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Even non-Christians . . . [know] something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals shrubs, stones, and so forth .... Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn.-St. Augustine, De Genesi ad Litteram, IV.23.
Introduction
A number of recent debates within the dialogue between science and religion depend on the admissibility of direct supernatural actions as explanatory elements within scientific theories. On the one side of the debate are those who argue that there is no good reason to exclude God from scientific explanations. For example, Alvin Plantinga says that Christians should practice theistic science - they should bring "all that they know as believers" to their scientific work.1 Since Christians know that God has acted supernaturally within the natural world, supernatural action can be included justifiably into relevant scientific theories. Similarly, intelligent design (ID) theorists such Stephen Meyer and William Dembski argue in favor of the inclusion of supernatural elements within science. According to ID theorists, the current laws of chemistry and physics are insufficient to explain the origin of information within the genetic code and the existence of irreducibly complex structures, such as the bacterial flagellum, within living organisms.2 Given the shortfall of naturalistic scientific theories in explaining these phenomena, and given our verifiable knowledge that intelligent agents have the ability to create information and to produce irreducibly complex structures, we should posit intelligent design as the scientific explanation. Although the intelligent designer is not identified formally in ID theory, generally it is accepted that the designer most worthy of consideration is God.
On the other side of the debate are both theists and non theists who question the appropriateness of supernatural elements within scientific theories. Christians including Howard van Till, Robert Pennock, Robert...