I can address it generally, in regard to the paper that he read at the ETS in 2001. It relies upon the usual ad hominem characteristic of AIG. An example (emphasis mine):
“In contrast to the long-standing young-earth creationist view, different histories of the earth
began to be developed in the late 18th century, which were evolutionary in character. Three non-Christian
French scientists were prominent and all were either atheists or very skeptical theists. … Buffon (1708-88), a nominal Catholic, but probably a secret skeptic … Laplace (1749-1827), an open atheist … Lamarck (1744-1829), who road (sic) the fence between deism and atheism …”
It goes on like this for some time – one subhead was “Christian compromises with old-earth geological theories” – before introducing the heroes of the tale – the Scriptural Geologists, who bravely stood against the tide of evil. Mortenson sums it all up neatly (emphasis added):
"So what was the debate really about?
In spite of these significant objections against the theories of both the catastrophists and the uniformitarians, the writings of the most geologically competent Scriptural geologists were ignored or misrepresented, but never refuted. Why? … I believe that the reason they were ignored is that they were in a conflict of philosophical or religious worldviews. The Scriptural geologists were not opposed to geological facts, but to the interpretation of those facts. And they argued that old-earth interpretations were based on anti-Biblical philosophical assumptions. They did not label those assumptions with the modern term of “philosophical naturalism.” But they clearly perceived them as such. They also insisted that there was a difference between, on the one hand, the experimental scientific studies which use observations of presently occurring processes and repeatable experiments to determine how the present creation operates and, on the other hand, the historical scientific studies which use circumstantial evidence and written records to try to reconstruct the origin of the creation and its historical development to its present state. The Scriptural geologists insisted that in constructing a history of the earth geologists should not limit themselves to the circumstantial evidence of rocks and fossils, but should also carefully consult the more important eyewitness testimony of God’s Word.
So the Genesis-geology debate was really a conflict of worldviews–that is, deism, vague forms of theism and atheism joined together against Biblical Christianity. Sadly, many Christians, even clergy, absorbed many of the anti-biblical philosophical assumptions hidden in scientific writings in those days (and our days), and so they unconsciously became semi-deists, as society was enjoying the lush and seemingly boundless fruits of human reason at work in the Industrial Revolution."
Is there really any need for someone to specifically address this thesis? Looks like the same old, same old to me.