William A. Dembski: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox personphilosopher

| name = William A. Dembski

| image = Dembski head shot.jpg

| image_size = 160px

| alt = photograph

| caption = Dembski in 2006

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1960|07|18}}

| birth_place = [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]], U.S.

| residencenationality =

| nationalitytelevision =

| religionwebsite = Evangelical[http://billdembski.com/ ChristianBillDembski.com]

'''William Albert "Bill" Dembski''' (born July 18, 1960) is an American [[mathematician]], [[philosopher]] and [[theologian]]. He was a prominent proponent of [[intelligent design]] (ID) [[pseudoscience]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Boudry |first1=Maarten |authorlink1author-link1=Maarten Boudry |last2=Blancke |first2=Stefaan |last3=Braeckman |first3=Johan |authorlink3author-link3=Johan Braeckman |date=December 2010 |title=Irreducible Incoherence and Intelligent Design: A Look into the Conceptual Toolbox of a Pseudoscience |journal=[[The Quarterly Review of Biology]] |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |volume=85 |issue=4 |pages=473–482 |doi=10.1086/656904 |pmid=21243965|url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/952482/file/6828579.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/952482/file/6828579.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |hdl=1854/LU-952482 |s2cid=27218269 |hdl-access=free }} Article available from [https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/952482 Universiteit Gent]</ref> specifically the concept of [[specified complexity]], and was a senior fellow of the [[Discovery Institute]]'s [[Center for Science and Culture]] (CSC).<ref name="Dembski_SF">{{cite web |url=http://www.discovery.org/p/32 |title=William A. Dembski, Senior Fellow - CSC |website=[[Discovery Institute]] |publisher=Discovery Institute |location=Seattle, WA |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014 |quote=A mathematician and philosopher, William A. Dembski is Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture.}}</ref> On September 23, 2016, he announcedofficially his official retirementretired from intelligent design, resigning all his "formal associations with the ID community, including [his] Discovery Institute fellowship of 20 years.".<ref name="Official_Retirement">{{cite web |url=https://billdembski.com/personal/official-retirement-from-intelligent-design/ |title=Official Retirement from Intelligent Design |accessdatedate=September 23, 2016 |access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref> A February 2021 interview in the CSC's blog ''[[Evolution News]]'' announced "his return to the intelligent design arena".<ref name="Evolution News 2021">{{cite web | title=William Dembski: Why I'm Returning to the Front Lines of Intelligent Design | website=Evolution News | date=16 February 2021 | url=https://evolutionnews.org/2021/02/william-dembski-why-im-returning-to-the-front-lines-of-intelligent-design/ | access-date=30 June 2021}}</ref>

In 2012, he taught as the ''Phillip E. Johnson Research Professor of Science and Culture'' at the [[Southern Evangelical Seminary]] in [[Matthews, North Carolina]], near [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]].<ref name="SEC_Faculty">{{cite web |url=http://ses.edu/academics/faculty/william-dembski |title=William Dembski |website=[[Southern Evangelical Seminary]] |publisher=Southern Evangelical Seminary |location=Matthews, NC |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130703104257/http://ses.edu/academics/faculty/william-dembski |archivedatearchive-date=July 3, 2013 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

The concept of intelligentIntelligent design involvesis the argument that an intelligent cause is responsible for the complexity of life and that one can detect that cause [[Empiricism|empirically]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arn.org/docs/dembski/wd_explfilter.htm |title=The Explanatory Filter: A three-part filter for understanding how to separate and identify cause from intelligent design |last=Dembski |first=William A. |year=1996 |type="An excerpt from a paper presented at the [[Faculty Commons#Wedge strategy|1996 Mere Creation conference]], originally titled 'Redesigning Science.'" |access-date=September 27, 2009 }} See Chapter 4 of ''Mere Creation'' (1998), [https://books.google.com/books?id=uD6KDrWLSu0C&pg=PA93 "Redesigning Science"].

== Biography ==

Dembski was born in [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]], the only child of Catholic parents,. hisHis mother was an [[art dealer]] and his father was a college professor and lecturer. His fatherwho held a [[Doctor of Science|D.Sc.]] in [[biology]] from the [[University of Erlangen-Nuremberg]] and taught [[evolutionary biology]];. whileWhile growing up, Dembski was neither particularly religious nor did he question the [[Evolution|theory of evolution]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arn.org/docs/dembski/wd_idcomingclean.htm |title=Intelligent Design Coming Clean |last=Dembski |first=William A. |date=November 17, 2000 |website=[[Access Research Network]] |location=Colorado Springs, CO |accessdateaccess-date=August 11, 2010}}</ref><ref name="InGod">{{cite news |last=Kern |first=Lauren |date=December 14, 2000 |title=In God's Country |url=http://www.houstonpress.com/2000-12-14/news/in-god-s-country/full/ |newspaper=[[Houston Press]] |location=Houston, TX |publisher=[[Voice Media Group]] |oclc=29800759 |accessdateaccess-date=August 11, 2010}}</ref> He attended an all-male Catholic preparatory school in Chicago. Dembski finished high school a year early, excelling in math and finishing a [[calculus]] course in one summer. After high school he attended the [[University of Chicago]]. There, Dembski experienced educational and personal difficulties, struggling with the advanced courses and finding the unfamiliar social milieu of college challenging. Dembski dropped out of school and worked at his mother's art business while reading works on creationism and the [[Bible]]. Finding the creationist works interesting in their challenge of evolution but their literal interpretations lacking, Dembski returned to school at the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]], studying [[statistics]].<ref name="InGod" />

Dembski holds that his knowledge of statistics and his skepticism concerning [[evolution|evolutionary theory]] led him to believe that the extraordinary diversity of life was statistically unlikely to have been produced by [[natural selection]].<ref name="InGod" /> His first significant contribution to intelligent design was his 1991 paper, "Randomness by Design," published in the philosophy journal ''[[Noûs]]''.<ref>[[#Dembski 1991|Dembski 1991]]</ref><ref name="Writings">{{cite web |url=http://designinference.com/dembski-on-intelligent-design/dembski-writings/ |title=Writings of William A. Dembski |website=DesignInference.com |publisher=William Dembski |location=Pella, IA |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

Former UC Berkeley law school professor [[Phillip E. Johnson]]'s book ''[[Darwin on Trial]]'' (1991) attracted a group of scholars<ref>[[#Forrest & Gross 2004|Forrest & Gross 2004]], [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=aP4RxWZceNkC&oi=fnd&pg=PA18#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 18]</ref> who shared his view that the exclusion of [[supernatural]] explanations by the [[scientific method]] was unfair and had led to the ''[[Edwards v. Aguillard]]'' ruling that teaching [[creation science]] in [[State school#United States|public schools]] was unconstitutional. Dembski was part of that group at a symposium at [[Southern Methodist University]] in [[Dallas|Dallas, Texas]], in March 1992, before they came to call themselves "[[wedge strategy|The Wedge]]."<ref name="bfwedge">[[#Forrest 2001|Forrest 2001]]</ref>

Dembski wrote a contribution to the 1994 book ''The Creation Hypothesis''. Another chapter, contributed by the creationists [[Charles Thaxton]] and [[Walter Bradley (engineer)|Walter L Bradley]], discussed "design detection" and redefined "[[specified complexity]]" as a way of measuring information.<ref name="NCSE Orgel">{{cite web | title=Review: Origins of Life | website=NCSE | url=http://ncse.com/rncse/27/3-4/review-origins-life | accessdateaccess-date=1 June 2016| date=2015-12-15 }}</ref>

Biochemist [[Michael Behe]], another member of "The Wedge," contributed the argument that he subsequently called "irreducible complexity" to a subsequent edition of ''Pandas'' in 1993. The book contained concepts which Dembski later elaborated in his treatment of "specified complexity."<ref name="Forrest2007">{{cite web |url=http://www.centerforinquiry.net/uploads/attachments/intelligent-design.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.centerforinquiry.net/uploads/attachments/intelligent-design.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Understanding The Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals |last=Forrest |first=Barbara |date=May 2007 |website=[[Center for Inquiry]] |publisher=Center for Inquiry |location=Washington, D.C. |format=PDF |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}

*{{cite journal |last=Matzke |first=Nicholas J. |authorlinkauthor-link=Nick Matzke |date=September–October 2004 |title=Design on Trial in Dover, Pennsylvania |url=http://ncse.com/rncse/24/5/design-trial-dover-pennsylvania |journal=Reports of the National Center for Science Education |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=[[National Center for Science Education]] |volume=24 |issue=5 |pages=4–9 |issn=2158-818X |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

{{Main article|Discovery Institute}}

After completing graduate school in 1996, Dembski was unable to secure a university position; from then until 1999 he received what he calls "a standard academic salary" of $40,000 a year as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. "I was one of the early beneficiaries of Discovery largess," says Dembski.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wilgoren |first=Jodi |date=August 21, 2005 |title=Politicized Scholars Put Evolution on the Defensive |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/national/21evolve.html?pagewanted=all |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

