I remember when I first heard about the debate between scientist Francisco Ayala and philosopher William Lane Craig in Nov. of 2009. After learning of Ayala's credentials (Ayala has been called the "renaissance man of molecular biology"), I honestly didn't know how Craig would fair against such an eminent scientist. Ayala's credentials, awards and accomplishments spoke for themselves. While Craig had never debated or published anything on biological arguments from intelligent design, Ayala had published 930 papers and 30 books mainly dealing with evolutionary biology. To top all that off, in 2001 he was awarded the 2001 National Medal of Science.
Intriguingly, the debate was moderator by Bradley Monton, an atheist who actually defends intelligent design as science!
Craig and Ayala respectfully crossed swords on issues such as:
- the history of science
- optimal design vs. sub-optimal design
- irreducible complexity
- Charles Darwin
- the limits of evolution
- what Dr. Craig called the "extrapolation" of macro-evolution
- the interaction of science and theology
If you have not watched or listened to this one, you should!
Apologetics315 has the audio here.
Courage and Godspeed,
Chad
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