Neo-creo

That's why there's no scientific controversy about common descent, the "fact of evolution." When pressed, even neo-creos (such as Michael Behe, the author of Darwin's Black Box) admit this (although, under other circumstances they're inclined to hedge and fudge).

In the early 1990's, however, a new breed of creationists appeared. These "neo-creos," as they have been called, are no Dogpatch hayseeds. They have Ph.D.'s and occupy positions at some of the better universities. The case they make against Darwinism does not rest on the authority of Scripture; rather, it proceeds from premises that are scientific and philosophical, invoking esoteric ideas in molecular biology, information theory and the logic of hypothesis testing.

To counter the "sophisticated branding experts" who flummoxed establishmentarian evolutionaries with intelligent design, opponents of classroom debate over Darwin's theory have come up with a catchily derisive neologism that lumps the modern I.D. advocates with religious fundamentalists: neo-creo.

That makes it all the more important for the layman to distinguish the various gradations between evolutionists, serious scientists who are interested in ID, "neo-Creos," and Biblical literalists.

I come at last to the most basic difficulty with the neo-creo attack, it's dim suggestions that the scientific world needs a shot of supernaturalism.