{{Main article|Michael Polanyi Center}}

In 1999, Dembski was invited by [[Robert B. Sloan]], President of [[Baylor University]], to establish the [[Michael Polanyi Center]] at the university. Named after the Hungarian physical chemist and philosopher [[Michael Polanyi]] (1891–1976), Dembski described it as "the first intelligent design think tank at a research university." Dembski had known Sloan for about three years, having taught Sloan's daughter at a Christian study summer camp not far from [[Waco, Texas]]. Sloan was the first [[Baptists|Baptist]] minister to serve as Baylor's president in over 30 years, had read some of Dembski's work and liked it; according to Dembski, Sloan "made it clear that he wanted to get me on the faculty in some way."<ref name="monkey business">{{cite news |last=Kern |first=Lauren |date=January 11, 2001 |origyearorig-year=Originally published 2000 as "In God's Country"; ''Houston Press'' (Houston, TX: Voice Media Group) |title=Monkey Business |url=http://www.arn.org/docs/dembski/wd_dallasobserver0101.htm |newspaper=[[Dallas Observer]] |location=Dallas, TX |publisher=Voice Media Group |issn=0732-0299 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> The salaries were supported by a grant from the [[John Templeton Foundation]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Forrest |first1=Barbara |last2=Gross |first2=Paul R. |title=Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195319736 |page=306 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7mMSDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA306 |language=en}}</ref>

A few days later, the Baylor faculty senate voted by a margin of 27–2 to ask the administration to dissolve the center and merge it with the Institute for Faith and Learning. President Sloan refused, citing issues of censorship and academic integrity, but agreed to convene an outside committee to review the center. The committee recommended setting up a faculty advisory panel to oversee the science and religion components of the program, dropping the name "Michael Polanyi" and reconstituting the center as part of the Institute for Faith and Learning.<ref name="Polanyireport">{{cite web |url=http://pr.baylor.edu/pdf/001017polanyi.pdf |title=Polanyi Review Committee Report - 001017polanyi.pdf |last=Cooper |first=William F. (External Review Committee Chairman) |date=October 16, 2000 |website=pr.baylor.edu |publisher=[[Baylor University]] |location=Waco, TX |format=PDF |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030310061855/http://pr.baylor.edu/pdf/001017polanyi.pdf |archivedatearchive-date=March 10, 2003 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> These recommendations were accepted in full by the university administration.

In a subsequent press release, Dembski asserted that the committee had given an "unqualified affirmation of my own work on intelligent design," that its report "marks the triumph of intelligent design as a legitimate form of academic inquiry" and that "dogmatic opponents of design who demanded the Center be shut down have met their Waterloo. Baylor University is to be commended for remaining strong in the face of intolerant assaults on freedom of thought and expression."<ref name="Dembski_PR-2000-10-17">{{cite web |url=http://www.designinference.com/documents/2007.12.MPC_Rise_and_Fall.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080106063508/http://www.designinference.com/documents/2007.12.MPC_Rise_and_Fall.htm |dead-url-status=yesdead |archive-date=January 6, 2008 |title=Polanyi Center Press Release |last=Dembski |first=William A. |date=October 17, 2000 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Siemon-Netto |first=Uwe |authorlinkauthor-link=Uwe Siemon-Netto |date=December 21, 2000 |title=Commentary: It's Perilous to Ponder the Design of the Universe |url=http://www.arn.org/docs/dembski/wd_upicommentary1200.htm |agency=[[United Press International]] |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

President Sloan asked Dembski to withdraw his press release, but Dembski refused, accusing the university of "intellectual [[McCarthyism]]" (borrowing a phrase that Sloan himself had used when they first tried to dissolve the center). He declared that the university's action had been taken "in the utmost of bad faith ... thereby providing the fig leaf of justification for my removal."<ref name="Dembski_PR-2000-10-19">{{cite web |url=http://www.antievolution.org/people/dembski_wa/metanews_20001020_wad.txt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020628233524/http://www.antievolution.org/people/dembski_wa/metanews_20001020_wad.txt |url-status=usurped |archive-date=June 28, 2002 |title=Statement by William Dembski on His Removal as Director of the Michael Polanyi Center at Baylor University |last=Dembski |first=William A. |date=October 19, 2000 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> Professor Michael Beaty, director of the Institute for Faith and Learning, said that Dembski's remarks violated the spirit of cooperation that the committee had advocated and stated that "Dr. Dembski's actions after the release of the report compromised his ability to serve as director."<ref name="Brumley_PR-2000-10-19">{{cite web |url=http://www.antievolution.org/people/dembski_wa/metanews_20001019_brumley.txt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020628233618/http://www.antievolution.org/people/dembski_wa/metanews_20001019_brumley.txt |url-status=usurped |archive-date=June 28, 2002 |title=Dembski relieved of duties as Polanyi Center Director |last=Brumley |first=Larry |date=October 19, 2000 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> Dembski was removed as the center's director, although he remained an associate research professor until May 2005. He was not asked to teach any courses in that time and instead worked from home, writing books and speaking around the country. "In a sense, Baylor did me a favor," he said. "I had a five-year sabbatical."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/10/the-pseudo-scie.html |title=The Pseudo-Science Amicus Brief in ''Kitzmiller'' |last=Sandefur |first=Timothy |date=October 4, 2005 |website=[[The Panda's Thumb (blog)|The Panda's Thumb]] |publisher=The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. |location=Houston, TX |type=Blog |accessdateaccess-date=July 26, 2013}}</ref>

From 1999 to 2005, he was on the faculty of Baylor University, where he was a focus of attention and controversy. During the academic year 2005–2006, he was briefly the ''[[Carl F. H. Henry]] Professor of Theology and Science'' at the [[Southern Baptist Theological Seminary]] in [[Louisville, Kentucky]], as well as the first director of the school's new Center for Theology and Science (since replaced by prominent creationist [[Kurt Wise]]).<ref>{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Peter |date=April 16, 2006 |title=Creationist to will lead seminary science center |url=http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20060417/NEWS01/604170363/Creationist-will-lead-seminary-science-center |newspaper=[[The Courier-Journal]] |location=Louisville, KY |publisher=[[Gannett Company]] |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> The seminary teaches creationism but its professors vary on the details, with most adhering to the [[Young Earth creationism|young Earth creationist]] viewpoint of a relatively recent creation which occurred literally as described in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]; Dembski does not hold to young Earth creationism (YEC). On his position at Southern, Dembski also remarked that "Theology is where my ultimate passion is and I think that is where I can uniquely contribute."<ref name="Robinson">{{cite news |last=Robinson |first=Jeff |date=September 16, 2004 |title=Dembski to head seminary's new science & theology center |url=http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=19115 |work=[[Baptist Press]] |location=Nashville, TN |publisher=[[Southern Baptist Convention]] |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> He left Southern in May 2006.<ref name="SouthwesternBio">{{cite web |url=http://www.swbts.edu/index.cfm?pageid=800&enc=495E4B4A5433392C23442550435120415379 |title=School of Theology - Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary: William Dembski |website=[[Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary]] |publisher=Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary |location=Fort Worth, TX |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505085004/http://swbts.edu/index.cfm?pageid=800&enc=%20495E4B4A5433392C23442550435120415379 |archivedatearchive-date=May 5, 2012 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> Starting in June 2006 he became a professor in philosophy at [[Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary]] (SWBTS) in [[Fort Worth, Texas]]. Since taking up a position within Southwestern's School of Theology in June 2006, Dembski has taught a number of courses within its Department of Philosophy of Religion.<ref name="SouthwesternBio" /><ref name="'Teaching' page">{{cite web |url=http://designinference.com/dembski-on-intelligent-design/dembski-teaching/ |title=Teaching: Courses taught by William A. Dembski |website=DesignInference.com |publisher=William Dembski |location=Pella, IA |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> For some of his courses, he requires that his students promote intelligent design on "hostile" websites for course credit.<ref name="'Teaching' page" /> The [[Southern Baptist Convention]] operates both seminaries.

