“Neighbor against neighbor”: Discovery Institute comes to Dallas Feb 20....an opportunity?

[jbabraham88 (josh abraham)]

In 2005, the ID movement was at its public height. Now it feels almost underground to me as a scholar of the science-faith controversies.

Underground, but very alive in private schools and certain churches and seminaries.

“Neighbor against neighbor”

That’s what Lauri Lebo told me essentially in a multi-hour interview about the Dover trial of 2005.

Denton Bible Church here in Dallas is hosting Discovery in six weeks.

Jan 8 Friday night there is a Zoom thing about how Alfred Russell Wallace supported ID thinking.

Really? I am planning to be a part.

Mainly to listen but also to process as a historian of science.

Anyway, I can easily engage the organizers at Denton Bible about what they hope Discovery will accomplish. Meyer and Dembski will be speaking Feb 20.

I would really like the next six weeks to be a neighborhood discussion in Dallas across ethnic and generational lines about apologetics and the white male evangelical culture that wages culture war against the university in the name of apologetics.

My pastor is a young white male disciple of these men.

That’s what I mean by neighborhood discussion.

Have any of you tried a long term engagement with ID people in your town like this and do you have suggestions about how to approach it?

Thanks

[MarkD (A Whateverist, not a Christian)]

I couldn’t possibly have any relevant experience to offer but in general I prefer to be honest but respectful. One theme I constantly come back to is recognizing that none of the various interests will ever live in a world that doesn’t include others. Thinking about how our values prompt us to treat those outside our own group is essential. There will be no zero-sum victories, only compromises which provide the most benefit and the least harm to all sides. But if it becomes clear that the other side can’t step even that far back from its own position in order to embrace such a mutual goal, then I wouldn’t get involved. But that is ‘martian’ advice from someone not embedded in a religion so hopefully you get some advice that is more directly useful.