intelligent design," he said. "This is a guy who was so clever that he
set a process in motion that gave rise to everything on this planet,
and you, and me, and maybe even Bill O'Reilly."
In front of a large audience of community members and students
Apr. 3, Miller gave a lecture titled "God, Darwin and Design" at the UC
Davis Sciences Lecture Hall. The lecture was part of the Storer Life
Sciences Major Issues in Biology series and was co-sponsored by the UC
Davis Newman Center, a Catholic community.
Focusing on the social ramifications on the evolution versus
intelligent design debate, the prominent defender of evolution themed
his presentation "We live in interesting times."
In particular, Miller characterized the issue as a national one,
citing several court cases and state school board elections in which
the teaching of intelligent design in public schools gained
considerable attention.
The Board of Education in Cobb County, Ga., for example, voted in
2002 to place a sticker in all science textbooks providing a disclaimer
to students stating, "Evolution is a theory, not a fact," and that the
material in the book should "be approached with an open mind, studied
carefully, and critically considered."
Miller, the author of the biology book in question, initially
expressed little disappointment in the stickers during the lecture,
agreeing that evolution is indeed a theory.
"Theories in science never become facts," Miller said to the crowd. "Theories in science explain facts."
However, he said he was perplexed as to why evolution was singled
out by the board members. Miller said he offered to rewrite the Cobb
County disclaimer to state that "all science should be approached with
an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered."
Instead, the issue eventually went to court in 2004 with parents
of Cobb County children filing a lawsuit against the board, and a judge
ruled the stickers unconstitutional.
Miller also discussed the reason why he believes evolution as a scientific theory is singled out by its opponents.
"It's a war about culture. It's a war about values," he said,
insisting that creationists' critique of evolution stems not from their
belief that it is a "shaky scientific theory," but from an attempt to
create a largely religious society. Doing so requires portraying
evolution as hostile to faith and inherently anti-God, he said.
Speaking on what specifically the scientific community could do to
fight this, Miller said it must change its attitude, particularly
paying attention to public issues such as that in Cobb County and
helping to educate the general public.
"Frankly, we suck at popularizing science," he said.
Additionally, in teaching the science of evolution, science
educators do not need to pretend there is a controversy, because
previous court cases established intelligent design as a religious
doctrine, not a scientific theory, he said.
Clark Goecker, director of the Newman Center, said the purpose of
the event was to show students that education and faith are not in
conflict with each other, especially considering the perception that
members of the religious community are antiscientific.
Goecker considered the lecture "an exceptional presentation," and said he was very pleased with both the turnout and response.
Members of the audience often burst into laughter during the lecture.
Amanda Starzak, a junior anthropology major, said she heard about
the event that day from her Evolution 100 professor and thoroughly
enjoyed it.
Having always been told by a high school teacher that fusing
science and religion was a matter of choice, Starzak said she had never
been able to do so "as eloquently and well thought-out as he did."
Catelyn Singh, a sophomore biochemistry and molecular biology
major, said she found the event worthwhile, but was disappointed that
Miller didn't go further into the role of the spirit in evolution,
especially since part of the professor's presentation was to introduce
passages from the Bible to help defend evolution.
"He didn't really explain where the soul would come in
evolutionary theory," she said. "Even if that isn't a part of science,
I would still have liked to have heard ideas on it."
CHINTAN DESAI can be reached at science@californiaaggie.com.
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