by Glenn R. MortonFor years I struggled to understand how the geologic data I worked with everyday could be fit into a Biblical perspective. Being a physics major in college I had no geology courses. Thus, as a young Christian, when I was presented with the view that Christians must believe in a young-earth and global flood, I went along willingly. I knew there were problems but I thought I was go
Dipshits Hardiman and Agema Pushing the Bill in Michigan
I’m sure the citizens of the state are proud that they are now in the same camp as the dummies in Louisiana who are passing a similar bill cited here.
Teachers shouldn’t be prevented from discussing alternative views of evolution, global warming and other controversial topics in their [...]
It looks like Texas is planning to enter the “debate” over the teaching of evolution. After fighting for nearly three years about how to teach children to read, the Texas Board of Education has decided to take on the science curriculum this summer.
One of the goals of the board is to undermine the teaching [...]
Do you believe in the fact that our world was created by GOD? If yes, then you may have already joined one of those creationistic unions, which investigate the way of creating the world by God.
Creationism is a teaching of the fact that God has created the world and everything in it according to [...]
Quality secular education is essential for a society to function well. It serves as an effective antidote to ignorance, irrationality, superstition, and many other social ills. Thus, you can understand my disappointment over a recent survey by Penn State University researchers which found that one out of eight high school biology teachers in the United States teaches creationism as a viable altern
Quality secular education is essential for a society to function well. It serves as an effective antidote to ignorance, irrationality, superstition, and many other social ills. Thus, you can understand my disappointment over a recent survey by Penn State University researchers which found that one out of eight high school biology teachers in the United States teaches creationism as a viable altern
Creationists, including those of AiG and ICR, constantly claim that the roots of young earth creationism can be traced to ancient Judaism writings such as in the writings of Abraham Ibn Ezra (c. 1089–1164), a Jewish astrologer and Rabbi, and Josephus (c. 37 – c. 100), a famed Jewish historian and that this was the original “viewpoint” of...
Allan W Janssen is the author of the book The Plain Truth About God (What the mainstream religions don't want you to know!) and is available at the web site www.God-101.com
Visit the blog...
NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE OVERLY RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL OR STUPID!
A question. When studying paleontology or just geology in general at universities and colleges in the US, how much room is given to consideration for the feeling of creationists and others who dont believe in evolution or the geological time scale? One easliy gets the impression from media and internet forums that more and more [...]
A video presentation by Aspirin99As part of my graduate program, I'm taking a Rhetorical Theory class. For the last assignment, I was asked to take something I had previously written and improve it using principles we had studied.I chose Rogerian Argument. This principle is suggested for debating topics of hot emotional content, such as religion and politics. It seeks to place the opponent at ease by telling him or her what you like about their views and then finding common ground from which to start the discussion.I chose to take correspondence regarding Creationism and turn it into a Rogerian documentary video. I enlisted the help of Antlerman, a mod in the forums, to do some of the voice-overs.It's an hour-long documentary that I made in two weeks; so, it's not perfect, but I think you'
By Valerie TaricoBiblical creationism, repositioned as creation science and most recently intelligent design has lost the contest of ideas on all counts: the rules, the criteria and the judging. It doesn't follow the scientific method; it doesn't allow us to explain, predict, and control better; and the jury of relevant experts (aka biologists) keeps returning the same verdict.Now the creationists have taken a new approach that they hope will help them achieve their goal of teaching religious beliefs in our schools as science. That approach can be summed up in one simple word: whining.One week from today, the new movie, Expelled, attempts to turn creationist complaints into mainstream media. Featuring Ben Stein, one of the conservative right's biggest whiners, the film makes several plaint
Given the philosophical anti-God arguments established by the theory of Evolution, and its controversy, it would be unwise for a Christian not to take the time to look into this theory in great detail. The philosophies that embrace science today are vastly different than they once were. Science has been hijacked by one philosophy in particular...
I admit while still struggling with the severe deception of creationism, I did got in contact with Ham a few times through email while trying to ask him questions about his background, his propaganda materials with dinosaurs plastered all over them, why he and his cronies do what he does, and ask him to pray [...]
Don’t you just hate when it seems you’re the only one in the whole family who rejects creationism while everyone else embraces it without a second thought? A lot of times it feels to be the case when one Saturday night I threw into a screaming hissy fit when mom showed me a book from [...]
