지적설계 바로알기 - 심판대의 지적설계 다큐멘터리의 왜곡된 정보 part 7/8

Chapter 11

 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3416_id_11.html

 

이번 챕터에서는 Wedge document에 관한 내용을 다루면서 Discovery institute에서 벌이는 지적설계 운동의 동기를 문제시한다. 또한 Bill Buckingham의 동기도 다룬다. Bill과 관련된 문제에 대해 결론부터 말하면 Bill Buckingham의 이야기를 토대로 지적설계 이론을 평가하는 것은 넌센스다. 이는 마치 리처드 도킨스의 말만 듣고 진화론을 무신론과 같은 의미의 동의어로 이해하는 것과 같은 행위이다. 또한 지적설계 진영의 상당수의 지지자들로부터 공유되고 있는 유신론적 동기는 그들이 주장하고자 하는 과학이론으로서의 지적설계 이론이 과학적이냐 아니냐를 판가름하는데 아무런 영향을 주지 않는다는 사실이다.

 먼저 Discovery Institute에서 제작한 Wedge 문서에 대해서 살펴보자. Wedge 문서는 Discovery institute가 기금마련 행사(fundraising event)를 준비하면서 제작한 자료로 Discovery institute의 방향과 앞으로의 비젼에 대해 기술한 내부 문건이다. 이게 인터넷 상에 1999년에 유출되면서 문서가 공개되었는데 그다지 비밀 문서로 보기도 어려운 문서임에도 불구하고 상대편 진영에서는 굉장한 비밀문서라도 유출되었다는듯이 이 문서를 토대로 지적설계 이론이 종교라는 식의 말도 안되는 주장을 하곤 한다. 아마 이게 일급 비밀 문서라도 되었다면 필립존슨이 Wedge of Truth라는 책을 쓰지도 않았을 것이다(이책은 2000년도에 출판되었다). 아마도 어떻게든 비판의 꼬투리를 잡고자 하는 Barbara Forrest같은 사람에게는 이 문서가 지적설계 이론을 주장하는 사람들이 모인 단체가 왠지 종교적 동기의 냄새가 난다는 것으로 ‘음모 이론’을 꾸미기에 충분해 보였던 것 같다. 그럼 다큐멘터리에 등장한 Barbara Forrest의 말을 들어보자.

 

Their goals are listed quite clearly in the "wedge" document. It's their strategy document that they drew up about nine years ago, in 1998. Their goal was to completely overthrow all of the effects of evolution on society, which they think are uniformly negative. This document states that they want to completely change American culture back to what they believe is its properly religious foundation. They want every area of life to be governed by their particular religious preferences. And they're very clear about that in this document

 

 그녀에 따르면 Wedge 문서에서 나타난 지적설계 이론의 목표는 진화론이 사회에 미치는 모든 영향을 완전히 뒤집는 것이라 한다. 과연 그런가? 이는 Wedge 문서를 제대로 읽지도 않았던가 아니면 난독증이라도 있는 것이 분명하다. 글의 뒷부분에 Wedge 문서의 전문을 첨부한다. 관심 있는 사람은 자세히 읽어보길 바란다. 단순히 evolution이라는 단어를 검색해봐도 wedge 문서에서는 진화론이 어쩌구 저쩌구하는 이야기를 하지 않는다. 검색에 걸리는 것은 revolution이라는 단어와 지적설계 진영에서 진행중인 책 내용중에 evolution이 들어간게 전부일 뿐이다. 그럼 과연 Wedge 문서에서 다루고 있는 내용은 무엇인가? Wedge 문서의 요약이라 할 수 있는 그들의 목표를 살펴보자.

 

To defeat scientific materialism and its destructive moral, cultural and political legacies.

To replace materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that nature and hurnan beings are created by God.

