From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Michael Polanyi Center
Michael Polanyi Center
Michael Polanyi Center Baylor ought to be the kind of place where a stu-
dent can ask a question and not just get the
runaround. He shouldn’t have to go to the theology
department and be told, "Oh, that’s a scientific
question. Don’t ask me that." And then the student
goes to the science department and they tell him,
"That’s a religious question. Don’t ask me that."
The Center’s logo
Formation 1999
Type Religious research for Baylor University
Legal status Merged with Baylor Institute for Faith and
Learning
Headquarters Waco, Texas, USA
Last Director Bruce L. Gordon
Website baylor.edu/~polanyi/ (Archived)
The Michael Polanyi Center (MPC) at Baylor University
was the first center at a research university exclusively
dedicated to intelligent design study. It was founded in
1999 "with the primary aim of advancing the understand-
ing of the sciences," in a religious context[1] and is named
for Michael Polanyi. All of the center’s research inves-
tigated the subject of intelligent design. The center was
relegated in late 2000 to a minor program within the Bay-
lor Institute for Faith and Learning and fully dissolved in
2003.[citation needed]
Philosopher and mathematician William A. Dembski was the
center’s first director
History
In 1998 Sloan read an article by mathematician,
Background philosopher and intelligent design advocate William
Baylor University was founded in 1845 by the Republic of Dembski and was impressed. Sloan invited Dembski to
Texas (before Texas Statehood) in Waco, Texas as a Bap- the IFL, whose director Michael Beaty was also impressed
tist University. Baylor also developed into a research uni- by his work and credentials. They learned of Dembski’s
versity with a reputable science department.[citation need- wish to establish an intelligent design research center. As
ed] a result in October 1999, Baylor’s Michael Polanyi Cen-
A new Baylor president, Robert B. Sloan was appoint- ter was quietly established separately from the IFL and
ed in 1995. Sloan, a New Testament Scholar with a doc- without reference to science academics. Dembski named
torate in theology from the University of Basel, proposed it after the Hungarian scientist and philosopher of sci-
to return the school to its mission of integrating academ- ence Michael Polanyi (1891 — 1976). Dembski appointed
ic excellence and Christian commitment. As a result, the Bruce L. Gordon as his deputy.[citation needed]
Baylor Institute for Faith and Learning (IFL) was estab- The MPC website stated:
lished in 1997.[citation needed]
Sloan noted: The Michael Polanyi Center (MPC) is a cross-disci-
plinary research and educational initiative focused
on advancing the understanding of science. It has
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Michael Polanyi Center
a fourfold purpose: (1) to support and pursue re- ble, as well as to the peer review committee
search in the history and conceptual foundations for its unqualified affirmation of my own work
of the natural and social sciences; (2) to study the on intelligent design. The scope of the Center
impact of contemporary science on the humanities will be expanded to embrace a broader set of
and the arts; (3) to be an active participant in the conceptual issues at the intersection of sci-
growing dialogue between science and religion; and ence and religion, and the Center will there-
(4) to pursue the mathematical development and fore receive a new name to reflect this ex-
empirical application of design-theoretic concepts panded vision. My work on intelligent design
in the natural sciences. will continue unabated. Dogmatic opponents
of design who demanded the Center be shut
"The Nature of Nature" down have met their Waterloo. Baylor Univer-
Between April 12 and April 15, 2000 the Center held a sity is to be commended for remaining strong
conference entitled "The Nature of Nature," jointly spon- in the face of intolerant assaults on freedom of
sored by the Discovery Institute and the John Templeton thought and expression.[2]
Foundation. Critics of intelligent design within the scien-
Sloan asked Dembski to retract this press release, feeling
tific community were split as to whether to attend. They
that it was an unnecessary escalation of the argument
thought that the conference might give ID more acade-
and not collegial, but Dembski refused. On October 19,
mic credibility, something it lacks, and that it would be
Dembski was removed as director of the center, though
used for propaganda by the ID movement and the Chris-
he remained an associate professor. He was replaced by
tian press. Nevertheless, the conference attracted a va-
his deputy, Bruce L. Gordon.[citation needed]
riety of scientists, theologians and philosophers, includ-
ing Alan Guth, John Searle, Christian de Duve, and No-
Dembski responded with another press release: "Baylor
bel Prize-winner Steven Weinberg. Some who attended
University President Robert Sloan has removed me as di-
donated their speaking fees to the National Center for
rector of the Michael Polanyi Center despite his having
Science Education.[citation needed]
personally solicited me to come to Baylor and establish
The conference brought things to a head and, as a re-
the Center as a means of furthering work on intelligent
sult, on April 18 the Faculty Senate voted 27-2 for the
design. Some Baylor faculty have exerted enormous pres-
center to be abolished. This call was rejected by Sloan on
sure on Baylor to disassociate the university from me and
April 20, who commented:
my research. Earlier President Sloan had properly char-
I believe there are matters of intellectual and academic
acterized these efforts as ’intellectual McCarthyism.’"
