The Intelligent Design Controversy

Below is the full transcript of a class lecture given by Secular Global Institute Communicator Jim Downard.

In his own words: I first met Pete Boghossian when he was called in at the last minute to give a speech at the Freedom from Religion Foundation convention in Portland, and our shop talk afterward on cognitive theory prompted him to invite me to address his class (he was not very familiar with the details of the burgeoning Intelligent Design movement, which he knew I had a more than passing familiarity with).

I allude again to the implications of the non-overlapping magisteria (NOMA) argument (which was fast expanding in my thinking as a frame for clarifying science/religion issues), with plenty of direct connections to the current politics raging in Washington (Jim DeMint had just taken over the Heritage Foundation) and ending with the deep philosophy of the seemingly just funny Ricky Gervais showing how the arts can be drawn on to relate secular themes and issues.  It also usually gets a jarring reaction when people discover how influential geocentrists have been in antievolution-land, and how such thinking is directly reflected in their wacky use of “logic”.

Read the full transcript