[번역]

 과학적 유물론과 이로 인한 파괴적 성격의 도덕적 문화적 정치적 유산들을 제거하는 것

 유물론적 설명을 자연과 인간이 신에 의해 창조되었다는 유신론적 이해로 대체하는 것

 

 Wedge 문서에 나타난 지적설계 진영에서 반대하고자 했던 것은 진화론을 반대하는 것이 아니다. 모든 것을 물질과 에너지와 같은 것으로 설명하려드는 과학적 유물론에 대한 것이다. 또한 그들이 유물론적 설명을 유신론적 이해로 대체한다고 해서 종교적 관점을 과학으로 둔갑시키려한다는 것은 오해일 뿐이다. 오히려 유물론적 주장을 변호하려는 Barbara Forrest의 관점이 오히려 무신론을 강요하려는 위헌에 가까운 것이 아닌가? 그들이 펼치는 ‘음모론’과 같은 논리를 똑같이 따라하자면 Barbara Forrest와 같은 사람은 Secular Humanist로서 New Orleans Secular Humanist Association(NOSHA)의 멤버이며 board director로 활동하고 있으며 이 단체는 무신론 단체와의 affiliation을 가지고 있으니 같은 논리대로라면 Barbara Forrest는 진화론을 변호한다기보다 과학을 위장한 무신론을 변호하고 있다고 봐도 무방한 것인가? 마치 지적설계 이론이 과학을 위장한 창조론이라 비판하듯이 말이다.

 

 지적설계 진영이 유신론적 동기를 가지고 과학을 한다고해서 그 결과에 영향을 줄 것인가? 나는 그렇지 않다고 생각한다. 상당수의 다윈주의자처럼 무신론적 동기를 가지고 과학을 하는 사람들의 결과는 어떤가? 나는 그들의 과학적 업적들을 인정할 용의가 있다. 하지만 그들이 내리는 과학적 결론과 그들이 무신론을 바탕으로 그러한 과학적 이론을 해석하는 것 사이에는 큰 차이가 있다고 생각한다. 과학을 하는 과학자가 제시하는 과학적 결과를 그 사람의 동기와 결부시켜 과학적이다 비과학적이다 판단하는 것은 바람직한 방법이 아니다.

 다른 예를 들면, 당신이 피타고라스의 정리를 받아들인다고해서 당신이 피타고라스교인이 된다는 것은 아니란 말이다. 피타고라스의 정리를 받아들이기 위해 이를 제시한 피타고라스 학파의 종교적 동기를 고려해야할 필요가 없는 것과 같은 맥락에서 이 문제를 바라봐야 한다. 지적설계 이론가들의 상당수가 유신론적 동기로 설계 논증에 참여하긴 하지만, 지적 원인이 탐지가능하다는 그들이 주장하는 과학이론에는 그들의 동기가 설 자리가 없다는 이야기다.

 혹자는 앞서 언급한 것처럼 Wedge 문서가 마치 Discovery Institute의 대단한 비밀 전략이라도 되는 것처럼 과장해서 말하곤하고 이 비밀이 탄로난 것처럼 이야기하곤 한다. 하지만 이 또한 말도 안되는 헛 소문이다. 지적설계 이론의 아버지로 평가받는 필립 존슨은 이미 2000년도에 Wedge of Truth라는 책을 발간하면서 지적설계의 전략을 기술한 바 있다. 유신론적 동기를 가진 지적설계 이론가들에게서 볼 수 있는 공통된 동기를 볼 수 있고 이는 Wedge 문서와 크게 다를 바가 없다. IVP라는 유명한 기독교 출판계를 통한 출판임을 봐서도 그들의 종교적 동기는 쉽게 알아차릴 수 있을 것이다. 그렇다고해서 그들의 종교적 혹은 유신론적 동기가 그들이 제시하고자하는 과학이론으로서의 지적설계를 과학이냐 비과학이냐를 판단하는 기준으로 삼는 것은 과학/비과학을 가늠하는 구획논증으로서 적절치 못하며, 법정에서 지적설계가 과학이냐를 판가름하는데 중요한 기준이 될 수도 없다. 과연 NOVA 다큐멘터리는 무엇을 근거로 지적설계 이론을 종교라 시청자들에게 어필할 수 있단 말인가?

 

THE WEDGE STRATEGY

CENTER FOR THE RENEWAL OF SCIENCE & CULTURE

INTRODUCTION

The proposition that human beings are created in the image of God is one of the bedrock principles on which Western civilization was built. Its influence can be detected in most, if not all, of the West's greatest achievements, including representative democracy, human rights, free enterprise, and progress in the arts and sciences.