In September 2007, the SWBTS hosted a conference, "Intelligent Design in Business Practice," presented by Dembski, [[Acton Institute]] theologian [[Jay Richards]], and three business academics presently or formerly teaching at universities in the Southern United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.religionlink.com/tip_071008.php |title=Evolution vs. intelligent design: The battle continues |date=October 8, 2007 |website=ReligionLink |publisher=[[Religion Newswriters Association]]; [[Religion News Service|Religion News LLC]] |location=Westerville, OH |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817210402/http://www.religionlink.com/tip_071008.php |archivedatearchive-date=August 17, 2011 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014 }} Current version and URL of the article [http://www.religionlink.com/source-guides/evolution-vs-intelligent-design-the-battle-continues/ here] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110094817/http://www.religionlink.com/source-guides/evolution-vs-intelligent-design-the-battle-continues/ |date=January 10, 2014 }}.</ref>

{{Main article|Eric Pianka}}

On April 2, 2006, Dembski stated on his blog that he reported [[Eric Pianka]] to the [[United States Department of Homeland Security|Department of Homeland Security]] because he and fellow Discovery Institute Fellow [[Forrest Mims]] felt that [[Eric Pianka#Texas Academy of Science speech|Pianka's speech]] while accepting the Texas Academy of Science's Distinguished Texas Scientist Award in 2006 fomented [[bioterrorism]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/eric-pianka-time-for-an-interview-with-the-department-of-homeland-security/ |title=Eric Pianka: The Department of Homeland Security needs to interview you |last=Dembski |first=William |date=April 2, 2006 |website=Uncommon Descent |publisher=Uncommon Descent, Inc. |type=Blog |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> This resulted in the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] interviewing Pianka in Austin.<ref>{{cite news |last=Heinauer |first=Laura |date=April 5, 2006 |title=Professor's population speeches unnerve some |url=http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/5PIANKA.html |newspaper=[[Austin American-Statesman]] |location=Austin, TX |publisher=[[Cox Enterprises]] |issn=1553-8451 |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427212600/http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/5PIANKA.html |archivedatearchive-date=April 27, 2006 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> On April 5, Dembski wagered that Pianka's popularity would drop if the full text of his speech to the Texas Academy of Science waswere made public.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/1000-reward-and-1000-bet-pianka-again/ |title=[UPDATE:] $1000 reward and $1000 bet — Pianka again |last=Dembski |first=William |date=April 6, 2006 |website=Uncommon Descent |publisher=Uncommon Descent, Inc. |type=Blog |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

Subsequently, in July and August 2007, Dembski played a central role in the formation of the [[Evolutionary Informatics Lab]] (EIL), cofounded with Baylor University Engineering Professor [[Robert J. Marks II]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.evolutionnews.org/2012/02/the_evolutionar056061.html |title=The Evolutionary Informatics Lab: Putting Intelligent Design Predictions to the Test |last=Luskin |first=Casey |date=February 7, 2012 |website=Evolution News & Views |publisher=Discovery Institute |location=Seattle, WA |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> According to Baylor administration, the EIL website hosted at Baylor was deleted because it violated university policy forbidding professors from creating the impression that their personal views represent Baylor as an institution. Dembski says the website was removed because it dealt with intelligent design.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dembski |first=William A. |date=May 6, 2010 |title=FIRST-PERSON: Vindication for I.D. at Baylor? |url=http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=32885 |work=Baptist Press |location=Nashville, TN |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> Baylor said they would permit Marks to repost his website on their server, provided a 108-word disclaimer<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bergin |first=Mark |date=September 15, 2007 |title=Not so fast |url=http://www.worldmag.com/2007/09/not_so_fast |journal=[[World (magazine)|World]] |location=Asheville, NC |publisher=God's World Publications |volume=22 |issue=33 |issn=0888-157X |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> accompany any intelligent design-advancing research to make clear that the work does not represent the university's position.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.evolutionnews.org/2007/07/william_dembski_addresses_fort003949.html |title=William Dembski Addresses Forthcoming Intelligent Design Research that Advances ID and Answers Critics (updated) |last=Luskin |first=Casey |date=July 22, 2007 |website=Evolution News & Views |publisher=Discovery Institute |location=Seattle, WA |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bergin |first=Mark |date=August 25, 2007 |title=Crisis averted |url=http://www.worldmag.com/2007/08/crisis_averted |journal=World |location=Asheville, NC |publisher=God's World Publications |volume=22 |issue=31 |issn=0888-157X |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Farrell |first=Elizabeth F. |date=September 4, 2007 |title=Baylor U. Removes a Web Page Associated With Intelligent Design From Its Site |url=http://chronicle.com/article/Baylor-U-Removes-a-Web-Pag/121996/ |newspaper=[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]] |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=The Chronicle of Higher Education Inc. |issn=0009-5982 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> The site now resides on a third-party server and still contains the material advancing intelligent design.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.evoinfo.org/index/ |title=The Evolutionary Informatics Lab - EvoInfo.org |website=[[Evolutionary Informatics Lab]] |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> Dembski's participation was funded by a $30,000 grant from the Lifeworks Foundation, which is controlled by researcher Brendan Dixon of the [[Biologic Institute]] (which has close ties to the Discovery Institute).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org//990pf_pdf_archive/911/911942043/911942043_200612_990PF.pdf |title=031248d0.tif - 911942043_200612_990PF.pdf |type=[[IRS tax forms#990|IRS Form 990-PF]] |format=PDF |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014 |deadurlurl-status=yesdead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207032841/http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org//990pf_pdf_archive/911/911942043/911942043_200612_990PF.pdf |archivedatearchive-date=February 7, 2012 |df=mdy-all }} Return of Private Foundation (2006): The Lifeworks Foundation.</ref>

While serving as a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dembski wrote ''The End of Christianity'', which argued that a Christian can reconcile an [[Old Earth creationism|old Earth creationist]] view with a [[Biblical literalism|literal reading]] of [[Adam and Eve]] in the Bible by accepting the [[age of the Earth|scientific consensus of a 4.5 billion year of Earth]].<ref>[[#Dembski 2009|Dembski 2009]], p. 55: "The young earth-solution to reconciling the order of creation with natural history makes good exegetical and theological sense. Indeed, the overwhelming consensus of theologians up through the Reformation held to this view. I myself would adopt it in a heartbeat except that nature seems to present such strong evidence against it."</ref> He further argued that [[Genesis flood narrative|Noah's flood]] likely was a phenomenon limited to the Middle East.<ref name="HowOld">{{cite news |last=Roach |first=David |date=October 20, 2010 |title=How Old? Age of Earth debated among SBC scholars |url=http://www.gofbw.com/news.asp?ID=12220&fp=Y |newspaper=Florida Baptist Witness |location=Jacksonville, FL |publisher=Florida Baptist State Convention |issn=1092-7409 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> This caused controversy and Dembski's reading of the Bible was criticized by Tom Nettles, a young Earth creationist, in ''[[The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology]]'', Southern Seminary's official theological journal.<ref name="HowOld" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Nettles |first=Tom J. |year=2009 |title=The End of Christianity: Finding a Good God in an Evil World |url=http://www.sbts.edu/resources/files/2010/02/sbjt_134_book_reviews.pdf |formatarchive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.sbts.edu/resources/files/2010/02/sbjt_134_book_reviews.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=PDFlive |journal=[[The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology]] |type=Book review |location=Louisville, KY |publisher=Southern Baptist Theological Seminary |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=80–85 |issn=1520-7307 |accessdateaccess-date=December 28, 2012}}</ref> In 2010, the dean of Southwestern's School of Theology, David Allen, "released a White Paper through the seminary's Center for Theological Research defending Dembski as within the bounds of orthodoxy and critiquing Nettles for misunderstanding the book. The paper included Dembski's statement admitting error regarding Noah's flood."<ref name="HowOld" /><ref>[[#Allen 2010|Allen 2010]]</ref> Southwestern Seminary president [[Paige Patterson]], a young Earth creationist, "said that when Dembski's questionable statements came to light, he convened a meeting with Dembski and several high-ranking administrators at the seminary. At that meeting, Dembski was quick to admit that he was wrong about the flood. "'Had I had any inkling that Dr. Dembski was actually denying the absolute trustworthiness of the Bible, then that would have, of course, ended his relationship with the school,' he said."<ref name="HowOld" />

In December 2001, Dembski launched the [[International Society for Complexity, Information and Design]] (ISCID), of which he is Executive Director. Dembski is also the editor-in-chief of ISCID's journal, ''Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design'' (PCID), which appears to have ceased publication with its November 2005 issue.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Branch |first=Glenn |authorlinkauthor-link=Glenn Branch |date=November–December 2010 |title=The Latest 'Intelligent Design' Journal |url=http://ncse.com/book/export/html/6703 |journal=Reports of the National Center for Science Education |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=National Center for Science Education |volume=30 |issue=6 |pages=10–13 |issn=2158-818X |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> He has several more books in preparation as well as producing an [[SWF|Adobe Flash]] animation mocking Judge [[John E. Jones III]], who presided in the landmark 2005 ''[[Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District]]'' case.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.overwhelmingevidence.com/id/JJ_school_of_law/jones.swf |title=Judge Jones and the ACLU |website=Overwhelming Evidence |publisher=William Dembski |location=Pella, IA |format=Small Web Format (SWF) |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110091155/http://www.overwhelmingevidence.com/id/JJ_school_of_law/jones.swf |archivedatearchive-date=January 10, 2014 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> He is also a member of [[American Scientific Affiliation]], the [[Evangelical Philosophical Society]], and the [[American Mathematical Society]], and is a senior fellow of the [[Prison Fellowship|Wilberforce Forum]].

