Kenneth Miller Lecture
April 12, 2007 at 4:30 p.m.
Jordan Hall Auditorium, Rm 101
The Collapse of "Intelligent Design:" What does this mean for science and for faith?
The "Evolution Wars" of recent decades have led to a common belief among Americans that evolutionary science is inherently anti-religious. Many Americans now believe that faith can be defended against a rising tide of secularism only by embracing alternatives such as "intelligent design" (ID). The ID movement reached a high water mark in 2005 when it gained partial control of State school boards in Kansas and Ohio, and of a local Board of Education in Dover, Pennsylvania, but crucial setbacks followed in court and at the polls. Miller will analyze the collapse of this movement in scientific terms, and then will analyze the effects this collapse can be expected to have on faith in America. As Miller will argue, evolutionary understanding of our material origins as a species is very much in harmony with traditional Christian views of the nature of scientific understanding and the interlocking nature of faith and reason.
Kenneth R. Miller did his undergraduate work at Brown, and earned a PhD in 1974 at the University of Colorado. He spent six years as Assistant Professor at Harvard University before returning to Brown University in 1980. His research work on cell membrane structure and function has produced more than 50 scientific papers and reviews in leading journals, including Cell, Nature, and Scientific American. Miller is coauthor, with Joseph S. Levine, of three different high school and college biology textbooks which are used by millions of students nationwide. He has received 5 major teaching awards, and currently is Professor of Biology at Brown. He is also the author of Finding Darwin’s God (A Scientist’s Search for Common Ground between God and Evolution), published by HarperCollins in November of 1999. > Read More