C.S. Lewis & Intelligent Design
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the death of beloved writer C.S. Lewis. “C.S. Lewis and Intelligent Design” is the third of three short documentaries inspired by the book The Magician’s Twin: C.S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society. Lewis is best known for his magical stories about Narnia, but a new documentary explores his life-long struggle to find intelligent design in a world filled with pain. Eventually, he is a strong defender of ‘intelligent design’ in nature.
Is There Intelligent Design in Nature?
Gerard M. Verschuuren, scientist, writer, speaker, and consultant, working at the interface of science, philosophy, and religion, explains the difference between intelligent design as a metaphysical concept and ‘ID’ as a scientific theory. He endorses the first, calling is ‘cosmic design’ and attributing it to God, the author of natural laws and creator of the world that is being investigated by natural sciences. He refutes ‘ID’ as a scientific theory which would lead to a ‘god of the gaps’. Nature, biological evolution includes, does not need the supernatural interventions to bring about complex structures. The metaphysical designer and his laws of nature, including natural selection, suffice.
Can science eliminate God?
In a new 10 minutes video of his ‘Word on Fire’ apostolate, Fr. Robert Barron addresses the question of ‘Who God Is and Who God Is Not’. Where atheists present God often as a being among other beings, God is the subsistent act of being, according to christian philosophy. There is some reality who’s very nature is to be. That infinite source of reality which grounds and gives rise to the whole nexus of things, the non-conditioned and non-contingent ground of contingency. Sciences can not even begin with addressing the question of God. God is in no way a being within nature, the realm of science.
Life, the Universe and Nothing
We are happy to share with your the recent three-part discussion between Prof Lawrence Krauss and Dr William Lane Craig in august 2013 about ‘Life, the Universe and Nothing’. These debates were organized y the City Bible Forum and made available on their Youtube Channel. The first dialogue was held in Brisbane about the question ‘Has science buried God?’; the second in Sydney on the question ‘Why is there something rather than nothing?’ and the third in Melbourne on the question ‘Is it reasonable to believe there is a God?‘
Thomas Aquinas versus Intelligent Design: a Catholic Answer
Michael W. Tkacz, associate professor of philosophy at Gonzaga University, recounts that one day, he received a phone call from a professor of philosophy at a nearby private, religiously affiliated college who had just returned from an international conference devoted to challenges to evolutionary biology from intelligent design (ID) theory. He had something of a complaint to make about the absence of ‘Thomists’ and ‘Catholics’ in the ID movement and its challenge to Darwinism. Since the time of Charles Darwin there has been vigorous debate between Christian creationists and Darwinian evolutionists. Neither side has been especially interested in what Catholic Thomism might contribute to the discussion. Secular Darwinians often view Thomists as just another species of literalists attempting to substitute the Book of Genesis for good biology. On the other hand, Protestant creationists often have viewed Thomists as already halfway to secularism and naturalism, depending too little on a literal reading of Scripture and too much on philosophical reasoning.
Answering Atheism
Are we able to answer the arguments of an atheist? In this interview, Scott Hahn and Benjamin Wiker discuss why and how they dismantle the underpinnings of Richard Dawkins’ atheistic agenda in Emmaus Road Publishing’s 2008 release, Answering the New Atheism: Dismantling Dawkins’ Case Against God. (Three video’s)
Science before science
In a series of ten video’s the distinguished physicist Dr. Anthony Rizzi and Marcus Grodi, host of EWTN’s Journey Home, discusse the Western Philosophical Tradition that poses a vision of reality rooted in the spiritual realm. This vision bespeaks the presence of an Almighty God. They draw on this rich philosophical heritage to encourage you to look outside the box of the merely scientific to see the blazing glory of the God-filled world. A guide to thinking and believing.

