William Lane Craig vs. Francisco J. Ayala – Is Intelligent Design Viable?

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?