Recently, over 120 faculty at Iowa State University signed a petition that criticized intelligent design as inherently unscientific. The petition was partly spearheaded by Dr. Hector Avalos, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Faculty Advisor to the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society. According to the Des Moines Register, Avalos does not want ISU to be known as the "Intelligent Design University." Avalos wrote the petition to counteract the research and influence of Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez, Assistant Professor in Astronomy, who is widely known for coauthoring The Privileged Planet with Jay Richards (see video clip as well). Gonzalez argues that a planet like Earth is rare in the universe; he also argues that there is a correlation between habitability and discoverability in the universe, and that this correlation implies design. Gonzalez is also a Senior Fellow with the Discovery Institute.
Avalos seeks to have Gonzalez participate in a forum where skeptics can question Gonzalez's work, but Gonzalez has refused to take part. Gonzalez claims that the petition is solely directed towards him since he is the only vocal ID proponent on the campus. The president of the faculty senate, Claudia Baldwin, summarizes:
"I think the problem here is we have a great number of faculty en masse who have said this is not science. Dr. Gonzalez is there, perhaps, alone. I don't know how many supporters he has in his department" (DMR).
Baldwin also makes an interesting comment regarding the teaching of intelligent design at the university:
"As educators, we want to put things in front of students, and sometimes our students have to draw conclusions from that. Our students will have the opportunity, I hope, to hear about this theory, and just as with creationism, they will be able to decide what they believe" (DMR).
Okay, that's enough journalism; now let me give some commentary. Dr. Avalos and the other faculty definitely have a right to express their views regarding intelligent design, and I wholeheartedly support this ability. I also wholeheartedly support Dr. Gonzalez and his lone attempt to argue for intelligent design. Having a balanced debate is good. Gonzalez is somewhat unique since 1) he has published many papers, including the cover article of Scientific American in October 2001, 2) his research in astrobiology can be seen as supportive towards ID.
Although Gonzalez is probably the only faculty member at ISU who publicly supports intelligent design, there may be secret supporters. Consider the following comment by an anonymous poster at Uncommon Descent:
For further analysis of this petition, read Telic Thoughts (an independent blog about intelligent design) here, here, and here. On the evolutionary side, Panda's Thumb analyzes the situation here and here. You decide which side is more reasonable.
Avalos seeks to have Gonzalez participate in a forum where skeptics can question Gonzalez's work, but Gonzalez has refused to take part. Gonzalez claims that the petition is solely directed towards him since he is the only vocal ID proponent on the campus. The president of the faculty senate, Claudia Baldwin, summarizes:
"I think the problem here is we have a great number of faculty en masse who have said this is not science. Dr. Gonzalez is there, perhaps, alone. I don't know how many supporters he has in his department" (DMR).
Baldwin also makes an interesting comment regarding the teaching of intelligent design at the university:
"As educators, we want to put things in front of students, and sometimes our students have to draw conclusions from that. Our students will have the opportunity, I hope, to hear about this theory, and just as with creationism, they will be able to decide what they believe" (DMR).
Okay, that's enough journalism; now let me give some commentary. Dr. Avalos and the other faculty definitely have a right to express their views regarding intelligent design, and I wholeheartedly support this ability. I also wholeheartedly support Dr. Gonzalez and his lone attempt to argue for intelligent design. Having a balanced debate is good. Gonzalez is somewhat unique since 1) he has published many papers, including the cover article of Scientific American in October 2001, 2) his research in astrobiology can be seen as supportive towards ID.
Although Gonzalez is probably the only faculty member at ISU who publicly supports intelligent design, there may be secret supporters. Consider the following comment by an anonymous poster at Uncommon Descent:
"I am one of the faculty. The petition was emailed prior to publication to give people a chance to sign.
As a young scientist who is in the intelligent design camp, I did not sign. Am I publicly standing up for Gonzalez? It’s extremely risky to deviate from the norm (which, in my discipline, is Darwinism) before having tenure. Actually, before retirement, if you factor politics into your career strategy.
For further analysis of this petition, read Telic Thoughts (an independent blog about intelligent design) here, here, and here. On the evolutionary side, Panda's Thumb analyzes the situation here and here. You decide which side is more reasonable.
