Muokataan sivua Francis J. Beckwith

'''Francis J. "Frank" Beckwith''' (syntynyt 1960) on amerikkalainen filosofi, kristitty apologeetta, tutkija ja luennoitsija. Hän toimii professorina Baylorin yliopistossa. Beckwithin tutkimusalueeseen kuuluvat käytännöllinen etiikka, sovellettu etiikka, oikeusfilosofia ja uskonnonfilosofia.

Beckwith has defended the [[pro-life]] position on [[abortion]]<ref>[http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/may/07051609.html Bio-ethics Philosopher and Evangelical President Francis Beckwith Joins Catholic Church] - Accessed December 15, 2007</ref> and the [[US Constitution|constitutional]] permissibility of the teaching of [[intelligent design]] in [[public school (government funded)|public schools]].<ref>[http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22949 Baylor denies tenure to highly regarded Beckwith] - Accessed December 15, 2007</ref> Beckwith is a former fellow at the [[Discovery Institute]],<ref>[http://www.discovery.org/a/2144 National Review Online - What would Reagan do?] - Accessed December 15, 2007</ref> the "hub of the [[intelligent design movement]],"<ref>[http://www.bcseweb.org.uk/index.php/Main/TruthInScienceMaterial British Centre for Science Education - Truth In Science Material] - Accessed December 15, 2007</ref> and a former member of the advisory board for the [[Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness Center]].<ref name=ideacenter>[http://www.ideacenter.org/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/1129#five Corrections and Comments to statements made about the IDEA Center in Creationism's Trojan Horse] IDEA Center staff. Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness.</ref> As of late 2007, he is a fellow at The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity (CBHD);<ref>[http://www.cbhd.org/aboutcbhd/fellows/beckwith.htm Meet Francis J. Beckwith], The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity</ref> and a professor at Baylor's Institute for the Studies of Religion (ISR).<ref>[http://www.baylor.edu/isreligion/index.php?id=33248 Francis J. Beckwith], [[Baylor University]]</ref> In 2007, he converted to [[Catholicism]] from [[Protestant]] [[Evangelicalism]].<ref name="BeckwithBlog1">{{Cite web|title=My Return to the Catholic Church |accessdate=2012-03-09 |url=http://chnetwork.org/Conversionstories/francisbeckwith.html |author=Francis J. Beckwith |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213014804/http://chnetwork.org/Conversionstories/francisbeckwith.html |archivedate=December 13, 2010 }}</ref>

== Education and career ==
Beckwith was born in [[New York City]]. He is a graduate of the [[University of Nevada, Las Vegas]] (B.A. in Philosophy), [[Simon Greenleaf School of Law]], Anaheim (M.A. in apologetics), [[Fordham University]] (Ph.D. and M.A. in philosophy) and the [[Washington University in St. Louis|Washington University School of Law, St. Louis]] (Master of Juridical Studies).<ref>[http://magazine.unlv.edu/Issues/Winter05/80s.html UNLV Magazine - Winter 2005 - Class notes] - Accessed October 16, 2007</ref>

A condensed version of Beckwith's 1984 M.A. thesis on the [[Bahá'í Faith]] was published by [[Bethany House]] in 1985.

Other social ethics questions to which he has contributed include the influence of relativism on public culture,<ref>[https://secure2.convio.net/str/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=1101&store_id=1161&JServSessionIdr012=fh0q2dsrm2.app6a Relativism:  Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air] - Accessed December 16, 2007</ref> [[affirmative action]] and [[discrimination]], [[same-sex marriage]], [[bioethics]] generally (including cloning), and the interpretation of constitutional issues as they touch on religious liberty and practices, such as the inclusion of intelligent design in public school science curricula.