Yet a little over a century ago, this cardinal idea came under wholesale attack by intellectuals drawing on the discoveries of modern science. Debunking the traditional conceptions of both God and man, thinkers such as Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud portrayed humans not as moral and spiritual beings, but as animals or machines who inhabited a universe ruled by purely impersonal forces and whose behavior and very thoughts were dictated by the unbending forces of biology, chemistry, and environment. This materialistic conception of reality eventually infected virtually every area of our culture, from politics and economics to literature and art

The cultural consequences of this triumph of materialism were devastating. Materialists denied the existence of objective moral standards, claiming that environment dictates our behavior and beliefs. Such moral relativism was uncritically adopted by much of the social sciences, and it still undergirds much of modern economics, political science, psychology and sociology.

Materialists also undermined personal responsibility by asserting that human thoughts and behaviors are dictated by our biology and environment. The results can be seen in modern approaches to criminal justice, product liability, and welfare. In the materialist scheme of things, everyone is a victim and no one can be held accountable for his or her actions.

Finally, materialism spawned a virulent strain of utopianism. Thinking they could engineer the perfect society through the application of scientific knowledge, materialist reformers advocated coercive government programs that falsely promised to create heaven on earth.

Discovery Institute's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture seeks nothing less than the overthrow of materialism and its cultural legacies. Bringing together leading scholars from the natural sciences and those from the humanities and social sciences, the Center explores how new developments in biology, physics and cognitive science raise serious doubts about scientific materialism and have re-opened the case for a broadly theistic understanding of nature. The Center awards fellowships for original research, holds conferences, and briefs policymakers about the opportunities for life after materialism.

The Center is directed by Discovery Senior Fellow Dr. Stephen Meyer. An Associate Professor of Philosophy at Whitworth College, Dr. Meyer holds a Ph.D. in the History and Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University. He formerly worked as a geophysicist for the Atlantic Richfield Company.

THE WEDGE STRATEGY

Phase I.

• Scientific Research, Writing & Publicity

Phase II.

• Publicity & Opinion-making

Phase III.

• Cultural Confrontation & Renewal

THE WEDGE PROJECTS

Phase I. Scientific Research, Writing & Publication

• Individual Research Fellowship Program
• Paleontology Research program (Dr. Paul Chien et al.)
• Molecular Biology Research Program (Dr. Douglas Axe et al.)

Phase II. Publicity & Opinion-making

• Book Publicity
• Opinion-Maker Conferences
• Apologetics Seminars
• Teacher Training Program
• Op-ed Fellow
• PBS (or other TV) Co-production
• Publicity Materials / Publications

Phase III. Cultural Confrontation & Renewal

• Academic and Scientific Challenge Conferences
• Potential Legal Action for Teacher Training
• Research Fellowship Program: shift to social sciences and humanities

FIVE YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN SUMMARY

The social consequences of materialism have been devastating. As symptoms, those consequences are certainly worth treating. However, we are convinced that in order to defeat materialism, we must cut it off at its source. That source is scientific materialism. This is precisely our strategy. If we view the predominant materialistic science as a giant tree, our strategy is intended to function as a "wedge" that, while relatively small, can split the trunk when applied at its weakest points. The very beginning of this strategy, the "thin edge of the wedge," was Phillip ]ohnson's critique of Darwinism begun in 1991 in Darwinism on Trial, and continued in Reason in the Balance and Defeatng Darwinism by Opening Minds. Michael Behe's highly successful Darwin's Black Box followed Johnson's work. We are building on this momentum, broadening the wedge with a positive scientific alternative to materialistic scientific theories, which has come to be called the theory of intelligent design (ID). Design theory promises to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions.

The Wedge strategy can be divided into three distinct but interdependent phases, which are roughly but not strictly chronological. We believe that, with adequate support, we can accomplish many of the objectives of Phases I and II in the next five years (1999-2003), and begin Phase III (See "Goals/ Five Year Objectives/Activities").

Phase I: Research, Writing and Publication

Phase II: Publicity and Opinion-making

Phase III: Cultural Confrontation and Renewal

Phase I is the essential component of everything that comes afterward. Without solid scholarship, research and argument, the project would be just another attempt to indoctrinate instead of persuade. A lesson we have learned from the history of science is that it is unnecessary to outnumber the opposing establishment. Scientific revolutions are usually staged by an initially small and relatively young group of scientists who are not blinded by the prevailing prejudices and who are able to do creative work at the pressure points, that is, on those critical issues upon which whole systems of thought hinge. So, in Phase I we are supporting vital witting and research at the sites most likely to crack the materialist edifice.

