William A. Dembski - Understanding Intelligent Design: Everything You Need to Know in Plain Language

Contents

Understanding Intelligent Design provides a magnificent introductory explanation of the most significant intellectual controversy of our time. I highly recommend it.

P HILLIP E. J OHNSON

author of Darwin on Trial

This book is long overdue! Finally, an understandable, engaging, and well-written introduction to intelligent design. Understanding Intelligent Design is the best book of its type.

J.P. M ORELAND

Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Biola University author of Kingdom Triangle

Bill and Sean have written a superb book that I wish I had when I was in high schoolit would have spared me decades of believing in Darwinism! This book presents a crystal-clear overview of the most important and exciting development in science in our lifetimethe growing recognition that life and the cosmos reveal clear scientific evidence for design by a Mind.

M ICHAEL E GNOR

Professor and Vice-Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery State University of New York at Stony Brook featured in Ben Steins movie Expelled

In my book Godless, I showed that Darwinism is the hoax of the century and, consequently, the core of the religion of liberalism. Like John the Baptist, Darwin foretold one of the key tenets of the lefts worldview: that humans are accidental descendants of earthworms, not the unique creations of an all-powerful God. Liberals respond to critics of their religion like Cotton Mather to Salems witches. With this book, two more witches present themselves for burning: Sean McDowell, whose gift is communicating with young people, and Bill Dembski, often called the Isaac Newton of intelligent design. I think Dembski is more like the Dick Butkus of intelligent design. His record for tackling Darwiniacs is unmatched. This book gives young people all the ammo they need to take on Darwinism and understand the only viable scientific alternative to Darwinism: intelligent design. Every high school student in America needs a copy of Understanding Intelligent Design.

A NN C OULTER

author of Godless: The Church of Liberalism

Written especially for young people, this is a lucid presentation of the philosophical and scientific factors that contribute to the debate about origins. It is a must-read for Christian teenagers!

C AROLINE C ROCKER

Executive Director, IDEA Center (www.ideacenter.org) featured in Ben Steins movie Expelled

Intelligent design is often rejected, but rarely understood, especially by those who incessantly tell the rest of us to keep an open mind. This is an age when sophisticated academics do not flinch at requiring public school students to watch sex education demonstrations that involve bananas and condoms. Yet these same intellectuals insist that our children be shielded from any literature that may cast doubts on materialism. This is why ID advocates would face less resistance in our more cerebral venues if someone somewhere would just label it as pornography. But, alas, that has not happened. So, youll just have to discover by your lonesome self what gets Richard Dawkins panties in a bunch. Start by reading this book and learning something. If you wind up disagreeing with portions of it or even the whole thing, thats okay, for many of us (me included) have issues with and questions about ID as well. But some of us are far more suspicious of the thought-police that want to protect you from this new boogeyman.

F RANCIS J. B ECKWITH

Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies, Baylor University

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler. So runs a quote often attributed to Einstein. Using clear and easily read prose, Dembski and McDowell do exactly this in painting a powerful and wonderfully coherent case for intelligent design.

R OBERT J. M ARKS II

Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Baylor University featured in Ben Steins movie Expelled

I once asked a juvenile felon why he chose a life of crime. His response was chilling: Joel, if this is all there is, why not? Understanding Intelligent Design takes a great first step toward correcting such attitudes. Our schools indoctrinate young people into thinking that they are nothing more than products of time plus chance plus natural selection. ID, by contrast, shows that purpose must be added to this equation. This automatically gives young people a meaning to their existence, something to live for and something to seek after. For anyone who is struggling to understand our place in the cosmos or knows a young person who is, give them Understanding Intelligent Design.

J OEL B OROFSKY

Worldview Blogger (www.thechristianwatershed.com)

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE , OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Verses marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.

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UNDERSTANDING INTELLIGENT DESIGN

Copyright 2008 by William A. Dembski and Sean McDowell

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dembski, William A., 1960-

Understanding intelligent design / William A. Dembski and Sean McDowell.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7369-2442-9 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-8297-9 (eBook)

1. Intelligent design (Teleology) 2. Creationism. 3. Evolution (Biology)Religious aspectsChristianity. I. McDowell, Sean. II. Title.

BS651.D455 2008

213dc22

2008014216

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