Dembski frequently gives public talks, principally to religious, pro-ID groups, and creationists. [[Barbara Forrest]] and [[Paul R. Gross]] noted that Dembski has not been hesitant in associating with young Earth creationists, such as attending conferences with [[Carl Baugh]].<ref>[[#Forrest & Gross 2004|Forrest & Gross 2004]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=aP4RxWZceNkC&pg=PA293#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 293]</ref> His lectures have been met with criticism: a presentation he made to the [[University of Oklahoma]] was funded by Trinity Baptist Church in [[Norman, Oklahoma]], as a "gospel investment" but university faculty instructors criticised Dembski's presentation as half-hearted, lackluster, containing numerous errors and distortions, lacking positive evidence for intelligent design, and for evading questions.<ref name="NCSE-DembskiLecture">{{cite journal |last=Dickson-LaPrade |first=Daniel |date=September–December 2007 |title=A Victory over 'Intelligent Design' in Oklahoma |url=http://ncse.com/rncse/27/5-6/victory-over-intelligent-design-oklahoma |journal=Reports of the National Center for Science Education |location=Berkeley, CA |publisher=National Center for Science Education |volume=24 |issue=5–6 |pages=7–8 |issn=2158-818X |accessdate=February 19, 2007}}</ref>

Dembski, along with fellow Discovery Institute associates Michael Behe and [[David Berlinski]], tutored [[Ann Coulter]] on science and evolution for her book ''[[Godless: The Church of Liberalism]]'' (2006).<ref>[[#Coulter 2007|Coulter 2007]], p. 319: "I couldn't have written about evolution without the generous tutoring of Michael Behe, David Berlinski, and William Dembski, all of whom are fabulous at translating complex ideas, unlike liberal arts types, who constantly force me to the dictionary to relearn the meaning of ''quotidian''."</ref> Approximately one-third of the book is devoted to [[polemic]]al attacks on evolution, which Coulter, as Dembski often does, terms "[[Darwinism]]."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/ann-coulter-the-wedge-for-the-masses/ |title=Ann Coulter: The Wedge for the Masses |last=Dembski |first=William |date=June 12, 2006 |website=Uncommon Descent |publisher=Uncommon Descent, Inc. |type=Blog |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

Dembski participated in the documentary film ''[[Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed]],'' released in 2008. Dembski told the ''Southern Baptist Texan'' that those who need to see the movie are the "parents of children in high school or college, as well as those children themselves, who may think that the biological sciences are a dispassionate search for truth about life but many of whose practitioners see biology, especially evolutionary biology, as an ideological weapon to destroy faith in God."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pierce |first=Jerry |title=Baptist professors featured in new film |url=http://robertmarks.org/InTheNews/2007_Media/080128_BaptistProfessorsFeatured.pdf |datearchive-url=January 28, 2008https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://robertmarks.org/InTheNews/2007_Media/080128_BaptistProfessorsFeatured.pdf |formatarchive-date=PDF2022-10-09 |journalurl-status=Southern Baptist Texanlive |locationdate=IrvingJanuary 28, TX2008 |publisherjournal=[[Southern BaptistsBaptist of Texas Convention]]Texan |oclc=46698671 |accessdateaccess-date=2014-01-10}}</ref> Dembski has appeared on several television shows, including a 2005 interview with [[Jon Stewart]] on ''[[The Daily Show]]'' with [[Edward Larson]] and Ellie Crystal where he said he accepted religion before science.<ref name="DailyShow">{{cite episode |title=Evolution, Schmevolution - Panel: Edward J. Larson, William A. Dembski, Ellie Crystal |url=http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-september-14-2005/evolution--schmevolution---panel--edward-j--larson--william-a--dembski--ellie-crystal |accessdateaccess-date=2014-01-10 |series=[[The Daily Show]] |first=Jon (host) |last=Stewart |authorlinkauthor-link=Jon Stewart |network=[[Comedy Central]] |date=September 14, 2005}}</ref>

In 2002, Dembski published his book ''No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence.'' Dembski's work was strongly criticized within the scientific community, which argued that there were a number of major logical inconsistencies and evidential gaps in Dembski's hypothesis. [[David Wolpert]], co-creator of the [[No free lunch theorem]] on which Dembski based his book, characterized his arguments as "fatally informal and imprecise," "written in jello," reminiscent of philosophical discussion "of art, music, and literature, as well as much of ethics" rather than of scientific debate.<ref name="jello">{{cite web |url=http://www.talkreason.org/articles/jello.cfm |title=William Dembski's Treatment of the No Free Lunch Theorems is Written in Jello |last=Wolpert |first=David H. |website=[[Talk.reason|Talk Reason]] |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

Mathematician [[Mark Perakh]] has stated he believes Dembski overemphasizes his own self-importance in his writing.<ref>[[#Forrest & Gross 2004|Forrest & Gross 2004]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=aP4RxWZceNkC&pg=PA118#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 118]</ref>

One of the common objections to intelligent design being accepted as valid science is that ID proponents have published no scientific papers in the [[Peer review|peer-reviewed]] scientific literature in support of their conjectures. The ruling in the 2005 Dover trial, ''Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District'', found that intelligent design had not been tested by the process of being published in a peer-reviewed [[scientific journal]] and was not supported by any peer-reviewed research, data or publications.<ref>''[[Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District]]'', [[s:Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District/4:Whether ID Is Science#Page 87 of 139|p. 87]]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aaas.org/spp/dser/03_Areas/evolution/issues/peerreview.shtml |title=Intelligent Design and Peer Review |website=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] |location=Washington, D.C. |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312080527/http://www.aaas.org/spp/dser/03_Areas/evolution/issues/peerreview.shtml |archivedatearchive-date=March 12, 2007 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> Despite the Dover trial ruling, the Discovery Institute lists Dembski's 1998 book ''The Design Inference'' under the heading "Peer-Reviewed Scientific Books Supportive of Intelligent Design Published by Trade Presses or University Presses."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.discovery.org/a/2640 |title=Peer-Reviewed & Peer-Edited Scientific Publications Supporting the Theory of Intelligent Design (Annotated) |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=February 1, 2012 |website=[[Center for Science and Culture]] |publisher=Discovery Institute |location=Seattle, WA |accessdateaccess-date=December 28, 2012 |deadurlurl-status=yesdead |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804092839/http://www.discovery.org/a/2640 |archivedatearchive-date=August 4, 2007 |df=mdy-all }} The July 1, 2007, version of page is .</ref> The Discovery Institute describes Dembski as a mathematician and philosopher, who includes in his credentials a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in psychology and postdoctoral work in mathematics, physics and computer science.<ref name="Dembski_SF" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.evolutionnews.org/2005/12/intelligent_design_might_be_me001691.html |title=Intelligent Design Might Be Meeting Its Maker? Ignorance on Display in the New York Times |last=West |first=John G. |authorlinkauthor-link=John G. West |date=December 4, 2005 |website=Evolution News & Views |publisher=Discovery Institute |location=Seattle, WA |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref><!--reference doesn't mention peer review: he has no peer-reviewed scientific publications and no recent mathematical publications.<ref>[http://designinference.com/dembski-on-intelligent-design/dembski-curriculum-vitae-resume/ CV/Resumé of William A. Dembski]</ref>-->

In an [[expert report]], [[Computer science|computer scientist]] and [[Number theory|number theorist]] [[Jeffrey Shallit]] states that despite common claims in the popular and religious press, Dembski is not a scientist by any reasonable standard, has not published any [[Empirical research|experimental or empirical tests]] of his claims, submitted his claims to the scrutiny of his peers or been published in a scientific journal. In a footnote, Shallit states that he does not consider mathematics to be science. Shallit describes Dembski's published mathematical output as "extremely small" for a research mathematician and remarks that "it is very unlikely that his meagre output would merit tenure at any major university."<ref name="shallit_report">{{cite web |url=http://ncse.com/files/pub/legal/kitzmiller/expert_reports/2005-05-16_Shallit_expert_rebuttal_P.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://ncse.com/files/pub/legal/kitzmiller/expert_reports/2005-05-16_Shallit_expert_rebuttal_P.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Expert Report under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 |last=Shallit |first=Jeffrey |authorlinkauthor-link=Jeffrey Shallit |date=May 16, 2005 |format=PDF |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}} Shallit's expert report in ''Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District''.</ref>

Since Shallit's statement, Dembski has (as of May 2010) published four peer-reviewed papers in [[information theory]] venues associated with the [[IEEE]] professional society. The papers deal with ''active information'' in the context of [[Search algorithm|search]]es for solutions to problems. Quantified active information is introduced in "Conservation of Information in Search: Measuring the Cost of Success."<ref>[[#Dembski & Marks 2009a|Dembski & Marks 2009a]]</ref> A second paper, "Evolutionary Synthesis of Nand Logic: Dissecting a Digital Organism,"<ref>[[#Ewert, Dembski & Marks 2009|Ewert, Dembski & Marks 2009]]</ref> claims to deconstruct the evolution simulation [[Avida (software)|Avida]] by uncovering the sources of active information in the program. A third paper<ref>[[#Dembski & Marks 2009b|Dembski & Marks 2009b]]</ref> discusses the role of [[Jacob Bernoulli]]'s ''[[principle of indifference]]'' in the analysis of evolution. The most recent paper, "Efficient Per Query Information Extraction from a Hamming Oracle,"<ref>[[#Ewert, Montañez, Dembski & Marks 2010|Ewert, Montañez, Dembski & Marks 2010]]</ref> calculates the performance of various search algorithms which use the [[Hamming distance]] to search for a single string of a certain length in the set of all strings of this length.

