Intelligent design movement
Langan and his wife Dr. Gina Langan (nee LoSasso) are both fellows of the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design (ISCID), a think tank of the intelligent design movement.[14] The ISCID's journal Progress in Complexity, Information, and Design published a paper in 2002 in which Langan explained his "Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe".[15] Later that year, Langan presented a lecture on Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe and intelligent design[16] at the ISCID's Research And Progress in Intelligent Design (RAPID) conference.[17] In 2004, Langan contributed a chapter to the book Uncommon Dissent, a collection of essays by fellow intelligent design proponents and ISCID fellows edited by William Dembski.[18] In the chapter, Langan offers his opinion of both intelligent design and the modern evolutionary synthesis and proposes a synthesis by means of his idea, the "Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe" (CTMU).
Asked about creationism, Langan has said:
Regarding evolution and creationism, the linkage is simple: since Biblical accounts of the genesis of our world and species are true but metaphorical, our task is to correctly decipher the metaphor in light of scientific evidence also given to us by God. Hence, the CTMU. [19]
I believe in the theory of evolution, but I believe as well in the allegorical truth of creation theory. In other words, I believe that evolution, including the principle of natural selection, is one of the tools used by God to create mankind. Mankind is then a participant in the creation of the universe itself, so that we have a closed loop. I believe that there is a level on which science and religious metaphor are mutually compatible.[20]
Langan has said he does not belong to any religious denomination, explaining that he "can't afford to let [his purportedly] logical approach to theology be prejudiced by religious dogma."[20] He calls himself "a respecter of all faiths, among peoples everywhere."[20]