I attended the lecture, but had to leave after an hour for another appt. As such, I only got the "science" part of the lecture and didn't get to hear what he had to say about the "religion" part. I was very disappointed. It would have been interesting to see how he could be such an avid proponent of science and yet still believe in religion.

Some people went and challenged him instead of just complaining. Excellent.

I'm glad you guys made it, and I'm glad that you challenged him. It won't change his mind, but if it made other people think, "Hmmm, maybe Dr. Ayala's logic is flawed", then I say that is mission accomplished.

I agree that Dr. Ayala was evasive about the theology questions.

For those of you who didn't go here's a quick summary:
1. Evolution has mountains of evidence and is, without a doubt, true.
2. Intelligent Design/Creationism has no evidence whatsoever & is total bunk & blasphemy.
3. Literal bible reading is also bunk.
4. Dawkins' idea of god being extremely unlikely is silly, because of COURSE there's a god. (My Editorial: You'll only take his god-of-the-gaps from his cold dead hands!)

I was there! Dr. Ayala actually was more properly on the side of science than I expected, which made me very happy. He was still wrong when it came to the philosophical aspects.. if he is to remain consistent in his application of scientific principles, he should assume the falsity of the god-claim until he has EVIDENCE otherwise. I'm the one who asked the question about god ALLOWING the laws still being malevolent (admittedly somewhat poorly asked).. he was obviously stumped and had no answer.

From the wikipedia article:

Research and work

...
He has been publicly critical of U.S. restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. ... He is also a critic of creationism and intelligent design theories, claiming that they are not only pseudoscience, but also mistakes from theological point of view. He suggests that the theory of evolution resolves the problem of evil, thus being a kind of theodicy...
He attended the Beyond Belief symposium on November 2006.

I want to offer a disclaimer about this meetup. I do know this person or what he believes - so I also do not support or advocate his views, nor do I abhor or demonize them. As with any meetup, people can choose to come or not, and they can make up their own minds. If the guy is a total douche, tell him so if it makes you feel better.

Good info. Go call him out. Go, and when it gets to the Q&A, question him, challenge him, argue with him - call him out.