Dembski states that his book ''The Design Inference'' has also been peer-reviewed: "This book was published by Cambridge University Press and peer-reviewed as part of a distinguished monograph series, Cambridge Studies in Probability, Induction, and Decision Theory."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.designinference.com/documents/2003.10.Scott_Response.htm |title=Peer Review – Response to Eugenie Scott and the NCSE |last=Dembski |first=William |date=October 10, 2003 |website=DesignInference.com |publisher=William Dembski |location=Pella, IA |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> In his expert report, Shallit states, "I know that book manuscripts typically do not receive the same sort of scrutiny that research articles do. ...it is not uncommon for a 10-page paper to receive 5 pages or more of comments, whereas a book manuscript of two hundred pages often receives about the same number...."<ref name="shallit_report" /> In addition, Mark Isaak claims that Dembski's book was reviewed by philosophers and not biologists.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CI/CI001_4.html |title=Index to Creationist Claims: Claim CI001.4 |editor-last=Isaak |editor-first=Mark |website=[[TalkOrigins Archive]] |publisher=The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. |location=Houston, TX |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

In November 2007, a graduate student named S. A. Smith brought an apparent case of wholesale academic misuse of unlicensed content to public attention. She noticed that a video used by Dembski in his lecture was identical to ''[[The Inner Life of the Cell]]'' animation created by [[Harvard University]] and [[XVIVO Scientific Animation]]. The audio track giving a scientific explanation was stripped off and the video was used with an alternative narration. The matter was brought to the attention of Harvard and XVIVO. [[David Bolinsky]], creator of the video, wrote that Dembski was warned about using the video without permission.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.richarddawkins.net/article,2460,Expelled-ripped-off-Harvards-Inner-Life-of-the-Cell-animation,David-Bolinsky |title='Expelled' ripped off Harvard's 'Inner Life of the Cell' animation |last=Bolinsky |first=David |authorlinkauthor-link=David Bolinsky |date=April 10, 2008 |website=RichardDawkins.net |publisher=[[Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science]] |location=Arlington, VA |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413032341/http://www.richarddawkins.net/article,2460,Expelled-ripped-off-Harvards-Inner-Life-of-the-Cell-animation,David-Bolinsky |archivedatearchive-date=April 13, 2008 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

In response to the allegations, Dembski has claimed that he downloaded the video from the Internet, and added a voiceover narration that he deemed appropriate for his audience. According to Dembski, the downloaded version omitted the opening credits but contained the closing credits, which were shown to the audience.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uncommondescent.com/molecular-animations/news-release-harvards-xvivo-video/ |title=News Release: Harvard's XVIVO Video |last=Dembski |first=William A. |date=November 27, 2007 |website=Uncommon Descent |publisher=Uncommon Descent, Inc. |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> However, Smith later documented several instances where images from the Harvard/XVIVO animation were apparently removed from his book ''[[Of Pandas and People#The Design of Life|The Design of Life]]'' (2008) but the related footnotes and references were not.<ref name="Smith1">{{cite web |url=http://endogenousretrovirus.blogspot.com/2007/12/dembski-copyright-and-design-of-life.html |title=Dembski, Copyright, and 'Design of Life' |last=Smith |first=Abbie |date=December 17, 2007 |website=EVR |type=Blog |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Smith2">{{cite web |url=http://endogenousretrovirus.blogspot.com/2007/12/discovery-institute-dembski-copyright.html |title=Discovery Institute, Dembski, Copyright, and 'Design of Life' |last=Smith |first=Abbie |date=December 24, 2007 |website=EVR |type=Blog |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> indicating that Dembski was already aware that permission had been denied for him to use the animation when he delivered his presentation at the University of Oklahoma.<ref name="Smith2" />

On April 9, 2008, ''Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed'', a movie Dembski appears in, was given a [[cease and desist|cease-and-desist]] by XVIVO accusing Premise Media, the ''Expelled'' producers, of [[plagiarism]] concerning the same video.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ncse.com/files/pub/creationism/EXPELLED-Letter.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://ncse.com/files/pub/creationism/EXPELLED-Letter.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Re: Copyright infringement in 'Expelled: No Intel ligence Allowed' |last=Bolinsky |first=David |date=April 9, 2008 |type=Letter to Logan Craft |format=PDF |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> A June 2008 Premise Media press release announced Premise Media and XVIVO, LLC, "reached an agreement" noting "XVIVO has agreed that the Premise Media documentary does not infringe on any of XVIVO's intellectual property rights."<ref>{{cite press release |last1=Erhardt |first1=Megan |last2=Hutchins |first2=Mary Beth |date=July 24, 2008 |title=EXPELLED/XVIVO Agreement: No Infringement |url=https://www.reutersbusinesswire.com/articlenews/idUS183392+24 July 2008+BW20080724home/20080724005792/en/EXPELLEDXVIVO-Agreement-Infringement |location=Dallas, TX |publisher=Premise Media |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

{{Main article|Evolution}}

Dembski's views on evolution have been a source of considerable controversy within both the mainstream scientific and creationist communities. Dembski does not accept [[common descent|universal common descent]].<ref>{{cite interview |last=Dembski |first=William A |interviewer=Mario Lopez |title=An Interview with Dr. William A. Dembski (Updated) |url=http://www.ideacenter.org/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/1438 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> His mainstream scientific critics have accused him of dishonesty in his representation of scientific facts and writing,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/02/bill-dembski-an.html |title=Bill Dembski and the case of the unsupported assertion |last=Inlay |first=Matt |date=February 16, 2005 |website=The Panda's Thumb |publisher=The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. |location=Houston, TX |type=Blog |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Rosenhouse |first=Jason |authorlinkauthor-link=Jason Rosenhouse |date=November–December 2005 |title=Why Do Scientists Get So Angry When Dealing With ID Proponents? |url=http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/why_do_scientists_get_so_angry/ |journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |location=Amherst, NY |publisher=[[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] |volume=29 |issue=6 |issn=0194-6730 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> and he has also been criticised by the traditional creationist community for not supporting the young Earth creationist position,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://creation.com/id-theorist-blunders-on-bible-response-to-dembski |title=ID theorist blunders on Bible (response to Dembski) |last=Sarfati |first=Jonathan |authorlinkauthor-link=Jonathan Sarfati |date=February 7, 2005 |website=Creation.com |publisher=[[Creation Ministries International]] |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> though hethis iscommunity alsodoes defendeddefend onsome otherof groundshis byother the same creationist communityarguments.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Truman |first=Royal |date=August 1999 |title=Divining design |url=http://creation.com/divining-design |journal=Journal of Creation |type=Book review |location=Eight Mile Plains, Queensland |publisher=Creation Ministries International |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=34–39 |issn=1036-2916 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Truman |first=Royal |date=April 2000 |title=Designer science |url=http://creation.com/designer-science |journal=Journal of Creation |type=Book review |location=Eight Mile Plains, Queensland |publisher=Creation Ministries International |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=28–34 |issn=1036-2916 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2000/10/28/baptist-school-afraid-of-creation |title=Baptist School Afraid of Creation |date=October 28, 2000 |website=[[Answers in Genesis]] |publisher=Answers in Genesis of Kentucky, Inc |location=Hebron, KY |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

Dembski objects to the presence of the theory of evolution in a variety of disciplines, presenting intelligent design as an alternative to reductionist materialism that gives a sense of purpose that the unguided evolutionary process lacks<ref>{{cite news |last=Pike |first=Deidre |date=February 24, 2005 |title=Evolution Revolution |url=http://archives.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2005/02/24/cover_story/cover.txt |work=Las Vegas City Life |location=Las Vegas, NV |publisher=[[Stephens Media (newspapers)|Stephens Media LLC]] |accessdateaccess-date=August 9, 2010}}</ref> and the ultimate significance of ID is its success in undermining materialism and [[naturalism (philosophy)|naturalism]].<ref name="Robinson" /> Dembski has also stated that ID has little chance as a serious [[scientific theory]] as long as [[methodological naturalism]] is the basis for science.<ref>[[#Dembski 1995|Dembski 1995]]</ref> Although intelligent design proponents (including Dembski) have made little apparent effort to publish peer-reviewed scientific research to support their hypotheses, in recent years they have made vigorous efforts to promote the teaching of intelligent design in schools.<ref name="kitzmillerpg">''Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District'', [[s:Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District/4:Whether ID Is Science|pp. 63–139]]</ref> Dembski is a strong supporter of this drive as a means of making young people more receptive to intelligent design, and said he wants "to see intelligent design flourish as a scientific research program" among a "new generation of scholars" willing to consider the theory and textbooks that include it.<ref>[[#Forrest & Gross 2004|Forrest & Gross 2004]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=aP4RxWZceNkC&pg=PA301#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 301]</ref>

Dembski's hastheories do not explainedattempt to explain the origin of the intelligent designer that created the universe, which he argues is unnecessary, since such an intelligent designer is likely outside the dimensions of space and time, orwhich toare havethe subject of empirical science.

