Philosophy professor Richard Foley challenged audience members to think critically about the theory of intelligent design during one of two lectures to celebrate Darwin Day last night.

Foley spoke on “Intelligent Design Before Darwin.”

“Intelligent Design is the idea that one object must have been designed and not by a human,” Foley said.

He explained that creationism is based on the literal truth of the Book of Genesis in the Bible, which also describes the process of design.

The main issue of Foley’s presentation was evolution versus religious beliefs.

Foley jokingly explained some theories on the origin of design.

“There must have been a time-traveling genetic engineer who planted human seeds back then,” Foley said, “Or perhaps alien colonization created our universe.”

Adam Barnett, a freshmen political science major at Lake Land College, said he thought using philosophy as the basis of intelligent design discredited creationism.

“We as a whole should discard all of those imaginary theories on how evolution came to be,” Barnett said.

John Stimac, Eastern geology professor, answered questions about the age of the earth during his presentation “The Age of The Earth and its Determination.”

Stimac said in his speech that Charles Lightfoot of Cambridge University predicted the precise time and date of the earth’s origin, which was during the autumnal equinox at 9 a.m. Oct. 25 in the year 3929 B.C.

“The principle of uniformitarianism states that the present is the key to the future,” Stimac said.

Stimac gave a geologist’s perspective of how to determine the earth’s age.

The two Darwin Day lectures took place at Phipps Auditorium.