Witnesses for the prosecution

National | Darwin on Trial author brings together anti-Darwin coalition to bring down evolution | Jay Grelen

from Los Angeles

For a generation, evangelical Christians zealous to oppose Darwinian evolution have had a habit of looking to southern California for expertise in their crusade. The battle's headquarters for thousands of anti-evolutionists has for many years been in San Diego, home of the Institute for Creation Research.

But during three days of meetings two weeks ago, thoughtful folks might well have looked a bit farther up the coast for options on how to bring down the biggest bogeyman biblical Christianity may ever have faced. A conference on "Mere Creation" at Biola University in suburban Los Angeles brought together an unprecedented cross-disciplinary gathering of 200 men and women--mostly academics and mostly Christians--interested in building a credible origins model based on "theistic design."