Miller has voiced his support for "pro-science" candidates in politics. He has campaigned for school board and education candidates who support the teaching of
evolution in Kansas and Ohio. In the science community, he has sought to elevate the understanding of scientists of the roots of the creationist movement, and to encourage the popularization of scientific concepts. Miller is
critical of atheism for being an unscientific position. He was a spokesman for
PBS's
Evolution documentary. Miller has appeared in court as a witness, and on panels debating the teaching of intelligent design in schools. In 2002, the
Ohio State Board of Education held a public debate between two scientists, including Miller, and two proponents of intelligent design. He testified for the plaintiffs, but only as a fact witness (not as an expert), in
Selman v. Cobb County, testing the legality of stickers calling evolution a "theory, not a fact" that were placed on the biology textbook Miller authored. In 2005, the judge ruled that the stickers violated the
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the
United States Constitution. This decision was vacated on appeal because of missing records of the previous trial. The case was remanded for additional evidentiary inquiry and new findings, and a list of factual issues that the court would probably want to address included as item 15 a reference to Miller's testimony regarding "the colloquial or popular understanding of the term [theory]" and the suggested question as to whether he has any qualifications to testify as an expert on the popular meaning of the word "theory". The case was remanded back to the lower court and was eventually settled out of court. Miller was also the plaintiff's lead expert witness in the 2004-2005
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case, challenging the school board's mandate to incorporate intelligent design into the curriculum. The judge in that case also ruled decisively in favor of the plaintiffs. In 2006, he gave a lecture at
Case Western Reserve University on "The Collapse of Intelligent Design". He spoke at the
Skeptics Society's Origins Conference in October 2008, and at the
Veritas Forum on topics such as the
relationship between science and religion and the
existence of God. Miller has appeared on the Comedy Central television show
The Colbert Report, and has made many appearances on
C-SPAN debating proponents of creationism and intelligent design. He has debated several supporters of intelligent design including biochemist
Michael J. Behe. He gave a
Faraday Institute lecture in April 2009 on "God, Darwin and Design" and appeared on the
Today Programme arguing, "The issue of God is an issue on which reasonable people may differ, but I certainly think that it's an over-statement of our scientific knowledge and understanding to argue that science in general, or evolutionary biology in particular, proves in any way that there is no God." ==Publications==