Paul Nelson (creationist)

Paul A. Nelson, (born 1958) is an American young earth creationist and intelligent design advocate. [cite news | url=http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/rncse_content/vol18/9954_the_1998_international_confere_12_30_1899.asp | title=The 1998 International Conference on Creationism | publisher=National Center for Science Education |date= 1998 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2007-02-19]

Biography

Nelson is the grandson of the creationist author Byron Christopher Nelson (1894-1972) and edited a book of his grandfather's writings. ["The Creationist Writings of Byron C. Nelson" ISBN 0-8153-1806-5] He is married to Suzanne Nelson, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University and they have two daughters.

In 1998, Nelson gained a PhD in philosophy from the University of Chicago. The Discovery Institute's Wedge Document, [ [http://www.antievolution.org/features/wedge.html Wedge Document] ] amongst other sources, claimed that Nelson was publishing a work derived from his thesis, "Common Descent, Generative Entrenchment, and the Epistemology in Evolutionary Inference", criticizing the principle of common descent, as part of the "Evolutionary Monographs" series. The "Evolutionary Monographs" series is edited by evolutionary biologist Leigh van Valen. Biologist John M. Lynch however notes that it is a "second-tier publication" unsuited to such work, and that the work has been "forthcoming" for quite some time. [ [http://scienceblogs.com/strangerfruit/2006/12/on_evolutionary_monographs_rep.php On Evolutionary Monographs] , John M. Lynch, 30 April 2005]

Nelson was co-author, with John Mark Reynolds, of the section of"Three Views on Creation and Evolution" (1999), a book that advocated young earth creationism. In that chapter they wrote, "Natural science at the moment seems to overwhelmingly point to an old cosmos. Though creationist scientists have suggested some evidence for a recent cosmos, none are widely accepted as true. It is safe to say that most recent creationists are motivated by religious concerns" (p. 49).

Nelson is a fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture and of the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design. He is frequently cited by opponents of intelligent design as an example of ID's "big tent" strategy in action. He has written about "Life in the Big Tent" in the Christian Research Journal. [ [http://www.equip.org/free/DL303.pdf Life in the Big Tent: Traditional Creationism and the Intelligent Design Community] ]

Nelson said in an interview in "Touchstone Magazine" that there is no scientific theory of intelligent design, which directly contradicts the Discovery Institute stance. [ [http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/06/id_in_their_own.html ID in their own words: Paul Nelson] , PZ Myers, The Panda's Thumb June 7, 2005]

References

External links

* [http://www.arn.org/authors/nelson.html Paul Nelson's ARN page]
* [http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=45&isFellow=true Discovery institute biography]
* [http://www.researchid.org/wiki/Biography:Paul_Nelson ResearchID wiki Biography]
* [http://www.bringyou.to/PaulNelsonKenMillerDebate.mp3 Paul Nelson vs. Kenneth R. Miller on Intelligent Design and Evolution (mp3)]