Dembski on Fundamentalism

Now that he has left Southwestern Seminary, William Dembski can be open about his Old Earth beliefs again - since he is no longer in danger of being forced out of his job. (Yes, he would have been Expelled)He has some scathing words, and while his mentions of the situation at Baylor are slanted at the very least, I think that there is more truth in what he says about the Fundamentalists - as he uses the term. Disillusion with FundamentalismI think the attitude described here will seem familiar:

I won't say that the idea is sane, but Dembski is hardly the only one to suggest it. Randman's version was even more insane - and I'd come across the general idea before that.Edited by PaulK, : Clarification

What is also interesting is that - despite the fact that Dembskis treatment at Southwestern was worse than anything that has actually happened to creationists or ID supporters elsewhere - there has been little pushback from the ID movement or calls for academic freedom. Even Dembski only seems to think that the range of acceptable views should be a little wider, not that the threat of immediate sacking for presenting a theologically unacceptable viewpoint is inherently wrong.And I think this is related to your observation. I think that the ID movement in general has no objection to firing people for taking positions that THEY find unacceptable. They have no real commitment to academic freedom as a principle. It's just a convenient thing to say, to try and get what they want.Edited by PaulK, : Tidy up a minor mismatch

The ID leadership seems to be more OEC, but very tolerant of YEC. They do, I think, rely on YEC support which is why they tend not to push old Earth beliefs much.The main reason the difference cones up is when they insist that the term "Creationist" means YEC (blaming the "Darwinists" of course) so they can deny being Creationists. Richard Sternberg used that gambit, expressly denying that he was a Young Earther as "proof" that he wasn't a Creationist despite his association with the YEC "Baraminology" group.