The American Spectator

home
ADVERTISEMENT
Print Email
Text Size

The Spectacle Blog

Flip Side of the Coyne

Jerry A. Coyne is at it again, with another mammoth review of a book on the topic of evolution and belief in God in The New Republic. It's 8,000 words, so I haven't had time to read it, but I'm sure that the theme is similar to the last one, which provoked some interesting reactions. The theme is that the fact of Darwinian evolution precludes the existence of God.

I wasn't convinced by the 10,000 words in his earlier essay, so I'm guessing that when I get around to reading it I won't find this one convincing, either (Robert Wright, whose book is the one Coyne is reviewing, writes in the comments, "I don't recognize the book depicted in this review--and I wrote the book! Within a few days I'll have a reply online that documents Jerry Coyne's flagrant misrepresentations of my argument").

The problem Coyne's arguments is that they more or less boil down to "I'm a super-smart scientist, smarter than you, therefore God doesn't exist." It's a time-honored approach, but his tone is slightly too concialiatory (skip to about :50 in the clip):

View all comments (5) | Leave a comment

Norwegian Shooter| 8.24.09 @ 11:49AM

"I wasn't convinced by the 10,000 words in his earlier essay, so I'm guessing that when I get around to reading it I won't find this one convincing, either."

Nice reasoning. At least you're honest. Have you gotten around to reading it, yet?

Leave a Comment

N.B. We encourage readers to share and discuss their thoughtful and relevant comments about this Spectator article. Comments are routinely monitored and will be deleted if profane, bigoted, or grossly impolite. Please be respectful. (And don't feed the trolls!) Thank you.

More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler

http://spectator.org/blog/2009/08/18/flip-side-of-the-coyne
ADVERTISEMENT

Clip of the Day

Most Popular Articles

Who Castrated Ann Coulter?

David Catron | 2.6.12

The Delousing of a Movement

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. | 2.9.12

Justice Ginsburg Should Resign

William Tucker | 2.8.12

Coulter Care

Peter Ferrara | 2.8.12

Thank Him, Santorum!

Jay D. Homnick | 2.8.12

Bigoted Barack, Red in Tooth and Clause

George Neumayr | 2.10.12

ADVERTISEMENT