Despite where the state of Texas has been heading toward, the rest of the world knows that the basic understanding of the principles of evolution (systems change over a period of time) define the understanding of many other principles of science. The National Academy of Science on Thursday released the blueprint that makes the very clear claim of where the scientific community stands in regards to teaching evolution and “Intelligent Design” in the science classroom.From the NAS Press release:Date: Jan. 3, 2008Contact: Maureen O'Leary, Director of Public InformationOffice of News and Public Information202-334-2138; e-mail news@nas.eduFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEScientific Evidence Supporting Evolution Continues To Grow; Nonscientific Approaches Do Not Belong In Science ClassroomsWASHINGTON --
As is seen in the video above, Ron Paul shows a total lack of understanding of modern biology as he rejects science in response to a question on evolution.
This is not the first time I’ve noted that, despite his training as a physician, Paul has taken positions which vary from established science. Paul has supported legislation to eliminate the legal distinction between a zygote and a fully developed human. His support for the ban on so-called partial birth abortions can also be seen as taking an anti-science position considering the lack of medical validity of the term “partial birth abortion.”
While Ron Paul will never win a major party nomination or have enough influence on public policy to really matter, this is of some concern as Paul’s view does influence a small but noisy crowd. There are two general characteristics of the group which spams the internet supporting Paul: 1) they tend to follow their leader and lack the ability to think for themselves an
Mike Huckabee might make sense compared to other Republicans from time to time but this report out of Des Moines shows that he is still out of touch with reality with regards to science. He continues to assert that his views on evolution do not matter, arguing, “That’s an irrelevant question to ask me — I’m happy to answer what I believe, but what I believe is not what’s going to be taught in 50 different states.”
As evolution is a fundamental principle of modern biology, and as advances of biology are likely to increasingly impact matters of public policy, it is important that a president understands the basics of modern science. It is also important that American students be taught science in science classes and not religious beliefs. Huckabee has supported the teaching of intelligent design, the new name for creationism:
Huckabee, at a dinner in Des Moines, told reporters that the theory of intelligent design, whose proponents believe an intelligent c
AUSTIN (AP) — The state's director of science curriculum said she resigned this month under pressure from officials who felt she gave the appearance of criticizing the instruction of intelligent design.The Texas Education Agency put Chris Comer on 30 days paid administrative leave in late October, resulting in what she described as a forced resignation.The move came shortly after Comer forwarded an e-mail announcing a presentation being given by the author of Inside Creationism's Trojan Horse. In the book, author Barbara Forrest says creationist politics are behind the movement to get intelligent design theory taught in public schools. Comer sent the e-mail to several individuals and a few online communities.Comer, who held her position for nine years, said she believes evolution politics were behind her ousting."None of the other reasons they gave are, in and of themselves, firing offenses," she said...This from USA Today.~And this Editorial from the Austin American-Statesman:Is m
From the Secular Coalition for America:Help us stop federal funding earmarked for the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF), a group whose mission is to "persuasively present biblical principles in centers of influence" including public schools. The Senate Appropriations Committee is now considering a bill that would send your tax dollars to the LFF.Visit our Action Alert now to see if your Senator is on the Appropriations Committee. We are targeting those members today. But even s/he isn't, you'll want to be informed about this issue in case the earmark is allowed to reach the Senate floor. Once you take action, you'll have a chance to tell your friends about this important Action Alert.The proposed earmark gives federal money to the LFF to be used for suggesting "improvements" (i.e, biblical perspectives) to science education in Louisiana. It would also pay for the LFF to develop and distribute educational materials. Even if you are not a Louisiana resident, it is important to send Congres
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has passed a resolution (48 votes to 25) slamming creationism as “a radical return to the past which could prove particularly harmful in the long term for all our societies.”
Members of the assembly, which monitors human rights, approved 48 to 25 a report that attacked advocates of creationism for seeking “to impose religious dogma” and to promote “a radical return to the past” at the expense of children’s education.
Using some of the strongest language yet to condemn this blatantly religious intellectual regression, the report decried creationism as “totally against children’s educational interests”.
Although both Christian and Muslim variants of creationism are specifically mentioned by the report, this action appears to be a preemptive measure taken primarily in response to Christian creationism gaining a foothold in America, and the potential for this mindset to spread to
When faced with IDiots who desire to have their creationist beliefs taught in the UK, the government has responded with guidelines to keep such non-scientific viewpoints out of science classes. The guidelines explain what it means to be a scientific theory and note that creationism and intelligent design are not scientific theories:
The use of the word ‘theory’ can mislead those not familiar with science as a subject discipline because it is different from the everyday meaning of being little more than a ‘hunch’. In science the meaning is much less tentative and indicates that there is a substantial amount of supporting evidence, underpinned by principles and explanations accepted by the international scientific community. However, it also signals that all scientific knowledge is considered to be provisional as it can be overturned by new evidence if this is validated and accepted by the scientific community.
