Apologetics 315 has a bunch of stuff about this debate online, including the MP3 which is over 2 hours long and includes questions and answers from the floor.
Moderator of the debate, Dr. Bradley Monton has kindly put up a review of the debate on his website here.
I was really hoping for some knock-down arguments from Ayala given his amazing academic credentials and outstanding ranking in the world of evolutionary biology. But once again, I think there was little gunpowder in the evolutionist’s chamber and we are all intellectually the worse for it.
I wonder if Richard Dawkins will have time to listen to the debate (that could have been his) and reconsider debating Craig.
Reading the summary on Bradley Monton’s website, I wonder if Dawkins may regret NOT taking up the offer and debating Craig, especially if he is so sure of his incredible claims. Why? Because apparently Craig conceded afterward that he is very inexperienced at debating this subject, so Dawkins could have blasted some big holes in ID and its followers like myself by hitting us between the eyes David Tua style with the evidence that we keep asking for.
As for a winner, my feeling is that we can notch up another win for Craig, but overall the debate could have been a lot better.
Lastly, it seems to me that for such a smart guy, Ayala’s should have a worldview that is much more coherent. He seems to believe in God, but rejects any notion that we can detect God’s handiwork in biology. He also seems really confused about theology — even though he has a doctorate in theology!!! I wonder if he has ever come across the essential doctrine of the fall because it seem to me that it plays a vital role in so many of the criticisms he has of “design” in biology. If Ayala rejects both general revelation and special revelation, upon what does he base any belief in God at all? Why not just go the whole hog and ditch God-belief altogether?
The following is cut and pasted (emphasis added) from Bill Craig’s latest newsletter. Lots of exciting stuff happening around the world. I am especially interested in On Guard which sounds like a must-have item!
Meanwhile, I continue work on a couple of book projects. Chad Meister and my book God Is Great, God Is Good, which is a wide-ranging response to the so-called New Atheism represented by the likes of Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Richard Dawkins, is currently in press and should be out very soon with Inter-Varsity Press.
I’m also working with the editors and designers at David C. Cook on my On Guard, which will be a training manual for laymen in defending their faith. Because there are so many graphics in this book in the form of pictures, side bars, boxes, and so on, Cook is taking the unusual step of asking their designers to design every single page in the book to ensure an attractive and engaging appearance. So I’m very pleased at the efforts they’re putting into this book.
My scholarly research continued to advance this month. Prof. Ken Perzyck, who organized the conference I spoke at in New Zealand last year (see the July 2008 newsletter), directed me to an article by a Swedish philosopher who provided just the insight I needed to solve a problem I’ve been working on for some time now. I think it was a real breakthrough moment in my research, and I feel confident to move forward on it.
