John C. Avise

John C. Avise (b. 1948) is an American evolutionary geneticist, Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine, and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is widely credited with founding the field of phylogeography through his work integrating molecular genetics with population biology. Avise edited the National Academy's multi-volume 'In the Light of Evolution' Sackler Colloquia series (2007-), which surveys contemporary evolutionary biology in conscious echo of Dobzhansky's dictum. His direct engagement with the God question appears in 'Inside the Human Genome' (2010) and 'The Genetics of Cancer' framework, where he argues that the human genome's pervasive flaws, inefficiencies, and disease-causing mutations are theologically problematic for intelligent design but readily explained by unguided evolution. This constitutes a contemporary version of the argument from poor design (dysteleology), reviving lines of reasoning from Darwin and Gould against natural theology. Avise positions his critique as scientific rather than polemically anti-religious, suggesting that evolution may relieve theology of attributing biological cruelty and imperfection directly to a designer. Critics from the intelligent design movement, notably at the Discovery Institute, have contested his framing, while theistic evolutionists have largely welcomed his framing as compatible with non-interventionist theism.