Beckwith has held academic appointments at [[Whittier College]] (1996–1997) and [[Trinity International University]] (1997–2002).<ref>[http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/g-813.html A Guide to Christian Resources on the Internet - Francis Beckwith: A Contribution to Apologetics] - Accessed December 16, 2007</ref>

In November 2005, Beckwith became the president-elect of the [[Evangelical Theological Society]], a professional organization of theologians.  He is also a member of the [[American Philosophical Association]]'s Committee on Philosophy and Law.

In May 2007 Professor Beckwith made public his conversion to the [[Roman Catholic Church]], which took place in late April 2007, and he resigned as both President of the Evangelical Theological Society and  member of the society, effective May 7, 2007.<ref name="BeckwithBlog1"/>

He now resides with his wife in [[Texas]].

==Intelligent design and Discovery Institute==
Beckwith denies being an intelligent design advocate and claims that his interests lie in the legal and cultural questions raised by the movement.<ref>[http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2005/MJ/LTE/beck.htm Letter to the Editor], Francis J. Beckwith, Academe, May June 2005</ref> Beckwith has stated that although he is sympathetic to the [[intelligent design movement]], he thinks it mistakenly accepts "the modern idea that an Enlightenment view of science is the paradigm of knowledge."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.whatswrongwiththeworld.net/2008/11/the_truth_about_me_and_intelli_1.html |title=The Truth About me and Intelligent Design |accessdate=16 November 2008 |author=Francis Beckwith |date= 10 November 2008|year= What's Wrong with the World}}</ref> Critics of intelligent design, such as [[Barbara Forrest]], consider Beckwith a proponent.<ref>[http://law.wustl.edu/WULQ/83-1/p%201%20Brauer%20Forrest%20Gey%20book%20pages.pdf ''Is It Science Yet?: Intelligent Design, Creationism And The Constitution''], Matthew J. Brauer, Barbara Forrest, Steven G. Gey, Washington University
Law Quarterly, Volume 83, Number 1, 2005. (PDF file)</ref> The Thomas More Law Center, which defended the pro-ID Dover Area School District in the 2005 ''[[Kitzmiller v. Dover]]'' litigation, considered him enough of a proponent to ask him to testify as an expert witness in the case, but he declined.<ref>[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/talk.origins/beckwith$202005/talk.origins/b8VuR4wnDZw/F6HSPLJrwm0J ID Debate at Harvard Law School: Wexler vs. Beckwith], report by observer "Hiero5ant," posted to Talk.Origins Newsgroup, April 19, 2005.</ref> Beckwith often speaks on the legal permissibility of teaching intelligent design in public school science classes, arguing that it is legally permissible and arguing against the ruling in ''[[Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District]]'' that intelligent design is essentially religious in nature, a form of [[creationism]], and thus its teaching as science in public schools violates the [[Establishment Clause]] of the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]]. He provided much of the legal reasoning and justification behind the claim of the Discovery Institute that intelligent design is not a religious belief and maintains that the religious motives of the policy's supporters, which he says the judge in the case relied on, should have no bearing on assessing the constitutionality of the policy, since a motive is a belief and the federal courts have, in other contexts, forbidden the government's assessing of beliefs.<ref>[http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?Id=22645 ''Faith factors don’t negate Intelligent Design, prof says''], Marilyn Stewart. Baptist Press, February 13, 2006</ref><ref>[http://homepage.mac.com/francis.beckwith/HCLQ.pdf The Court of Disbelief, The Constitution's Article VI Religious Test Prohibition and the Judiciary's Religious Motive Analysis] Francis Beckwith. Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, Winter/Spring 2006.</ref> Beckwith is closely tied to the [[Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns]], both from his arguments and writings being often repeated and promoted by the Discovery Institute<ref>[http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=submitSearchQuery&query=Francis%20J.%20Beckwith&orderBy=date&orderDir=DESC&searchBy=author&searchType=all Article database listing for Francis J. Beckwith], [[Discovery Institute]]</ref> and by receiving support from the Institute during his tenure controversy.<ref name=scandal_brew>[http://www.evolutionnews.org/2006/03/scandal_at_baylor_university_d.html Scandal Brewing at Baylor University? Denial of Tenure to Francis Beckwith Raises Serious Questions about Fairness and Academic Freedom] John West. Discovery Institute's EvolutionNews.org, March 28, 2006</ref><ref name=hot_seat>[http://www.evolutionnews.org/2006/03/baylor_university_in_the_hot_s.html Baylor University in the Hot Seat] John West Discovery Institute's EvolutionNews.org, March 28, 2006</ref><ref name=right_wrong>[http://www.evolutionnews.org/2006/04/pressure_on_baylor_university.html Pressure on Baylor University Building to Right the Wrong Done to Dr. Beckwith] Robert Crowther. Discovery Institute's EvolutionNews.org, April 5, 2006</ref><ref name=tenure_scandal>[http://www.evolutionnews.org/2006/09/new_disclosures_in_baylor_deni.html New Disclosures in Baylor Tenure Scandal] John West. Discovery Institute's EvolutionNews.org, September 5, 2006</ref> Beckwith endorsed fellow Discovery Institute Fellow [[Richard Weikart]]'s controversial book, ''From Darwin to Hitler, Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics and Racism in Germany''.<ref>[https://archive.is/20070203185854/http://web.csustan.edu/History/Faculty/Weikart/FromDarwintoHitler.htm From Darwin To Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism In Germany]</ref> However, Beckwith writes of his unease, in a post for the [[Biologos Foundation]], with intelligent design theory because of his commitment to classical Christian philosophy:

