William Paley

Can scientific evidence be used either to confirm or disconfirm the existence of God? Darwinists feel that God has no role in science, since science should try to find natural, not supernatural, explanations for the phenomena they observe. Creationists, by contrast, believe that the natural world provides clear evidence for the existence of a creator. There is no more compelling statement of this position than the one given by William Paley.

William Paley (1743-1805) was an Anglican theologian and Archdeacon of Carlisle in rural England. He was an avid naturalist, fond of collecting specimens.

The following selection is Paley's famous "design argument" for the existence of God, taken from his book Natural Theology. The same argument, which draws an analogy between a man—made watch and the complex productions of nature, is still used...