Greer-Heard Forum

I’m headed off very early in the morning Friday to catch a flight to Atlanta, Georgia. Friday evening and the day on Saturday up until 5 PM are blocked out for the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Greer-Heard Forum. This is billed as a non-confrontational but substantive exchange of ideas among scholars on controversial topics. This outing is about “intelligent design”. The star billing goes to Michael Ruse (Florida State University) and William Dembski (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), while two additional “intelligent design advocates” and two others (the loyal opposition) are on the panel. It’s William Lane Craig and Francis Beckwith for ID, and Matinez Hewlett and me not for ID.

My topic on Saturday will be antievolution and the law. I’m looking to examine the recent ruling in Kitzmiller v. DASD, expanding on precedent as it is used in Jones’ decision.

Sunday I will be spending with my cousin Charlotte and her husband Bob. When we talked on the telephone last week, we worked out that it’s been a mere 21 years since my last visit there, which was when Diane and I were en route to our honeymoon in North Carolina. There’s some catching up to do there.

Update: Over at re-Discovery.org, they have my talk down as, “What I Will Do for Free Airfair” (sic). I might have had that attitude when I was seven and flying in a jet airplane was a novelty, but I can’t say that the prospect of spending six hours packed into a metal cylinder with bad air circulation really appeals anymore. I do have mixed feelings about these kind of setups, but I will do what I can, and that will be that.

It would be a pleasure to meet Loren Williams, even with the dig on his website.