"I had begun to better appreciate why some Christian philosophers (mostly Catholic ones), all influenced by St. [[Thomas Aquinas]], never jumped on the ID bandwagon.... I had not properly thought through the implications of ID for a Christian philosophy of nature. For this reason, I am now convinced that my initial and growing unease with the Behe/Dembski arguments arose precisely because my Thomist philosophy could not accommodate them.... During that time I was beginning to think more critically of the Behe/Dembski arguments as I brought Thomist philosophy to bear on them."<ref>[http://biologos.org/blog/intelligent-design-and-me-part-ii-confessions-of-a-doting-thomist]</ref>

== Controversy ==
In 2003, shortly after his appointment as associate director of the J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor, 29 members of the Dawson family called on Baylor University to remove Beckwith as associate director.<ref>[http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2005/JF/Feat/forr.htm Wedging Creationism into the Academy] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070729000000/http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2005/JF/Feat/forr.htm |date=July 29, 2007 }} Barbara Forrest and Glenn Branch. Acadame,  January–February 2005. American Association of University Professors (AAUP)</ref> In a letter the Dawson family members questioned the appointment of Beckwith, accusing him of holding church-state positions contrary to the strong stand for [[separation of church and state in the United States|separation]] advocated by Dawson: "We are troubled because Dr. Beckwith is a fellow of the Discovery Institute. The activities of this organization are widely recognized in the academic community as engaging in political activities that contravene the fundamental principle of the separation of church and state for which J.M. Dawson stood....

"The Discovery Institute works to get the concept called 'intelligent design' into the science curriculum of public school textbooks, claiming that intelligent design is a scientific, not a religious, concept. In our judgment and in the judgment of the scientific community, this is a ruse for getting a religious notion into the public schools--clearly a violation of the separation of church and state."<ref>[http://www.baptiststandard.com/postnuke/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=680&print=1 Dawson family protests Beckwith's appointment to Baylor institute] Marv Knox. Baptist Standard. September 19. 2003.</ref>