He has not had any of his pro-intelligent -design articles published in the peer-reviewed mainstream scientific journals. While intelligent design proponents often claimallege that such failure to get articlesbe published is due to an allegeda pro-evolution bias or conspiracy, Dembski himself has said that he prefers to disseminate his ideas in non-peer-reviewed media: "I've just gotten kind of blasé about submitting things to journals where you often wait two years to get things into print. And I find I can actually get the turnaround faster by writing a book and getting the ideas expressed there. My books sell well. I get a royalty. And the material gets read more."<ref>{{cite news |last=McMurtrie |first=Beth |date=December 21, 2001 |title=Darwinism Under Attack |url=http://www.arn.org/docs2/news/darwinismunderattack012502.htm |newspaper=The Chronicle of Higher Education |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=The Chronicle of Higher Education Inc. |issn=0009-5982 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

design is, ultimately, the Christian God."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000006139.cfm |title=Friday Five: William A. Dembski |last=Williams |first=Devon |date=December 14, 2007 |website=CitizenLink.com |publisher=[[Focus on the Family|Focus on the Family Action, Inc.]] |location=Colorado Springs, CO |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217212817/http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000006139.cfm |archivedatearchive-date=December 17, 2007 |accessdateaccess-date=May 17, 2008}}</ref>

{{Main article|Specified complexity}}

Specified complexity is ana argumentconcept proposed bywhich Dembski has proposed and used by him in his works promoting intelligent design. According to Dembski, thean concept isargument intended to formalizegive a propertyformal thatdefinition singles outof patterns that are both specified and complex. DembskiHe statesclaims that specified complexityit is a reliable marker of design by an intelligent agent, a central tenetconcept toof intelligent design, andas whichopposed Dembskito arguesnatural forselection in opposition to modern evolutionary theory. The concept of specified complexity is widely regarded as mathematically unsound and has not been the basis for further independent work in information theory, [[complexity theory and organizations|complexity theory]], or biology.<ref>{{cite web |last=Baldwin |first=Rich |url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/information/dembski.html |title=Information Theory and Creationism: William Dembski |date=July 14, 2005 |website=TalkOrigins Archive |publisher=The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. |location=Houston, TX |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.talkreason.org/articles/newmath.cfm |title=Dembski 'displaces Darwinism' mathematically – or does he? |last=Perakh |first=Mark |authorlinkauthor-link=Mark Perakh |date=March 18, 2005 |website=Talk Reason |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Rosenhouse |first=Jason |date=Fall 2001 |title=How Anti-Evolutionists Abuse Mathematics |url=http://educ.jmu.edu/~rosenhjd/sewell.pdf |formatarchive-url=PDFhttps://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://educ.jmu.edu/~rosenhjd/sewell.pdf |journalarchive-date=[[The Mathematical Intelligencer]]2022-10-09 |locationurl-status=Berlin; New Yorklive |publisherjournal=[[SpringerThe Science+BusinessMathematical MediaIntelligencer]] |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=3–8 |oclc=3526661 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014|doi=10.1007/bf03024593|s2cid=189888286 }}</ref> Specified complexity is one of the two main arguments used by intelligent design proponents, the other being irreducible complexity.

Dembski's position on intelligent design's relationship with Christianity has been inconsistent. He has suggested that the "intelligent designer" wasis not necessarily synonymous with a god: "It could be space aliens. There are many possibilities,"<ref>{{cite news |last=Hall |first=Carl T. |date=March 17, 2002 |title=Nature's diversity beyond evolution / Debate over 'intelligent design' |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Nature-s-diversity-beyond-evolution-Debate-over-2862950.php |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |publisher=[[Hearst Corporation]] |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> but has on several occasions been explicit in labelling the designer as the Christian god and linking ID with a Christianreligious revival through which Christianity can be restored to its formerly pre-eminent place in society, supplanting "materialist" science. In his book ''Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology'' he states "The conceptual soundings of the [intelligent design] theory can in the end only be located in Christ."<ref>[[#Dembski 1999|Dembski 1999]], p. 210</ref> On his website, DesignInference.com, Dembski said that intelligent design enablesprovides [[materialism]]an intellectual basis to berestore replaced[[Christian withphilosophy]] Christianityover [[materialism]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.designinference.com/documents/2005.02.Reply_to_Henry_Morris.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050217085428/http://www.designinference.com/documents/2005.02.Reply_to_Henry_Morris.htm |dead-url-status=yesdead |archive-date=February 17, 2005 |title=Intelligent Design's Contribution to the Debate Over Evolution: A Reply to Henry Morris |last=Dembski |first=William |date=February 1, 2005 |website=DesignInference.com |publisher=William Dembski |location=Pella, IA |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014 }}</ref>

Dembski has also spoken of his motivation for supporting intelligent design in a series of Sunday lectures in the Fellowship Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, the last of which took place on March 7, 2004. Answering a question, Dembski said it was to enable God to receive credit for creation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.talkreason.org/articles/revolution.cfm |title=The design revolution? |last=Perakh |first=Mark |date=March 21, 2004 |website=Talk Reason |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

Dembski sees intelligent design as being a popular movement as well as a scientific hypothesis and claims that it is in the process of dislodging evolution from the public imagination. At the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|CSICOP]]'s 4th World Skeptics Conference, held on June 20–23, 2002, in [[Burbank, California]], he told the audience that "over the next twenty-five years ID will provide the greatest challenge to skepticism." He asserted that "ID is threatening to be mainstream," and that polls show 90 percent support for the hypothesis, indicating that it has "already becom[e] mainstream within the public themselves." "The usual skeptical retorts are not going to work against ID" and ID "turns the tables on skepticism." Evolution, in his view, "is the ultimate status quo" and "squelches dissent." Young people, who "love rebellion" see that and are attracted to ID as a result. "The public supports intelligent design. The public is tired of being bullied by an intellectual elite." He contends that skeptics resort to rhetoric and "artificially define ID out of science," allowing inadmitting only materialmaterialistic explanations as matterslegitimate. ID "paints the more appealing world picture," whereas skepticism works by being negative, which "doesn't set well with the public... To most people evolution doesn't provide a compelling view."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Frazier |first1=Kendrick |authorlink1author-link1=Kendrick Frazier |last2=Radford |first2=Ben |authorlink2author-link2=Benjamin Radford |date=September–October 2002 |title=Fourth World Skeptics Conference in Burbank a Lively Foment of Ideas |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/fourth_world_skeptics_conference_in_burbank_a_lively_foment_of_ideas/ |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |location=Amherst, NY |publisher=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry |volume=26 |issue=5 |issn=0194-6730 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

Dembski has also indicated an interest in the [[Bible code]]. In a favorable book review of [[Jeffrey Satinover]]'s ''Cracking the Bible Code'' (1997), Dembski wrote that "The philosopher [[Bertrand Russell]] was once asked why he didn't believe in God. He replied, 'Not enough evidence.' Satinover's fascination with the Bible Code is that it may provide evidence for God's existence that would have convinced even a Bertrand Russell."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dembski |first=William A. |date=August–September 1998 |title=The Bible by Numbers |url=http://www.firstthings.com/article/2009/02/004-the-bible-by-numbers-44 |journal=[[First Things]] |type=Book review |location=New York |publisher=The Institute on Religion and Public Life |issue=85 |pages=61–64 |issn=1047-5141 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