integrity at stake here … We should not be afraid to ask
Critics suggested that Dembski deliberately provoked his
questions, even if they are politically incorrect
employers in order to be fired and then be able to claim
A compromise was later reached to form an independent he was being witch-hunted.[citation needed]
committee to review the center, consisting of eight facul- The recommendations of the committee were carried
ty members from across the country to be chaired by the out and the center was renamed Program in Science, Philos-
Professor of Philosophy William F. Cooper.[citation needed] ophy and Religion. Dembski never taught a course at Bay-
The committee met between September 8 and lor. Dembski left Baylor on May 31, 2005 to take up a new
September 10. On October 17 the committee released its position at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in
report. Although it recommended that there should be a Louisville, Kentucky as Carl F. H. Henry Professor of The-
place for the study of intelligent design, it recommend- ology and Science. After a year teaching in Louisville, he
ed that the center be renamed and reconstituted within took a position at Southwestern Baptist Theological Sem-
Baylor’s Institute for Faith and Learning. This was seen as inary in Fort Worth, Texas as Research Professor in Phi-
a compromise between the two sides and an attempt to losophy, where he remains to this day.[citation needed]
defuse the row that had developed.[1]
References
Center moved and renamed
[1] ^ "The External Review Committee Report, Baylor
On October 18 Dembski responded to the report with a University". 2000-10-16.
press release/email: http://www.texscience.org/pdf/
001017polanyi.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
The report marks the triumph of intelligent
[2] A copy of Dembski’s first press release
design as a legitimate form of academic in-
quiry. This is a great day for academic free-
dom. I’m deeply grateful to President Sloan
and Baylor University for making this possi-
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Michael Polanyi Center
External links • Minutes:
• Minutes from Faculty Senate Meeting April
18, 2000
Baylor University • May 9 2000 minutes
• Baylor University
• Baylor Institute for Faith and Learning Dembski
• Michael Polanyi Center Archive copy at the Wayback • Statement by William Dembski on his removal as
Machine from the Internet Archive Directory of the Michael Polanyi Center at Baylor
University
Baylor press releases
• Intelligent Design Coming Clean an essay by Dembski,
• President Sloan Addresses Polanyi Center Issue, April 20,
November 17, 2000.
2000
• Baylor Releases Polanyi Center Committee Report,
Commentary
October 17, 2000
• External Review Committee Report (pdf file) Pro-intelligent design
• Dembski Relieved Of Duties As Polanyi Center Director, • On The Nature of Nature conference:
October 19, 2000 • Scientific Test for God a Valid Scientific Goal— Jay W.
Lariat news items Richards, ID advocate.
• We’re Not in Kansas Anymore: Why secular scientists
(The Lariat is the Baylor campus newspaper)
and media can’t admit that Darwinism might be
• Archive of news stories
wrong. in Christianity Today
• Professors debate legitimacy of Polanyi
• On the end of the center:
• BU science-religion center draws critics
• The Lynching of Bill Dembski (part 1) (part 2) from
• committee suggests compromise by Blair Martin
the American Spectator, November 2000.
• Polanyi official’s e-mail concerns some faculty (sic):
• Unintelligent Designs: Baylor’s dismissal of Polyani
Center director issues statement vowing research to
Center director Dembski was not a smart move in
’continue unabated’ By Blair Martin date?
Christianity Today
• Polyani Center’s future is unclear: Director’s removal
• Statement of the Cranach Institute Protesting the
arises from e-mail By Blair Martin date?
Removal of William Dembski as Director of the Michael
Faculty Senate Polanyi Center at Baylor University
• Baylor University Faculty Senate Anti-intelligent design
• Newsletters
• NCSE on Center
• April 2000 newsletter
• Polanyi Scholarship and the Former Baylor Polanyi
• May 2000 newsletter
Center by Richard Gelwick.
• October 2000 newsletter
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Polanyi_Center&oldid=423829823"
Categories:
• Intelligent design controversies
• Intelligent design organizations
• Baylor University
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