User talk:Filll/beyondintelligentdesign

Beyond intelligent design is a religious critique of intelligent design and title of a self-published book by retired California surgeon Melvin Mulder, published February 25, 2003. Mulder's positions are closely aligned with young earth creationist claims, and Mulder repeats the same creationist critiques of evolution that have been dismissed by science for decades.

Mulder has produced a series of fifty 15 minute radio spots which air on Christian radio stations, describing his claims and reasoning. Mulder also lectures about his beliefs in religious and creationist venues.

Thesis
Mulder is excited because he feels that the science supporting an old universe and a Big Bang has been proven to be false, and that also new genetic information has proven evolution to be incorrect. To Mulder, this progress leaves Christian creationists in a special situation at the moment.

Although Mulder appreciates the contributions of intelligent design proponents to what he feels is unique opportunity, he feels that there are many drawbacks to the use of the intelligent design approach as well.

Use of intelligent design arguments
Mulder finds some of the intelligent design arguments useful. In particular, Mulder states that the information in DNA implies that there was an intelligent designer who was required to create life. Mulder also finds irreducible complexity a compelling reason to reject evolution and accept an intelligent designer, instead of a universe which evolved according to natural laws or a "chance assemblage of mindless matter." Mulder makes frequent reference to the petition entitled "A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism" assembled by intelligent design proponents at the Discovery Institute, and signed by many people with scientific and technical training, to show how scientific acceptance of evolution is supposedly waning.

Mulder also maintains that the intellectual prowess of intelligent design proponents Michael Denton, Michael Behe, Philip E. Johnson and William Dembski has evolutionary biologists and cosmologists "on the run." Since Denton, Behe, Johnson and Dembski have made a strong case for a supernatural origin of life, Mulder concludes that it is now reasonable to assume a literal 6 day creation, and a 6 day origin of the cosmos, the earth and humans. The superiority of creationism is demonstrated to Mulder because it uses evidence from hermeneutics, the Hubble Space Telescope, and DNA, and then insists that "God made everything supernaturally (from scratch)".

Complaints about intelligent design
Mulder argues that intelligent design is inadequate because it does not make the necessary a priori assumptions about the existence of God or miracles. Mulder claims that since some intelligent design supporters commit the even greater offence of accepting evolution, intelligent design badly stumbles when it comes to "the way, the truth, and the life."

Mulder's main objections to intelligent design are that:


 * it does not reveal who was the Designer and what was his purpose.
 * it does not discuss the nature of the soul
 * it does not talk about the perfection of creation
 * it does not talk about good and evil.
 * it does not insist on a young earth
 * it does not insist that the perfection of the initial creation has decayed with time
 * it is appealing to many who are not true believers
 * does not insist that the biblical account is the only source of true information about creation
 * tries to make God comprehensible

To Mulder, the "partial premises" of the Intelligent Design Movement result in discarding the search for "truth". Mulder believes this is serious since "the sufficiency and authority of God's Word" is at stake. Mulder argues that Christians should replace intelligent design with discussions of how special creation fits with the God of the bible, or else the "brain-dead" doctrine of "naturalism" will be resurrected from its current supposedly weakened state.

Mulder maintains that science will never disprove the account in the book of Genesis, and that it will take time for Christians to fully defeat science. Through the efforts of cosmologists and earth scientists, coupled with the intelligent design movement, creationists are making inroads against "evolutionists" and believers in naturalistic, materialistic science. Mulder argues that the current sloppy science and irresponsible theology represented by intelligent design should be abandoned by Christians. Mulder claims that Christians must go beyond "opinion and tolerance" to get to "truth and light".

Belief in a young universe
Mulder claims that the Big Bang and a multi-billion year age of the universe are in crisis because of the arguments of Answers in Genesis creationist writer Alex Williams and postdoc John Hartnett, published in their book "Dismantling the Big Bang". Hartnett and Williams claim that the speed of light is not a constant, so that the universe is much younger than it appears. This is not a new theory, and variable speed of light theories have been investigated for decades, but are not currently widely accepted. Mulder also takes heart in suggestions that there are problems with the Big Bang Theory.

