Wesley Smith e-mails:
I welcome Mr. Derbyshire’s response to my First Things blog entry about his loss of faith. But I am profoundly disappointed that he claims I wrote humans are exceptional because we are “chosen and gifted by God.” I wrote no such thing, nor is that the basis for which I support human exceptionalism. I won’t repeat my arguments here about this matter or in other places. But many supporters of human exceptionalism do so based on explicitly secular bases. To deny this is rather smug, in my view, and to avoid the actual argument, and I thought better of Derbyshire than to engage in straw man arguments.
My arguments seek to promote human exceptionalism, not prove the deity. I urge readers to check out my entry on the First Things blog and other writings to see that Mr. Derbyshire has completely mischaracterized my approach. Why, I do not know.