Design by deity or Darwin? Nature or nurture? Maybe we're born with it, maybe it's evolution.

Four scholars will discuss evolution and intelligent design at the 11th annual Religion and the Humanities Conference at UVSC on Friday.

"The media portrayal of the issue has not done justice to the real theoretical issues at stake in the debate," said Brian Birch, director of Religious Studies at UVSC and conference sponsor. "We hope that the audience walks away with a deeper sense how science and religion relate."

Four panel members -- two representing religion, two representing science -- will each deliver a paper for approximately 45-50 minutes followed by Q&A with more informal dialogue between participants and the audience.

"We couldn't ask for a more qualified, or more diverse, set of scholars to participate in the conference," said Birch. "It should be a very stimulating and productive discussion."

The issue has been bouncing around the country for years, stirring controversy in places such as Kansas, where the board of education went so far as to remove evolution from the teaching curriculum.

Last February, Senate Bill 96, also called the "origins of life" bill, brought the debate to the Utah Legislature. The bill, which failed in a 46-28 vote, would have required science teachers to offer a disclaimer when introducing lessons on evolution stating that not all scientists agree on the origins of life.

Conference speakers include John Haught, author and former chairman for the Department of Theology at Georgetown from 1990-1995; Michael Ruse, author and philosophy professor at Florida State University; Paul Nelson, philosopher and fellow at the pro-intelligent design Discovery Institute; and Robin Collins, also a fellow at Discovery Institute and philosophy professor at Messiah College, a private Christian college in Pennsylvania. All four speakers hold Ph.D.s.

Past Religion and Humanities Conference topics include religion and democracy, religion and violence, the varieties of Christianity, and religious perspectives on the environment.

The conference begins at 9 a.m. Friday at UVSC's Sorensen Student Center and continues Friday night at Westminster College in Salt Lake City from 7-9 p.m. in the Gore Auditorium.

Schedule of Events

Religion and Humanities Conference "Intelligent Design: Toward an Intelligent Discussion"

Friday

Utah Valley State College

Student Center, Room 206 a&b

9-10 a.m., Paul Nelson: "Does Intelligent Design Explain Anything at All?"

10-11 a.m., Michael Ruse: "The Evolution-Creation Struggle: An American Story"

11-noon, Panel Discussion: "Social Implications for the Intelligent Design Debate"

1-2 p.m. John Haught: "Evolution and Faith: What's at Stake"

2-3 p.m. Robin Collins: "The Evidential and Scientific Status of Intelligent Design: Lessons from Physics and Cosmology"

3-4 p.m. Panel Discussion: "The Religious Merits of Intelligent Design"

Evolution vs. Creationism: A Timeline of Major Events

Note: these exact dates are theoretical

13,700,000,000 BC: Universe emerged from a extremely dense and hot state, also known as the "Big Bang Theory"

4,567,000,000 BC: Geologists' estimate of when the earth was formed

3,200,000 BC: Lucy, one of the oldest skeletons ever found, lived at this time

6,000 BC: Creationists' estimated beginning of humanity starting with Adam and Eve.

1831: The H.M.S. Beagle begins its five-year voyage with British naturalist Charles Darwin on board. His studies of wildlife on the voyage led him to investigate the transmutation of species

1838: Darwin conceives his theory of natural selection.

1925: Tennessee's Butler Act forbid the teaching of any evolutionary theory in public schools that indicated that man descended from lower orders of animals.

1925: Scopes v. State. In the famous "Monkey Trial", John Scopes was convicted and fined $100 for teaching evolution in his Dayton, Tenn., classroom in the first highly publicized trial concerning the teaching of evolution.

1968: Epperson v. Arkansas. Susan Epperson, a first-year science teacher and devout churchgoer, saw no conflict between Christianity and evolution. The case invalidated an Arkansas statute that prohibited the teaching of evolution in the public schools. The Supreme Court held that the Establishment Clause prohibits the state from advancing any religion and determined that the Arkansas law, which allowed the teaching of creation while disallowing the teaching of evolution, advanced a religion.

1996: The Alabama State Board of Education adopted a textbook sticker disclaimer reading, "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered." It has since been adopted by other states and individual counties.

1999: The Kansas State School Board votes to remove the teaching of evolution from the state's science curriculum. It was changed in 2005 to give equal time to evolution and intelligent design. In 2006, supporters of creationism were voted off the board in favor of those supporting evolution.

2004: Grand Canyon National Park superintendent Joe Alston attempts to block the sale of "Grand Canyon, a Different View" in park bookstores, because of its view that the canyon was created some 4,500 years ago as a result of Noah's flood. The book is moved from the "natural sciences" section to the "inspirational reading" section.

2006: The Utah State Legislature turns down Senate Bill 96, which would have required science teachers to offer a disclaimer when introducing lessons on evolution stating that not all scientists agree on the origins of life.