Johnson to lecture on evolution and intelligent design at Campbell

     A federal court judge ruled recently that intelligent design cannot be taught in biology classes in a Pennsylvania school district because the teaching of the Bible does not belong in science classes, but should be studied in its historical and literary context. Phillip E. Johnson, Professor Emeritus of law at the University of California at Berkeley, will discuss the controversial debate over evolution, intelligent design and the separation of church and state at a lecture held Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. in Lynch Auditorium of the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business.
     The author of “Darwin on Trial” and “Reason in the Balance,” Johnson, who is a founder of intelligent design, is an expert on the scientific and religious theories that have caused such heated debate. Should intelligent design, which holds that the biological aspects of life are so complex they couldn’t have evolved randomly, but must have been produced by an unidentified intelligent cause, be taught in science class with Darwin’s theory of evolution, or is it a violation of the separation of church and state as provided in the First Amendment? Johnson will discuss this complex and controversial question at this special lecture sponsored by Campbell University’s Department of Biological Sciences.
     A native of Illinois, Johnson received his undergraduate degree from Harvard and his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago law school, where he graduated first in his class. He became a clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren at the Supreme Court and, in 1967, began teaching at Berkeley where he gained an international reputation as a teacher of criminal law and legal theory. He is the author of numerous books and has lectured throughout the country.
     For more information concerning the lecture, contact the Department of Biological Sciences at (910) 893-1730.