In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” and the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth, Seton Hall Prep hosted a lecture by renowned Brown University cell-biologist Dr. Kenneth R. Miller. The afternoon featured his exploration of the “conflict” between Evolution and Intelligent Design, small group discussions among the attending faculty and guests, and a question and answer session.

A professor of biology at Brown University and co-author (with Joe Levine) of the standard high-school textbook Biology, Dr. Miller testified at the Kitzmiller v Dover Area School District trial as an expert witness for the plaintiffs, the Dover parents who brought suit because of the demand by their town’s school board that Intelligent Design be taught in the high school’s biology classes. In a PBS Nova program about the trial called “Judgment Day,” Miller, who stresses that he is also a man of faith, talks about why evolution matters, what flaws he sees in the intelligent-design argument, and why the Dover decision hardly means the end of the controversy.

As the lead witness for the Plaintiffs (a group of parents opposed to the teaching of Intelligent Design in the Biology Classes), Dr. Miller provided the overwhelming evidence for Evolution without intermittent interventions.” He was called up to counter the proposal that an outside intelligent intervention (The Designer) is required to account for the origins of living things and the development of the various species. The trial demonstrated the collapse of ID as scientific theory, consigning it to the realm of religious belief, and thus inappropriate for inclusion in a public school curriculum.

An example offered by Dr. Miller in the trial, and noted during his talk: ID postulated that because the immune system is so complex and depends on the coincident actions of many integrated components, that it could not have been the result of slight mutations over time—that an Intelligent Designer must have created that system without evolutionary forces. Dr. Miller used scientific evidence to explicate the mutations and changes over time that would have evolved into the immune system. He did the same for the bacterial flagellum and the blood-clotting cascade of chemical reactions.

Dr. Miller also addressed the charge within the ID camp that there is too much missing fossil evidence to account for the gradual modification of species through an evolutionary process, chief example offered being the claim that there is no evidence for the evolution of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises). Yet in the last few years, indeed scientists have found nearly 30 intermediate fossils that serve as evidence of that evolution. He also leans heavily on his expertise as a cell biologist, resting the case on evidence at the genetic level and in the DNA and RNA of other organisms. His example of the scientific evidence of humans possessing a fused chromosome (Human Chromosome #2) is accepted by scientists as the “difference maker” for the Great Apes having 48 and humans having 46 chromosomes.

As a man of faith, Dr. Miller sees little reason for a conflict between religion and science on the matters of science. He noted the writings of St. Augustine, who warned against the rejection of observable facts in trying to understand the content and the message of the Scriptures; and the contributions of the Austrian Augustinian priest Gregor Mendel in the original discovery of the laws of genetics. He also noted the studies of the Belgian Jesuit Msgr. Georges Lemaître, whose work in the first part of the 20th century proposed a Big Bang Theory, which put him in opposition to Albert Einstein, who believed in an unchanging universe. Lemaître’s work was confirmed with scientific observations shortly before his death in 1966.

The day was extremely well received by both the faculty and guests. The small group discussions and the concluding question and answer session provided ample evidence that Dr. Miller’s presentation had brought many exciting and stimulating concepts and to the fore. The activities of the day provided the basis for cross-curricular conversation and discussion. One faculty member remarked, “I felt like I was back in college.” The manner and content of the presentation left no doubt as to why Dr. Miller’s classes are among the most popular at Brown University.