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Before Gelernter, Wolfe, Shapiro, Prager, Nagel, Et Al., There Was Iconoclast Tom Bethell

Bethell

We’re seeing a science uprising among iconoclastic intellectuals who have come to reject key features of the materialist, Darwinian understanding of biology. Most recently, Yale polymath David Gelernter announced he had been persuaded by books from Stephen Meyer and David Berlinski. He joined Tom Wolfe, Ben Shapiro, Dennis Prager, Thomas Nagel, and others, who became Darwin skeptics, not from religious motivations but from objectively considering the evidence and refusing simply to take evolutionists’ word for it.

Before these freethinkers, there was someone who was in a sense the granddaddy of contemporary evolution iconoclasts: Tom Bethell, a wonderful essayist and thinker, who was already “out” as a Darwin skeptic in 1985 when he wrote an essay on the subject for Harper’s Magazine, “Agnostic Evolutionists: The Taxonomic Case Against Darwin.” If you haven’t read his fantastic book, Darwin’s House of Cards (2016), do yourself a favor and get it here. It’s a treat. And watch this short feature on Bethell, “Iconoclast: One Journalist’s Odyssey Through the Darwin Debates”:

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Evolution News
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and the editor of Evolution News & Science Today, the daily voice of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, reporting on intelligent design, evolution, and the intersection of science and culture. Klinghoffer is also the author of six books, a former senior editor and literary editor at National Review magazine, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Commentary, and other publications. Born in Santa Monica, California, he graduated from Brown University in 1987 with an A.B. magna cum laude in comparative literature and religious studies. David lives near Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children.

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Ben ShapirobiologyDarwin's House of CardsDarwinismDavid BerlinskiDavid GelernterDennis PragerfreethinkersHarper's MagazineIconoclastintellectualsjournalistsThomas NagelTom BethellTom WolfeYale University