This website supports a discussion group that meets near the campus of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. This group has met quarterly since 2005. The purpose of this group is to provide a forum to discuss scientific evidence for design in the universe without philosophical or religious constraints. We focus exclusively on science. We are committed to following the science where it leads. We believe that the data should be the arbiter and we do not impose any philosophical or religious constraints. We do not adopt methodological naturalism, but rather we consider design to be a logical possibility that is open for consideration. We acknowledge that science is limited and scientific conclusions are always tentative. We admit that humans will never know everything and will never be able to perform an infinite search. Accordingly, we believe that insisting that an infinite search be performed, or demanding proof that something could not possibly have occurred naturalistically, before considering design is equivalent to imposing methodological naturalism.
We believe that everyone can and should have basic knowledge about the most relevant subjects and that the philosophical decisions should be in their own hands, not made for them by others. Nor should the public be biased by the false claim that the choice is between science and religion. Surprisingly, many basic facts and observations that bear directly on questions of origins are not well known to the public. For that reason, the core curriculum of this group is “10 recent discoveries that have changed the debate about design in the universe”. One goal is to help attendees become knowledgeable about the basic facts or observations. In that regard the list covers only observations that are well supported and noncontroversial. While the observations on this list are not controversial, the conclusions drawn from them vary widely. Another goal is to help attendees understand why many scientists and other scholars are convinced that design is real, and yet many others are not convinced. We recognize that when it comes to origins questions and the sufficiency of materialism or naturalism, the level of evidence needed to invoke a design inference is a personal decision and is very different for different people, since more than objective science is involved. A third goal is to identify instances where the public is being misled by unsupported or overstated claims. It is unlikely that there could ever be a better example of this than the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science's exhibit on the origin of life which contains a panel reading "GAS + ENERGY = DNA".
We are interested in feedback. Please send comments and questions to: Discuss.Design.ABQ@gmail.com
Michael Kent is responsible for the content of this website. However, Mike is indebted to the following persons for reviewing and providing feedback on the content:
Prof. Granville Sewell
Dr. Timothy Draelos