Question I've recently been following the debate between proponents of evolutionary theory and those of intelligent design. It seems to me that the crux of their disagreement is around the existence of chance. Both parties seem (more or less) to agree on the mechanism (incremental development of species over time through selection of beneficial traits); but evolutionary theory states that these changes are random, the product of chance uninfluenced by God, while ID seems to think that God directs what we think of as chance, in effect denying the existence of randomness. But the question arises: if God doesn't influence chance, if true randomness occurs in nature, then what does God influence? Can a belief in evolutionary theory, or any theory that relies on chance occurrence, be compatible with a belief in God?

Accepted:
December 2, 2005

Comments

If irreducibly chancy processes occur in nature, God could be responsible for setting up laws of nature that specify those chances.

Here is what I mean. Even irreducibly chancy processes are governed by laws. For instance, a given radioactive isotope has a given half-life L. (That is to say, for any given atom of that isotope existing at time t, there is a 50% chance of its decaying before time t+L.) That atoms of this isotope have half-life L is fixed by some laws of nature. Some philosophers believe that God is responsible for installing those laws. In this way, they believe, God arranged things so as to make it possible (even probable, perhaps) for intelligent creatures to evolve. So the laws of nature are something that God could "influence" even if God does not determine the outcomes of chance processes.

Needless to say, it is far from obvious that the fundamental laws of nature are best explained by God. Some philosophers would contend that the fundamental laws of nature are brute facts -- i.e., that although the fundamental laws of nature could have been otherwise, there is no reason why they are as they are rather than otherwise. Explanation simply comes to an end with the laws; neither God nor anything else is responsible for the fundamental laws.

Other things that God could be responsible for, even if God is not responsible for the outcomes of chance processes, is the existence of spacetime, the initial conditions of the universe, and the number of universes that exist. The same caveats as in the previous paragraph apply to all of these as well.