Intelligent design is evolving. Stephen Meyer’s new book, Return of the God Hypothesis, reveals the designer as a personal God familiar to Western theism. That is a new stage in the argument for ID, compelled by the addition of data from physics and cosmology to the previous evidence of design in biology.

Something I appreciate about a new half-hour documentary, The Paradigm Project: Intelligent Design, from filmmaker Tom Small and host Kutter Callaway, is the way it probes three leading ID proponents about their personal stories, including on the subject of faith. This is something new. The Paradigm Project premieres on Tuesday, May 4, at 7 pm, right here and on the Discovery Science channel on YouTube. It offers a fresh, entertaining summary of ID arguments. As Callaway asks, “It takes intelligence to create information. If we saw a drawing of DNA in the sand, would we ever think it occurred from random, mindless causes like erosion and wind?” Of course we would not.

ID in a Personal Light

But the documentary is more personal that, too. It features Stephen Meyer admitting his experience as a teen struggling with angst about the meaning of existence. Jonathan Wells recalls being led by biology to a reading of the Bible, from start to finish. And Douglas Axe urges scientists to modestly admit there are things they don’t understand about life and its origins, much as, he says, there are things in Scripture whose meaning we can’t grasp.

Callaway, who speaks frankly to Christians here, is sensitive in considering why questions about biological origins should matter to non-scientists. One answer is that our culture is increasingly eloquent about the human need for ultimate meaning, a need that, for many people, is not being met. How do we know that? Because rising suicide rates among the young, isolation and depression under lockdowns, riots and racial unrest cast as a “spiritual movement,” and more, all testify to the unmet need. The Paradigm Project deserves thanks for unapologetically offering the only real answer — the hypothesis of a personal deity — to these cries for help and inspiration.

It is of course true that how we see reality depends on the set of assumptions, the paradigm, we bring to that. The Paradigm Project challenges viewers to reevaluate their own assumptions. It presents intelligent design, and the God hypothesis, in a different manner than you’ve seen them before. Join us on for the free, live premiere. More information is  here.