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200 chance; it would not require a God.*! The fact that we are the product of low probability events is not proof of design. The selection effects and hidden agendas of Intelligent Design offer the last bastion of hope to those who still cling to the belief that we are privi- leged, declared Darling. Meanwhile, the Copernican revolution is quietly running its course.” On the other hand, failure to develop provable “theories of everything” might change the context. “For the first time since the Dark Ages,” wrote physicists Paul Ginsparg and Sheldon L. Glashow, “we can see how our noble search may end, with faith replacing science once again.” Others see that as giving up too soon. Science may eventually be capable of answering questions that have been considered religious.” We shouldn’t confuse scientific knowledge with moral authority. —Biologist Dov Sax, 2005™ The revival of creationist views may reflect more than resistance to Copernicanism or evolutionary theory. Many people are frustrated with science as a means of giving them emotionally satisfying answers to some basic questions. Judging by the long debate over Darwinism, science may fail to provide three basic functions of religion: suggesting that life has purpose, providing guidance for moral behavior, and helping us to deal with death. Science also may fail to give us a reassuring sense of dignity. The impla- cably atheistic bias of traditional Darwinism, Gardner protested, is robbing our culture of its capacity to inculcate a sense of the potential nobility of Humankind.* Consider the emotional impact of how preacher-author Ron Carlson described scientific and religious views of our status. In the secular version, “you exist on a tiny planet in a minute solar system . . . in an empty corner of a meaningless universe. You came from nothing and are going nowhere.” In the Christian view, “you are the special creation of a good and all- powerful God. You are the climax of his creation.”*° There may be a subtle anxiety about living in a disenchanted cosmos. Former Czech President Vaclav Havel argued that the relationship to the world that modern science shaped had exhausted its potential because it fails to connect with the most intrinsic nature of reality and human experi- ence. Addressing the search for a more fulfilling vision of the human future, Havel proposed that it must rest on a fundamental awareness that we are an integral part of higher, mysterious entities.” There is a philosophical vacuum waiting to be filled. Will it be filled by science, or by belief? Thinking Outside the Box Filling a Philosophical Vacuum