Engineering principles explain biological systems better than evolutionary theory

Abstract

Peer review declarationThe publisher (AOSIS) endorses the South African 'National Scholarly Book Publishers Forum Best Practice for Peer Review of Scholarly Books.' The manuscript underwent an evaluation to compare the level of originality with other published works and was subjected to rigorous two-step peer review before publication, with the identities of the reviewers not revealed to the editor(s) or author(s). The reviewers were independent of the publisher, editor(s), and author(s). The publisher shared feedback on the similarity report and the reviewers' inputs with the manuscript's editor(s) or author(s) to improve the manuscript. Where the reviewers recommended revision and improvements, the editor(s) or author(s) responded adequately to such recommendations. The reviewers commented positively on the scholarly merits of the manuscript and recommended that the book be published. v Research justificationScience and Faith in Dialogue presents a cogent, compelling case for concordance between science and theism. The term theism used in this book refers to the belief in God's existence. Within theology, the term theism is often used to convey a range of presuppositions about the nature and attributes of God. The topic of God's attributes does not fall within the scope of this study. Based on scientific and natural theological perspectives, two pillars of natural theology are revisited: the Cosmological Argument and the Argument from Design. The book argues that modern science provides undeniable evidence and a scientific basis for these classical arguments to infer a rationally justifiable endorsement of theism as being concordant with reason and science -nature is seen as operating orderly on comprehensible, rational, consistent laws, in line with the conviction that God is Creator. The expression 'undeniable evidence and scientific basis' is not understood as scientific proof but rather as inference, footprint, signature, deductive reasoning and rational justification for theism in world view. The premise that theism asserts a more causally adequate explanation of recent developments in modern natural science (than naturalism) is based upon: (1) Strong epistemological support: explanatory power and confirmation of hypothesis (rather than just deductive entailment); and (2) the contemporary cosmological consensus, building upon the rigour of the physical sciences and illuminating biological discoveries. The discovery that the universe had a beginning and the abundant scientific evidence for fine-tuning is best explained by theism. The phrase 'global fine-tuning' refers to fine-tuning of initial conditions, fundamental forces and other physical laws and constants for an expanding universe and the formation of galaxies, stars and planets. The phrase 'local fine-tuning' refers to the protection of the earth by the planetary giants, earth's life-sustaining capabilities, water and its miraculous properties for life, earth's rare habitability fine-tuned for life and scientific discovery. The phrase 'biological fin...

God, Gould, and the Panda’s Thumb

“…The theory holds that certain features of the natural world are best explained by detectable intelligent agency rather than mindless materialistic processes like natural selection and random mutation (Meyer 2013, p. 339). While ID theorists generally expect to find wellengineered systems or organisms in the natural world (Miller 2022), the theory is consistent with at least some degree of 'devolution' in the present day (e.g., Minnich and Meyer 2004, pp. 301-2).…”