Francis J. Beckwith

Francis J. Beckwith

Francis J. "Frank" Beckwith (born 1960) is an American philosopher, Christian apologist, scholar, debater, and lecturer who is currently an associate professor of Church-State Studies at Baylor University as well as associate director of the J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies. Beckwith works in the areas of social ethics, applied ethics, legal philosophy, and the philosophy of religion.

Beckwith has defended the pro-life position on abortion and the constitutional permissibility of the teaching of intelligent design in public schools. Beckwith is a former fellow at the Discovery Institute the "hub of the intelligent design movement"; and a former member of the advisory board for the Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness Center. As of late 2007, he is a fellow at The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity (CBHD); and a professor at Baylor's Institute for the Studies of Religion (ISR). In 2007 Beckwith converted to Roman Catholicism from Evangelicalism.