Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany “revolutionized U.S. science and innovation,” as Stanford University historian Petra Moser and others have pointed out. Hitler’s loss was our gain. Something not entirely dissimilar is the case in the history of the intelligent design movement and its own revolution.

On his radio show today, Eric Metaxas talked with Darwin’s Doubt author Stephen Meyer about the reissue of the expanded version of the Ur-text of intelligent design, a 35th anniversary edition of The Mystery of Life’s Origin. Dr. Meyer contributed a new chapter, as did James Tour, Brian Miller, and other scientists who have come to doubt purely materialist accounts of how the first life arose. Steve points out to Eric that “Some of our very best scientists are refugees from top-level institutions in the mainstream science establishment.” That sounds like a familiar tale.

Meyer mentions Günter Bechly, Douglas Axe, and Richard Sternberg. In their cases, Darwin’s loss was our gain.

In the years since the publication of Mystery, with its trio of authors (Charles Thaxton, Walter Bradley, Roger Olsen), Dr. Meyer notes a significant pattern. Scientists who were originally atheists or agnostics weighed the evidence for design in biology and in the origin of life. This changed their thinking about science. And in not a few cases, that in turn changed their thinking about the nature of reality, and about the possibility of a transcendent intelligence at the origin of all things. Atheism’s loss, God’s gain.

Enjoy an entertaining and enlightening conversation between Eric Metaxas and Steve Meyer about “the wishful thinking and the make-believe” in what’s called consensus science. You can also download the audio here.