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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 (1) | 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?

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More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler

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

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