William A. Dembski holds doctorates in mathematics (University of Chicago) and in philosophy (University of Illinois at Chicago). He is Research Professor in Philosophy at Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas and Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. He has authored and edited more than a dozen books, including the first book on intelligent design to be published by a major university press, “The Design Inference: eliminating chance through small probabilities” (Cambridge University Press, 1998). He lectures around the globe on intelligent design and has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, including ABC’s Nightline and Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show.

Dr. Michael Ruse: In the Evolutionary wars, few thinkers are as important, as original, or as controversial as Michael Ruse. An ardent evolutionist, Ruse, for decades, has fought the Creationist agenda in the classroom, in the courtroom, and in the political and public arenas. He’s also unafraid to boldly criticize some fellow evolutionists, such as Richard Dawkins: Ruse believes that by challenging the validity of religious beliefs, these evolutionists actually harm the public image of Darwinism. He argues, deftly, that science and religion can be harmonized.

Now approaching his fifth decade of teaching, Michael Ruse is a popular professor at Florida State University, where he helped build their History and Philosophy of Science programs. He started the journal Biology and Philosophy, has edited Evolution: The First Four Billion Years, and has been profiled in many publications. His books include The Evolution-Creation Struggle (a New York Magazine Academic Book of the Year), and Can a Darwinian Be a Christian?

In 1981, Michael Ruse appeared for the ACLU as an expert witness in a successful attempt to stop a bill that mandated the teaching of Genesis in Arizona’s biology classrooms. He now regularly debates William A. Dembski, a known proponent of Intelligent Design.