Wednesday, April 05, 2006
At Last, a Hypothesis, But is it Testable?
Nick Matzke over at The Panda’s Thumb recently called our attentio to an article, “Rumors of Angels: Using ID to Detect Malevolent Spiritual Agents,” by intelligent design proponent Robert Newman, a contributing writer for the Discovery Institute.
Now, the issue has been taken up by Ker Than at the LiveScience blog, who writes, "[t]he article is long (almost 5,000 words), but once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. It’s like watching a conman in action or reading the hallucinogenic ravings of a schizophrenic. You’re disgusted and repelled, but fascinated at the same time.
Between the actions of an infinite, eternal, omniscient being and those of us lowly humans, could we find evidence for the actions of intermediate beings such as angels? asks Newman. The works of good angels might easily be mistaken for those of God, except that the quality might not be up to the divine standard. And design that appears to us to be malevolent might be the work of sinful beings above our level–bad angels, demons, or Satan.
Now, the issue has been taken up by Ker Than at the LiveScience blog, who writes, "[t]he article is long (almost 5,000 words), but once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. It’s like watching a conman in action or reading the hallucinogenic ravings of a schizophrenic. You’re disgusted and repelled, but fascinated at the same time.