Dembski once took his family to a meeting conducted by [[Todd Bentley]], a [[Faith healing|faith healer]], in hopes of receiving a "miraculous healing" for his son, who is autistic.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kofman |first1=Jeffrey |authorlink1author-link1=Jeffrey Kofman |last2=Yiu |first2=Karson |last3=Brennan |first3=Nicholas |date=July 9, 2008 |title=Thousands Flock to Revival in Search of Miracles |url=httphttps://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/FaithMatters/story?id=5338963&page=1 |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref><ref name="faithhealing">{{cite news |last=Dembski |first=William A. |date=July 11, 2008 |title=FIRST-PERSON: Faith & healing – Where's the evidence? |url=http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=28460 |work=Baptist Press |location=Nashville, TN |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |accessdateaccess-date=May 17, 2008}}</ref> In an article for the ''Baptist Press'' he recalled disappointment with the nature of the meeting and with the prevention of his son and other attendees from joining those in wheelchairs who were selected to receive prayer. He then concluded, "Minimal time was given to healing, though plenty was devoted to assaulting our senses with blaring insipid music and even to Bentley promoting and selling his own products (books and CDs)." He wrote that he did not regret the trip and called it an "education," which showed "how easily religion can be abused, in this case to exploit our family."<ref name="faithhealing" />

Dembski previews material on the Internet for [[open peer review]]. This helps identify errors and address objections prior to publication, allowing him to get "the last word in the exchange."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.designinference.com/documents/2004.04.Backlash.htm |title=Dealing with the Backlash |last=Dembski |first=William A. |date=April 14, 2004 |website=DesignInference.com |publisher=William Dembski |location=Pella, IA |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014 |archive-date=February 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227021047/http://www.designinference.com/documents/2004.04.Backlash.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Dembski's style in response to his critics (particularly of his mathematical papers) is polemical.<ref name="Dembski_Richards2001" /> For instance, in reply to a critique of the "law of conservation of information" posted on talkreason.org,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.talkreason.org/articles/dembski_LCI.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.talkreason.org/articles/dembski_LCI.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=On Dembski's Law of Conservation of Information |last=Tellgren |first=Erik |date=July 6, 2002 |website=Talk Reason |format=PDF |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref> Dembski states: "I'm not and never have been in the business of offering a strict mathematical proof for the inability of material mechanisms to generate specified complexity in the same way that no physicist is in the business of offering a strict mathematical proof for the conservation of energy."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.designinference.com/documents/2002.08.Erik_Response.htm |title=If Only Darwinists Scrutinized Their Own Work as Closely: A Response to 'Erik' |last=Dembski |first=William A. |website=DesignInference.com |publisher=William Dembski |location=Pella, IA |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014}}</ref>

*{{cite book |last=Dembski |first=William A. |year=1998 |title=[[The Design Inference|The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance through Small Probabilities]] |location=Cambridge; New York |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-62387-12 |lccn=98003020 |oclc=38551103 |author-mask=2 |ref=Dembski 1998a|title-link=The Design Inference }}

*{{cite book |last=Dembski |first=William A. |year=1999 |title=[[Intelligent Design (book)|Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology]] |location=Downers Grove, IL |publisher=[[InterVarsity Press]] |isbn=978-0-8308-1581-34 |lccn=99037141 |oclc=41628252 |author-mask=2 |ref=Dembski 1999|title-link=Intelligent Design (book) }}

*{{cite book |last=Dembski |first=William A. |year=2002 |title=No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qCDp8MjkkLQC&printsec=frontcover&dqq=no+free+lunch&hl=en&ei=-YhCTt_PA6eGsgLiorGxCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false |location=Lanham, MD |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |isbn=978-0-7425-1297-59 |lccn=2001031791 |oclc=46858256 |author-mask=2 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014 |ref=Dembski 2002}}

*{{cite book |last=Dembski |first=William A. |year=2004 |title=[[The Design Revolution|The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design]] |others=Foreword by [[Charles Colson|Charles W. Colson]] |location=Downers Grove, IL |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-3216-53 |lccn=2003020589 |oclc=53058980 |author-mask=2 |ref=Dembski 2004|title-link=The Design Revolution }}

*{{cite book |last1=Dembski |first1=William A. |last2=Wells |first2=Jonathan |authorlink2author-link2=Jonathan Wells (intelligent design advocate) |year=2008 |title=How to be an Intellectually Fulfilled Atheist (or not) |edition=1st |location=Wilmington, DE |publisher=[[Intercollegiate Studies Institute|ISI Books]] |isbn=978-1-933-85984-2 |lccn=2008934995 |oclc=232128215 |ref=Dembski & Wells 2008a}}

*{{cite book |last1=Dembski |first1=William A. |last2=Wells |first2=Jonathan |year=2008 |editor-last=Dembski |editor-first=William A. |title=[[Of Pandas and People#The Design of Life|The Design of Life: Discovering Signs of Intelligence in Biological Systems]] |location=Dallas |publisher=[[Foundation for Thought and Ethics]] |isbn=978-0-9800213-0-1 |lccn=2009281462 |oclc=183624199 |author1-mask=2 |author2-mask=2 |ref=Dembski & Wells 2008b|title-link=Of Pandas and People#The Design of Life }}

*{{cite book |editor-last=Dembski |editor-first=William A. |year=1998 |title=[[List of works on intelligent design#Supportive non-fiction anthologies|Mere Creation: Science, Faith & Intelligent Design]] |others=Foreword by [[Henry F. Schaefer, III]] |location=Downers Grove, IL |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-1515-59 |lccn=98020999 |oclc=38959771 |ref=Dembski 1998b|title-link=List of works on intelligent design#Supportive non-fiction anthologies }}

*{{cite book |last1=Amos |first1=Gary |last2=Gardiner |first2=Richard |year=1998 |editor-last=Dembski |editor-first=William A. |title=Never Before in History: America's Inspired Birth |series=Pandas Publications |others=Foreword by [[Thomas G. West]] |location=Dallas, TX |publisher=[[Foundation for Thought and Ethics#Publications|Haughton Publishing Company]] |isbn=978-0-914513-51-63 |lccn=98072936 |oclc=41105490 |ref=Amos & Gardiner 1998}}

*{{cite book |last1=Cole |first1=Deborah D. |last2=Duran |first2=Maureen Gallagher |year=1998 |editor-last=Dembski |editor-first=William A. |title=Sex and Character |series=Pandas Publications |others=Foreword by Joe S. McIlhaney, Jr., MD |location=Dallas, TX |publisher=Haughton Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-914513-50-86 |lccn=98072932 |oclc=41068752 |ref=Cole & Duran 1998}}

*{{cite book |last1=Behe |first1=Michael J. |authorlink1author-link1=Michael Behe |last2=Dembski |first2=William A. |last3=Meyer |first3=Stephen C. |authorlink3author-link3=Stephen C. Meyer |year=2000 |title=[[List of works on intelligent design#Supportive non-fiction books|Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe: Papers Presented at a Conference Sponsored by the Wethersfield Institute, New York City, September 25, 1999]] |series= Proceedings of the Wethersfield Institute |volume=9 |location=San Francisco, CA |publisher=[[Ignatius Press]] |isbn=978-0-89870-809-57 |lccn=00102374 |oclc=45720008 |ref=Behe, Dembski & Meyer 2000|title-link=List of works on intelligent design#Supportive non-fiction books }}

*{{cite book |editor1-last=Dembski |editor1-first=William A. |editor2-last=Kushiner |editor2-first=James M. |year=2001 |title=[[List of works on intelligent design#Supportive non-fiction books|Signs of Intelligence: Understanding Intelligent Design]] |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=[[Baker Publishing Group#Brazos Press|Brazos Press]] |isbn=978-1-58743-004-56 |lccn=00067612 |oclc=45499842 |ref=Dembski & Kushiner 2001|title-link=List of works on intelligent design#Supportive non-fiction books }}

*{{cite book |editor1-last=Dembski |editor1-first=William A. |editor2-last=Richards |editor2-first=Jay Wesley |year=2001 |title=Unapologetic Apologetics: Meeting the Challenges of Theological Studies |others=Foreword by [[Phillip E. Johnson]] |location=Downers Grove, IL |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-1563-50 |lccn=00047173 |oclc=45136696 |editor1-mask=2 |ref=Dembski & Richards 2001}}

*{{cite book |editor-last=Richards |editor-first=Jay W. |editor-link=Jay Richards |year=2002 |title=Are We Spiritual Machines?: Ray Kurzweil vs. the Critics of Strong A.I. |others=Contributions by [[George Gilder]], [[Ray Kurzweil]], [[John Searle]], William Dembski, [[Michael Denton]], and [[Thomas S. Ray]] |edition=1st |location=Seattle, WA |publisher=[[Discovery Institute#Discovery Institute Press|Discovery Institute Press]] |isbn=978-0-9638654-3-94 |lccn=2002101330 |oclc=59273082 |ref=Richards 2002}}

*{{cite book |last=Wiker |first=Benjamin |authorlinkauthor-link=Benjamin Wiker |year=2002 |title=Moral Darwinism: How We Became Hedonists |others=Foreword by William A. Dembski |location=Downers Grove, IL |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-2666-17 |lccn=2002004052 |oclc=49383607 |ref=Wiker 2002}}

*{{cite book |editor1-last=Dembski |editor1-first=William A. |editor2-last=Ruse |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-link=Michael Ruse |year=2004 |title=[[List of works on intelligent design#Neutral non-fiction anthologies|Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA]] |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-82949-6 |lccn=2004047363 |oclc=54826160 |ref=Dembski & Ruse 2004|title-link=List of works on intelligent design#Neutral non-fiction anthologies }} "Papers from a conference, entitled Design and its Critics, held at Concordia University, Mequon, Wis., June 22–24, 2000."

