In light of concerns raised by members of the SMU faculty about our upcoming Darwin vs. Design conference on the SMU campus, we have formally invited members of the SMU faculty to participate in a public dialogue on the theory of intelligent design on Friday night April 13th in McFarlin Auditorium.
We have asked the chairs of the biology, geology, and anthropology departments, each of whom expressed concerns about the conference, to send a representative. We have proposed the following format: Our three principal speakers, Drs. Michael Behe, Stephen Meyer and Jay Richards, will represent the case for intelligent design (ID). One of them will make a 15 minute opening presentation about the merits of the theory. Then we have invited one of the SMU faculty to give a 15 minute presentation summarizing their main objections to intelligent design. After a short response, we will then invite additional questions and challenges from the SMU faculty panel, to which our speakers will respond. Then both panels will entertain questions from the audience.
We think this format will further the stated desire of some SMU faculty to create “a teaching moment,” and we look forward to a constructive dialogue with them.
Robert L. Crowther, Director of Communications Discovery Institute
