Stephen Meyer debated Oxford University physicist Ard Louis last year in Wisla, Poland, for the 2013 European Leaders’ Forum. The debate is now going online. Here is Dr. Meyer’s opening statement, which we’ll follow up in a couple of days with Dr. Louis’s reply — including responses to the arguments in Darwin’s Doubt — followed by their moderated discussion.
Dr. Meyer opens by observing that, on both sides of the Darwin controversy, scholars agree that living things give the appearance of design. The question is always: How can we weigh and evaluate that appearance?
It’s hard to resist the impulse to compare heavy-weight scientists like Louis — critics of ID who nevertheless step up and engage the issues on their merits — with ID critics who specialize in running from a fight, or hiding behind others.