I suggested that Miller's God can tweak evolution and John Rosenhouse replies,
I am not aware of any instance where Miller argued that God tweaks mutations to get what He wants. In fact, it seems to me that Miller's view of evolution is almost indistinguishable from that of Richard Dawkins. For example, in Finding Darwin's God Miller has nothing but praise for Dawkins' description of evolution in The Blind Watchmaker.Miller lays out his case in Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground between God and Evolution. Chapter 7 ("Beyond Materialism") sets the tone for the last half of the book. Here, Miller stresses the importance of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle (p.200). This is the basis for his statement that, materialism is wrong at its core (p.203).
Miller then goes on to his main point; namely, that ...
... the fact that mutation and variation are inherently unpredictable means that the course of evolution is, too. In other words, evolutionary history can turn on a very, very small dime—the quantum state of a single subatomic particle.This is an important part of Miller's argument. Let's make sure everyone understands it. Miller is saying; (a) tiny changes can have profound effects, and (b) there is fundamentlal uncertainly at the subatomic level so we can never be sure of what caused something to happen. It's important for Miller's argument that evolution appear to be fundamentally a random process. I know from personal experience that Richard Dawkins does not agree.
The dénouement comes in Chapter 8 ("The Road Back Home"). The goal in that chapter is to find a way where God can be present and active in the world without being detectable by science. The solution is very ingenious,
Fortunately, in scientific terms, if there is a God, He has left Himself plenty of material to work with. To pick just one example, the indeterminate nature of quantum events would allow a clever and subtle God to influence events in way that are profound, but scientifically undetectable to us. Those events could include the appearance of mutations, the activation of individual neurons in the brain, and even the survival of individual cells and organsisms affected by the chance processes of radioactive decay. Chaos theory emphasizes the fact that enormous changes in physical systems can be brought about by unimaginably small changes in initial conditions; and this, too could serve as an undectable amplifier of divine action. (p.241)So, God can guide evolution and perform miracles and we have no way of knowing it that he meddled. But meddle he does. That's an absolute requirement in Miller's religion.
Jason Rosenhouse continues,
It is likewise absurd to say that Miller's view of evolution is nearly indistinguishable from Behe's. Miller believes that God set up the initial conditions for making evolution possible, but then natural forces took over. He is quite clear in his book that the course of evolution was not foreordained by anything God did. This fact is crucial to Miller's view of Christian theology. He argues that a world in which God constantly intervenes, or one in which the course of evolution was foreordained by God, would also be a world that could not be viewed as truly separate from God Himself.Miller's God has to perform miracles; that's an essential part of the Roman Catholic faith. What Miller is trying to do is explain how his God can do it while not conflicting with science. The passage that I just quoted is the answer. But let's be clear about one thing. Miller's religion is not deism, in spite of what you (John) might have thought.
Yes, it's true that Miller doesn't want a God who intervenes all the time. That's why he says that "God's miracles are not routine subversions of the laws of nature" (p.239). But that doesn't mean that miracles are forbidden—not by any reading of Miller than I can see. Instead, Miller argues that "when God does act in the world, He does so with care and subtlety."
Jason, the answering of prayer is another example of a God who is active in the present-day world. This is not consistent with your claim that Miller believes in a God who set up the initial conditions then stepped aside. Miller says,
... any traditional believer must agree that God is able to influence the thoughts and actions of individual beings. We pray for strength, we pray for patience, and we pray for understanding. Prayer is an element of faith, and bound within it is the conviction that God can affect us and those for whom we pray in positive ways.That's not a deist God. That's not even the God of Michael Denton. At the risk of beating a dead horse, let's quote Miller once again to prove to you that he believes in an active God who intervenes in nature,
Remember, once again, that people of faith believe their God is active in the present world, where He works in concert with the naturalism of physics and chemistry. A God who achieves His will in the present by such means can hardly be threatened by the discovery that He might have worked the same way in the past.According to Miller, the end result of evolution is to have "given the Creator exactly what He was looking for—a creature who would know Him and love Him ..." (p.239). Miller says that "... we can certainly see God's will emerging in the grand and improbable tree of life" (p.238). It's true, as you say, that Miller never explicitly states that God guided evolution. Instead, what he does is explain that there's a purpose behind the universe and that God is active in the world today and has been in the past. Miller then describes ways in which God could have undetectably guided things if He had wanted to, by fiddling with quantum indeterminacy. You are left to draw your own conclusions.
The most important difference between Behe and Miller is that Behe thinks you can actually detect God's handiwork while Miller thinks it is so well hidden that scientists can can never detect it. Miller recognizes it only through his faith.
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