Phase II. The pnmary purpose of Phase II is to prepare the popular reception of our ideas. The best and truest research can languish unread and unused unless it is properly publicized. For this reason we seek to cultivate and convince influential individuals in pnnt and broadcast media, as well as think tank leaders, scientists and academics, congressional staff, talk show hosts, college and seminary presidents and faculty, future talent and potential academic allies. Because of his long tenure in politics, journalism and public policy, Discovery President Bruce Chapman brings to the project rare knowledge and acquaintance of key op-ed writers, journalists, and political leaders. This combination of scientific and scholarly expertise and media and political connections makes the Wedge unique, and also prevents it from being "merely academic." Other activities include production of a PBS documentary on intelligent design and its implications, and popular op-ed publishing. Alongside a focus on influential opinion-makers, we also seek to build up a popular base of support among our natural constituency, namely, Chnstians. We will do this primarily through apologetics seminars. We intend these to encourage and equip believers with new scientific evidence's that support the faith, as well as to "popularize" our ideas in the broader culture.

Phase III. Once our research and writing have had time to mature, and the public prepared for the reception of design theory, we will move toward direct confrontation with the advocates of materialist science through challenge conferences in significant academic settings. We will also pursue possible legal assistance in response to resistance to the integration of design theory into public school science curricula. The attention, publicity, and influence of design theory should draw scientific materialists into open debate with design theorists, and we will be ready. With an added emphasis to the social sciences and humanities, we will begin to address the specific social consequences of materialism and the Darwinist theory that supports it in the sciences.

GOALS

Governing Goals

• To defeat scientific materialism and its destructive moral, cultural and political legacies.
• To replace materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that nature and hurnan beings are created by God.

Five Year Goals

• To see intelligent design theory as an accepted alternative in the sciences and scientific research being done from the perspective of design theory.
• To see the beginning of the influence of design theory in spheres other than natural science.
• To see major new debates in education, life issues, legal and personal responsibility pushed to the front of the national agenda.

Twenty Year Goals

• To see intelligent design theory as the dominant perspective in science.
• To see design theory application in specific fields, including molecular biology, biochemistry, paleontology, physics and cosmology in the natural sciences, psychology, ethics, politics, theology and philosophy in the humanities; to see its innuence in the fine arts.
• To see design theory permeate our religious, cultural, moral and political life.

FIVE YEAR OBJECTIVES

1. A major public debate between design theorists and Darwinists (by 2003)

2. Thirty published books on design and its cultural implications (sex, gender issues, medicine, law, and religion)

3. One hundred scientific, academic and technical articles by our fellows

4. Significant coverage in national media:

• Cover story on major news magazine such as Time or Newsweek
• PBS show such as Nova treating design theory fairly
• Regular press coverage on developments in design theory
• Favorable op-ed pieces and columns on the design movement by 3rd party media

5. Spiritual & cultural renewal:

• Mainline renewal movements begin to appropriate insights from design theory, and to repudiate theologies influenced by materialism
• Major Christian denomination(s) defend(s) traditional doctrine of creation & repudiate(s)
• Darwinism Seminaries increasingly recognize & repudiate naturalistic presuppositions
• Positive uptake in public opinion polls on issues such as sexuality, abortion and belief in God

6. Ten states begin to rectify ideological imbalance in their science curricula & include design theory

7. Scientific achievements:

• An active design movement in Israel, the UK and other influential countries outside the US
• Ten CRSC Fellows teaching at major universities
• Two universities where design theory has become the dominant view
• Design becomes a key concept in the social sciences Legal reform movements base legislative proposals on design theory

ACTVITIES

(1) Research Fellowship Program (for writing and publishing)

(2) Front line research funding at the "pressure points" (e.g., Daul Chien's Chengjiang Cambrian Fossil Find in paleontology, and Doug Axe's research laboratory in molecular biology)

(3) Teacher training

(4) Academic Conferences

(5) Opinion-maker Events & Conferences

(6) Alliance-building, recruitment of future scientists and leaders, and strategic partnerships with think tanks, social advocacy groups, educational organizations and institutions, churches, religious groups, foundations and media outlets

(7) Apologetics seminars and public speaking

(8) Op-ed and popular writing

(9) Documentaries and other media productions

(10) Academic debates

(11) Fund Raising and Development

(12) General Administrative support

THE WEDGE STRATEGY PROGRESS SUMMARY

Books

William Dembski and Paul Nelson, two CRSC Fellows, will very soon have books published by major secular university publishers, Cambridge University Press and The University of Chicago Press, respectively. (One critiques Darwinian materialism; the other offers a powerful altenative.)