According to a March 31, 2006 BPNews article, Beckwith stated that he was following an appeals process to have the decision reversed.<ref>[http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22949 "Baylor denies tenure to highly regarded Beckwith"] by Erin Roach, article dated March 31, 2006, from BPNews.net. Accessed September 1, 2006.</ref> In early September 2006, stories concerning the reasons for Beckwith's denial of tenure and the political intrigue behind it were published in the ''[[Chronicle of Higher Education]]''.<ref>[http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i03/03a00502.htm Baylor Professors Criticize Denial of Tenure to Conservative Colleague], [[Chronicle of Higher Education]]</ref> On September 22, 2006, Beckwith won his appeal and was tenured by Baylor University. The Discovery Institute, where Beckwith served as a Fellow, lobbied extensively on his behalf during the controversy,<ref name=scandal_brew/><ref name=hot_seat/><ref name=right_wrong/><ref name=tenure_scandal/> comparing him to others connected to the Institute who have alleged academic or employment discrimination for their advocacy of intelligent design such as [[Richard Sternberg]] and his [[Sternberg peer review controversy|peer review controversy]].<ref name=scandal_brew/> Beckwith also received support from an opponent of intelligent design, Ed Brayton, on his blog ''Dispatches from the Culture War''.<ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2006/09/beckwith_tenure_denial_reverse.php Beckwith Tenure Denial Reversed], Dispatches from the Culture War, [[Scienceblogs]]</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{worldcat|id=lccn-n85-235430}}

*''Taking Rites Seriously: Law, Politics, and the Reasonableness of Faith'' (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015)
*''Politics for Christians: Statecraft as Soulcraft'' (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2010)
*''Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice'' (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
*''To Everyone An Answer: A Case for the Christian Worldview'' with William Lane Craig and J. P. Moreland, eds. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004).
*''Law, Darwinism, and Public Education: The Establishment Clause and the Challenge of Intelligent Design'' (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003).
*''Do the Right Thing: Readings in Applied Ethics and Social Philosophy'' editor, 2nd ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2002).
*''The New Mormon Challenge'' with Carl Mosser and Paul Owen, eds. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002).
*''The Abortion Controversy 25 Years After Roe v. Wade: A Reader'' 2nd ed.  with Louis Pojman, eds. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1998).
*''Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air'' with Gregory Koukl, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998).
* ''Affirmative Action: Social Justice or Reverse Discrimination?'' with Todd E. Jones, eds.  (Amherst: Prometheus, 1997).
*''See the gods fall: Four Rivals to Christianity''  with Stephen E. Parrish, (Joplin: College Press, 1997).
*''Are You Politically Correct?: Debating America's Cultural Standards'' with Michael E. Bauman, eds. (Buffalo: Prometheus, 1993).
*''Politically Correct Death: Answering the Arguments for Abortion Rights'' (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993).
*''The Mormon Concept of God: A Philosophical Analysis'' with Stephen E. Parrish, (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen, 1991).
*''David Hume's Argument Against Miracles: A Critical Analysis'' (Lanham: University Press of America, 1989).
*''Bahá'í'' (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1985).

==References==
{{reflist}}
<!--READ ME!! PLEASE DO NOT JUST ADD NEW NOTES AT THE BOTTOM. Use <ref></ref> in the text. -->
</div>

== Other relevant sources ==
* Kenneth D. Boa and Robert M. Bowman, ''Faith Has Its Reasons: An Integrative Approach to Defending Christianity'' (Colorado Springs: NAV Press, 2001), pp.&nbsp;214–217.

==External links==
*[http://www.francisbeckwith.com Francis Beckwith's website]
*[http://www.whatswrongwiththeworld.net/author.php?author_id=13  Whats Wrong With The World], a website in which he contributes
*[http://www.arn.org/docs/groothuis/dg_beckwithpc.htm review by Douglas Groothuis] of ''Law, Darwinism and Public Education'', ''Philosophia Christi'', 5/1 (2003)
*[http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=review&id=226 A critical book review of The Mormon Concept of God] by [[Blake T. Ostler]], a Mormon scholar. ''FARMS Review'' 8/2 1996 pp 99–146.
*[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4025 Antidote to abortion arguments,  a favorable review] by [[Jonathan Sarfati]]  of ''Politically Correct Death''