Mulder also feels that the Radioactivity and Age of the Earth (RATE) Project, which has been going on for the last few years at the Creation Research Society, the Institute of Creation Research and Answers in Genesis, has shown that previous radioactive dating methods are faulty and that there is support for a young earth. Mulder feels that this is further supported by the purported discovery of a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil with well-preserved bone marrow and red blood cells.

Other beliefs
Mulder maintains that evolution is a religion called evolutionism that is synonymous with atheism. Mulder says that since evolutionism is taught in the public schools, then the way is open to teach creationism in public schools. He objects to the use of tax dollars to support evolutionist viewpoints in places like the Chicago Field Museum and the New York Hall of Science. Mulder claims that academic freedom has been compromised to prevent the teaching of 6 day creation in Universities as scientific fact.

Mulder states that most theologians have not kept up with the new scientific truth that proves that the universe was recently created in 6 literal days. He believes that theistic evolution is in opposition to God.

Mulder also claims that there are no understood natural paths to create humans from micro-organisms, contrary to current understanding in evolutionary biology. He states that all the paleontological evidence of human origins is mythical.

Mulder feels that the "white hole cosmology" of young earth creationist Russell Humphreys redeems the geocentric theory of Ptolemy that was discarded through the efforts of Copernicus and Galileo.

Dr. Mulder maintains that James Hutton and Charles Lyell, the fathers of modern geology, together with evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin were doing the work of Satan when they proposed their new theories. This, together with the decision by Harvard University and Princeton University to change their curricula away from bible-centered studies, created the current erosion of confidence in the bible.

Mulder claims that there was one observer of the creation of the universe, and that therefore all the physical evidence supports the idea of the supernatural, "reaffirming God's Person, Being, and Word."

Plan to regain confidence in the bible
Mulder also has a plan to regain widespread confidence in the bible. Christians must accept:


 * what Mulder claims is "genuine science" together with responsible hermeneutics:
 * that science cannot be done without referring to the bible.
 * that the bible contains only real history of real events.
 * that the past has to be used to interpret the present, not the reverse
 * that days in the bible, and in particular in the creation story, are 24 hour days
 * during Days one through three, the earth was made habitable.
 * during Days four through six, the plants, animals and humans arrived on earth
 * there have been no changes in the "kinds" of creatures created by God
 * that no animals died before the Fall
 * that Noah's flood was worldwide in extent.
 * that no evolutionary processes have ever operated or are currently operating.

Author
Mulder was Medical Director of the Ohio Permanente Medical Group and states that in this capacity he worked with technologies such as diagnostic and therapeutic radioisotopes and stem cell therapy. Interestingly, these technologies depend crucially on knowledge that Mulder rejects. Also, when Mulder notes that when he worked as Medical Director he was involved with congenital anomalies and genetic diseases. The scientific community's accepted current best understanding of these again draws on knowledge that Mulder rejects.

Mulder draws his knowledge of the earth sciences from short term visits with his family he paid to "geological sites in Africa, Israel, Asia, and Central America, touring also Alaska's glaciers, Dinosaur National Monument, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, and Mount St. Helens". However, it is not clear if these visits were vacation travels or serious academic study of the earth sciences.

Mulder served on the Boards of Mid-America Reformed Seminary (Dyer, Indiana) and Contra Costa Christian High School (Walnut Creek, CA), where he was a proponent of six day creation. Mulder is currently an elder in the Covenant Presbyterian Church in San Jose, California, which is an Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Mulder's favorite TV show is "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman." Mulder likes to read books about Creation research, geology, genetics, and cellular and molecular biology. Mulder's hobbies include photography, singing, writing, motor home traveling, participating in short-term missions, playing with grandkids, and golfing. Mel and his wife, Marge, have 5 children and 6 grandchildren.

Criticism
Mulder does not seem aware of the copious volumes of scientific evidence against creationism or intelligent design. His arguments hinge on reliance on the bible as the only true and correct authority. Mulder claims that the conclusions he draws based on biblical texts are science. Mulder also does not seem to have any understanding of the Wedge Strategy or the reason that the Discovery Institute is championing intelligent design rather than creationism or creation science.