Jon,
I see that we have gotten bogged down in the Darwinism vs ID again. I was hoping we could discuss a different track.
As you know Darwin’s theory has two aspects, 1) Variation which is genetic and random, and Selection which is not genetic and determinate. The problem with both neoDarwinism and ID is they focus exclusively on Variation and not at all on Selection.
NeoDarwinism wants to say that evolution is random, because genetic Variation is random, but since Selection is determinate and comes after variation, the Process of Evolution is not and cannot be random, but it is determinate. This throws neoDarwinism off because it is wrong when it says that evolution is random.
ID and friends want to say that God somehow predetermined the process of genetic change. This might be “front loading” so the right genetic changes take place at the right time or by some sort of external impetus so the right changes take place at the right time.
Neither view to my observation gives Natural Selection its due as being determinate. Both are a narrow linear view of genetic change resulting in evolution. However nature is not two dimensional, but three dimensional plus time. God uses the ever changing environment to “guide” plants and animals into an ever more diverse world.
God does not think in narrow linear two dimensions and neither must we in terms of science and theology.