Circuit lecturer touts 'intelligent design'

Walter Bradley, a professor at Baylor University, gave evidence that a higher power created the universe using mathematics, physics, quantum mechanics and chemistry.\nBradley spoke to a crowd of more than 500 at Alumni Hall Thursday night about the merits of the "intelligent design" theory. Although he did not speak about the intelligent design of the evolution of life, he discussed his theory as it applied to the formation of the universe, the order of nature and the origin of life.\n"For me, evolution isn't the major question," Bradley said in an interview. "The major question is the nature of nature."\nThe theory of intelligent design states that the creation and evolution of the universe and life is too complicated to have occurred without the planning of a higher power. It differs from creationism in that it acknowledges that life has evolved over time and can be explained scientifically, but it differs from the theory of evolution because it states that the universe and life were planned and coordinated by a supernatural power. \nThis theory has gained national publicity with the recent push to incorporate the intelligent design theory as applied to evolution into public school science curriculums in states, such as Kansas and Pennsylvania.\nQuoting professors and famous scientists, such as Stephen Hawking, Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton, he described the complexity of the universe and life. The conclusion, he said, is that such a complicated universe could not have occurred without planning.\n"I think his argument would have been stronger if a lot of the information had come from him instead of different people," said freshman James Hall.\nUsing his experience as an engineering professor to explain the general process of design, Bradley, who has visited every Big Ten University at least once, described the universe as mathematically perfect. The odds of the formation of a working universe and functional life, he said, are small.\n"An orderly universe is one described by mathematics," Bradley said.\nBradley has spoken to more than 70,000 people while touring the country to speak about intelligent design. This was his third visit to IU.\nHe feels that this subject can be helpful to students in finding a purpose to life and a reason to follow God.\n"If in fact the universe were fully explainable in a self-contained way, maybe it would be rational to simply to an atheist," Bradley said. "If in fact the universe doesn't seem self-explainable, that gives a rational basis for belief that there is a God."\nFreshman Allyson West attended the lecture with her Bible study group.\n"I thought his strongest point was his conclusion," West said. "He said that it takes more faith to be an atheist than to believe in God."\nBradley stated that with the new evidence supporting intelligent design, a person doesn't have to choose between science and religion.\n"You can actually be both," Bradley said. "They can be synergistic"