*{{cite book |editor-last=Dembski |editor-first=William A. |year=2004 |title=[[Uncommon Dissent|Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing]] |others=Foreword by John Wilson |location=Wilmington, DE |publisher=ISI Books |isbn=978-1-9322-3631-76 |lccn=2004102726 |oclc=55653649 |ref=Demski 2004|title-link=Uncommon Dissent }}

*{{cite book |last=Simmons |first=Geoffrey |authorlinkauthor-link=Geoffrey Simmons |year=2004 |title=What Darwin Didn't Know: A Doctor Dissects the Theory of Evolution |others=Foreword by William Dembski |location=Eugene, OR |publisher=Harvest House Publishers |isbn=978-0-7369-1313-03 |lccn=2003015099 |oclc=52621437 |ref=Simmons 2004}}

*{{cite book |editor1-last=Dembski |editor1-first=William A. |editor2-last=Licona |editor2-first=Michael R. |editor2-link=Michael R. Licona |year=2010 |title=Evidence for God: 50 Arguments for Faith from the Bible, History, Philosophy, and Science |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=[[Baker Publishing Group|Baker Books]] |isbn=978-0-8010-7260-4 |lccn=2010005990 |oclc= |editor1-mask=2 |ref=Dembski & Licona 2010}}

* {{cite book |last=Allen |first=David L. |date=February 2010 |title=A Reply to Tom Nettles' Review of William A. Dembski's The End of Christianity: Finding a Good God in an Evil World |url=http://www.baptisttheology.org/baptisttheology/assets/File/AReplytoTomNettlesReviewofDembskisTheEndofChristianity.pdf |formatarchive-url=PDFhttps://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.baptisttheology.org/baptisttheology/assets/File/AReplytoTomNettlesReviewofDembskisTheEndofChristianity.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |type=White paper |others=Preamble by Paige Patterson |location=Fort Worth, TX |publisher=The Center for Theological Research; Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary |oclc=525171820 |ref=Allen 2010}}

*{{cite book |last=Coulter |first=Ann H. |authorlinkauthor-link=Ann Coulter |year=2007 |origyearorig-year=Originally published 2006; New York: [[Crown Publishing Group|Crown Forum]] |title=[[Godless: The Church of Liberalism]] |edition=1st pbk. |location=New York |publisher=[[Three Rivers Press]] |isbn=978-1-4000-5421-3 |lccn=2007280683 |oclc=148652646 |ref=Coulter 2007|title-link=Godless: The Church of Liberalism }}

*{{cite journal |last=Dembski |first=William A. |year=1991 |title=Randomness by Design |url=http://www.designinference.com/documents/2002.09.rndmnsbydes.pdf |formatarchive-url=PDFhttps://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.designinference.com/documents/2002.09.rndmnsbydes.pdf |journalarchive-date=[[Noûs]]2022-10-09 |locationurl-status=Hoboken, NJlive |publisherjournal=[[Wiley-BlackwellNoûs]] |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=75–106 |issn=0029-4624 |accessdateaccess-date=August 11, 2010 |ref=Dembski 1991 |doi=10.2307/2216094|jstor=2216094 }}

*{{cite journal |last=Dembski |first=William A. |year=1995 |title=What Every Theologian Should Know about Creation, Evolution and Design |url=http://www.discovery.org/a/122 |journal=[[The Princeton Theological Review]] |location=Princeton, NJ |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=15–21 |issn=1945-4813 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014 |ref=Dembski 1995}}

* {{cite journal |last1=Dembski |first1=William A. |last2=Marks II |first2=Robert J. |authorlink2author-link2=Robert J. Marks II |date=September 2009 |title=Conservation of Information in Search: Measuring the Cost of Success |url=http://evoinfo.org/papers/2009_ConservationOfInformationInSearch.pdf |formatarchive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://evoinfo.org/papers/2009_ConservationOfInformationInSearch.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=PDFlive |journal=IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics—PartCybernetics - Part A: Systems and Humans |location=New York |publisher=[[IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society]] |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=1051–1061 |doi=10.1109/TSMCA.2009.2025027 |s2cid=14421612 |issn=1083-4427 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014 |ref=Dembski & Marks 2009a}}

* {{cite conference |url=http://evoinfo.org/papers/2009_BernoullisPrinciple.pdf |formatarchive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://evoinfo.org/papers/2009_BernoullisPrinciple.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=PDFlive |title=Bernoulli's Principle of Insufficient Reason and Conservation of Information in Computer Search |last1=Dembski |first1=William A. |last2=Marks II |first2=Robert J. |date=October 11–14, 2009 |conference=Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics |publisher=IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society |location=San Antonio, TX |pages=2647–2652 |isbn=978-1-4244-2794-9 |issn=1062-922X |doi=10.1109/ICSMC.2009.5346119 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014 |ref=Dembski & Marks 2009b}}

* {{cite conference |url=http://marksmannetevoinfo.comorg/RobertMarkspapers/REPRINTS/20102009_EvolutionarySynthesis.pdf |archive-EfficientPerQueryInformationExtractionurl=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://evoinfo.org/papers/2009_EvolutionarySynthesis.pdf |formatarchive-date=PDF2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=EfficientEvolutionary PerSynthesis Queryof InformationNand ExtractionLogic: fromDissecting a HammingDigital OracleOrganism |last1=Ewert |first1=Winston |last2=MontañezDembski |first2=George |last3=Dembski |first3=William A. |last4last3=Marks II |first4first3=Robert J. |date=MarchOctober 7–911–14, 20102009 |conference=2010Proceedings 42ndof Southeasternthe Symposium2009 IEEE International Conference on SystemSystems, TheoryMan, and Cybernetics |publisher=[[InstituteIEEE ofSystems, ElectricalMan, and ElectronicsCybernetics Engineers]]Society |location=[[UniversitySan of Texas atAntonio, Tyler]]TX |pages=290–2973047–3053 |isbn=978-1-4244-56902794-19 |issn=00941062-2898922X |doi=10.1109/SSSTICSMC.20102009.54428165345941 |accessdateaccess-date=January 10, 2014 |ref=Ewert, Montañez, Dembski & Marks 20102009}}

* {{cite book |last1last=Forrest |first1first=Barbara |last2author-link=GrossBarbara Forrest |first2year=Paul R.2001 |authorlink2chapter=PaulThe R.Wedge Grossat Work: How Intelligent Design Creationism Is Wedging Its Way into the Cultural and Academic Mainstream |yearchapter-url=2004http://www.talkreason.org/articles/Wedge.cfm#I |title=[[Intelligent Design Creationism's Trojanand HorseIts Critics: ThePhilosophical, WedgeTheological, ofand IntelligentScientific Design]]Perspectives |locationeditor-last=Oxford;Pennock New|editor-first=Robert T |editor-link=Robert T. Pennock |location=Cambridge, YorkMA |publisher=[[Oxford UniversityMIT Press]] |isbn=978-0-19262-51574266124-79 |oclclccn=509130782001031276 |lccnoclc=200219267746729201 |ref=Forrest & Gross 20042001}}

* {{cite book |yearlast1=2004Forrest |editor1-lastfirst1=YoungBarbara |editor1-firstlast2=MattGross |editor2-lastfirst2=EdisPaul |editor2-first=TanerR. | editorauthor-link2=TanerPaul EdisR. Gross |year=2004 |title=WhyCreationism's IntelligentTrojan Design FailsHorse: AThe Scientific CritiqueWedge of theIntelligent New CreationismDesign |location=Oxford; New Brunswick, NJYork |publisher=[[RutgersOxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-813519-3433515742-X0 |lccnoclc=200302010050913078 |oclclccn=597175332002192677 |ref=YoungForrest & EdisGross 2004|title-link=Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design }}

'''Reviews/Analysisanalysis of Dembski'''

* [http://philosophy.wisc.edu/sober/dembski.pdf "How Not to Detect Design--- A Review of William Dembski's The Design Inference"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225145109/http://philosophy.wisc.edu/sober/dembski.pdf |date=February 25, 2009 }} (PDF) – a book review by [[Branden Fitelson]], Christopher Stephens, and [[Elliott Sober]] in ''[[Philosophy of Science (journal)|Philosophy of Science]]'' (1999) '''66''': 472–488

'''Biographical Informationinformation'''

;'''Other'''

* {{imdbIMDb name|1745037}}

[[Category:21st-century American theologiansnon-fiction writers]]

[[Category:Autism21st-century activistsAmerican theologians]]

[[Category:ChristianEvangelical writerstheologians]]

[[Category:University of Illinois at Chicago alumni]]