Nelson's book, On Common Descent, is the seventeenth book in the prestigious University of Chicago "Evolutionary Monographs" series and the first to critique neo-Dacwinism. Dembski's book, The Design Inference, was back-ordered in June, two months prior to its release date.

These books follow hard on the heals of Michael Behe's Darwin's Black Box (The Free Press) which is now in paperback after nine print runs in hard cover. So far it has been translated into six foreign languages. The success of his book has led to other secular publishers such as McGraw Hill requesting future titles from us. This is a breakthrough.

InterVarsity will publish our large anthology, Mere Creation (based upon the Mere Creation conference) this fall, and Zondervan is publishing Maker of Heaven and Earth: Three Views of the Creation-Evolution Contoversy, edited by fellows John Mark Reynolds and J.P. Moreland.

McGraw Hill solicited an expedited proposal from Meyer, Dembski and Nelson on their book Uncommmon Descent. Finally, Discovery Fellow Ed Larson has won the Pulitzer Prize for Summer for the Gods, his retelling of the Scopes Trial, and InterVarsity has just published his co-authored attack on assisted suicide, A Different Death.

Academic Articles

Our fellows recently have been featured or published articles in major sciendfic and academic journals in The Proceedings to the National Academy of Sciences, Nature, The Scientist, The American Biology Teacher, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Biochemirtry, Philosophy and Biology, Faith & Philosophy, American Philosophical Quarterly, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Analysis, Book & Culture, Ethics & Medicine, Zygon, Perspectives on Science and the Christian Faith, Relgious Studies, Christian Scholars' Review, The Southern Journal ofPhilosophy, and the Journal of Psychalogy and Theology. Many more such articles are now in press or awaiting review at major secular journals as a result of our first round of research fellowships. Our own journal, Origins & Design, continues to feature scholarly contribudons from CRSC Fellows and other scientists.

Television and Radio Appearances

During 1997 our fellows appeared on numerous radio programs (both Christian and secular) and five nationally televised programs, TechnoPolitics, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Inside the Law, Freedom Speaks, and Firing Line. The special edition of TechnoPolitics that we produced with PBS in November elicited such an unprecedented audience response that the producer Neil Freeman decided to air a second episode from the "out takes." His enthusiasm for our intellectual agenda helped stimulate a special edition of William F. Buckley's Firing Line, featuring Phillip Johnson and two of our fellows, Michael Behe and David Berlinski. At Ed Atsinger's invitation, Phil Johnson and Steve Meyer addressed Salem Communications' Talk Show Host conference in Dallas last November. As a result, Phil and Steve have been interviewed several times on Salem talk shows across the country. For example, in ]uly Steve Meyer and Mike Behe were interviewed for two hours on the nationally broadcast radio show ]anet Parshall's America. Canadian Public Radio (CBC) recently featured Steve Meyer on their Tapestry program. The episode, "God & the Scientists," has aired all across Canada. And in April, William Craig debated Oxford atheist Peter Atkins in Atlanta before a large audience (moderated by William F. Buckley), which was broadcast live via satellite link, local radio, and intenet "webcast."

Newspaper and Magazine Articles

The Firing Line debate generated positive press coverage for our movement in, of all places, The New York Times, as well as a column by Bill Buckley. In addition, our fellows have published recent articles & op-eds in both the secular and Christian press, including, for example, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Times, National Review, Commentary, Touchstone, The Detroit News, The Boston Review, The Seattle Post-lntelligenter, Christianity Toady, Cosmic Pursuits and World. An op-ed piece by Jonathan Wells and Steve Meyer is awaiting publication in the Washington Post. Their article criticizes the National Academy of Science book Teaching about Evolution for its selective and ideological presentation of scientific evidence. Similar articles are in the works.