Seeing American culture in general as “apostate”, and seeking to
“engage the culture and reclaim it for Christ” makes one a “cultur[al]
militant”, a “fundamentalist”, and a “cultural warrior”. In this post
9-11 era, Hamilton’s language is delightfully damning. You might as
well be an abortion clinic bomber.

Bill, if you could just try to look on the bright side of American
culture, and give up that antiquated notion of engaging the culture
and reclaiming it for Christ, you would be so much more attractive to
Christian institutions of higher education. Remember, religion and
faith are private and personal. ‘Apostate’ is a dirty word. And heaven
forbid, whatever you do, don’t put “Christ”, “culture” and “engage” in
the same sentence.

- Screwtape

I believe the only obstacle to ID’s success as a valid scientific worldview is defeating Darwin’s exclusive reign as the only valid explanation for life in high school science classes, which is unfortunately the beginning and end of most people’s exposure to evolution-related science. The DI plan of doing this by first casting doubt on the Darwinian narrative is perfect. There’s plenty of room for doubt. The major impediment to this is the establishment clause. What DI has been less than successful at is divorcing ID from religion in the view of the judiciary and to a lesser extent in the court of public opinion. My hope is that the tortured latter 20th century interpretation of the establishment clause gets relegated to the dustbin of history where it belongs as soon as our fearless leader President Bush can make a couple supreme court appointments. When the courts stop blocking simple and factual pleas like the biology textbook sticker in Cobb County, Georgia then the Darwinian cookie will really start to crumble. Until then politics are preventing ID from getting the fair hearing it deserves – and again, I’m confident that it will win the day in any fair hearing.

I read the Hamilton piece on your blog. Sheesh!!! Typical bootlicking evangelical weenie who knows so much that he can’t even read the SBTS press release about your appointment.

Think about what he’s saying: Baylor, by hiring you, has thrown down the gauntlet in the culture war, when in fact you may have been the only person on the Baylor faculty at the time who did not accept a complementarian view of science and faith. Apparently, having one vocal representative of that view in a non-tenure track position at Baylor makes your hiring an act of militancy.

Now that Baylor has a donor to Planned Parenthood as interim president, is Hamilton willing to call Underwood a “culture warrior”? I can only surmise that Underwood would only be given that title if he were a fellow of the
Discovery Institute: Being affiliated with killing the innocent unborn is not quite as bad as defending intelligent design. “Fearfully and wonderfully made,” I think is how the Pslamist described the human being. In
light of that passage, it is ironic that your departure would usher in Underwood’s regime.