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David Crump

2008

Religion

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Natural Selection, Irreducible Complexity, And The Bacterial Flagellum: A Contrarian Approach To The Intelligent Design Debate, David Crump Jan 2008

Natural Selection, Irreducible Complexity, And The Bacterial Flagellum: A Contrarian Approach To The Intelligent Design Debate, David Crump

David Crump

The subject is one about which many commentators have drawn battle lines, but this article is different. Even though the author concludes that natural selection is supported by overwhelming evidence, he maintains that teaching theories of irreducible complexity in public schools would be appropriate and desirable. Doing so would serve several secular purposes that would satisfy the first requirement of the Lemon test. First, irreducible complexity, which some proponents offer in support of theories of intelligent design, can be defended as scientific under some definitions of science, although not under others, and it therefore provides an ideal vehicle to address …