Creationism and intelligent design are sometimes claimed to be scien
Philosopher Ian Hacking has reviewed five creationism/evolution books (including Michael Behe's recent collection of used toilet paper) for The Nation, namely:
Philip Kitcher, Living with Darwin: Evolution, Design, and the Future of Faith
Michael Lienesch, In the Beginning: Fundamentalism, the Scopes Trial, and the Making of the Antievolution Movement
Michael Behe, The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism
Ronald L. Numbers, The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design
A Religious Orgy in Tennessee: A Reporter's Account of the Scopes Monkey Trial
The reviews can be found here. Also see this.
Technorati tags: creationism • evolution • intelligent design
The Committee on Culture, Science and Education of the Council of Europe warns that “Creationism, born of the denial of the evolution of species through natural selection, was for a long time an almost exclusively American phenomenon. Today creationist ideas are tending to find their way into Europe and their spread is affecting quite a few Council of Europe member states.” They have issued a statement on The dangers of creationism in education which opposes the teaching of creationism by showing both the flaws in creationism (and intelligent design) and demonstrating that evolution is “genuine science.” The summary states:
Creationism in any of its forms, such as “intelligent design”, is not based on facts, does not use any scientific reasoning and its contents are definitely inappropriate for science classes.
However, some people call for creationist theories to be taught in European schools alongside or even in place of the theory of evolution. Fro
(We now take a brief respite from celebrity gossip for an offbeat editorial. With thanks to C. Cruz and E Gangnath for the illustration and Life Regurgitated for editorial assistance...)Creationists are full of shit. There, I said it. Too blunt for you? Sorry, but there’s no subtle way to state the glaringly obvious. The world was not created in seven days and 24 hours, and that’s final. No ifs, ands or J-Lo butts. The world was created over billions of years through the natural processes of mutation, sex, and…well…sex. G-d did not create Adam early one day from dust and Eve later that day from Adam’s rib. Adam and Eve did not live in the Garden of Eden. A snake did not advise Eve to eat a forbidden apple filled with knowledge. Those are all lies. In reality, monkeys had sex with each other, monkeys had sex with gardens, monkeys had sex with dust, monkeys had sex with snakes, and then monkeys ate apples when they were too tired to have more sex. Somewhere along the line this
I have been witnessing the debate often referred to as evolution vs. creationism. The evolution side is taken up by the science types who devote their lives to uncovering the truth through the scientific method, which needs strong empirical evidence before drawing any conclusions. In general, these people are also atheists of the most unforgiving kind who will not consider any ideas suggesting a Divine influence of any kind or degree when comes to explaining the existence of man. One of the most vocal ones of these people is Richard Dawkins, the author of book titled “The God Delusion”, who will not refrain from name calling in the heat of the moment. (A compilation of his media appearances titled “Evolution vs. Creationism: Both Wrong” can be seen in the video clip below. It was done by David Campbell of - true.wxcs.com.) In the “blue corner”, ladies and gentleman, we have the conservative Christian community who will deny scientific fact in orde
58% of USAians don’t realise that people might try and scam them online, and probably trust everything they get via email. In other news, 55% of USAians believe that God created humans in their present form.
Anybody see the correlation?
(Via The Consumerist)
creationism, email, evolution, god, scam, spam, stupidity, trustShare This
I was researching on the web this morning to find something wonderful to share with you all today and when I found this I was blown away.
The pope has essentially announced that creationism vs. evolution is an absurd argument.
Normally, I try to stay away from religion and politics on this blog, but today I’m making an exception. Don’t worry, I’ll tie it back into money at the end .
From the Pope:
The pontiff…. …. also said that while there is much scientific proof to support evolution, the theory could not exclude a role by God.
“They are presented as alternatives that exclude each other,” the pope said. “This clash is an absurdity because on one hand there is much scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such.”
I think that’s about as big of an admission you are going to get from the leader of one of the worlds largest religions that cre
University dropout Adnan Oktar's lavishly produced tome of nonsense is making the rounds in the United States. It's not much of a threat there (or anywhere else in the Western world), but it might make the bad situation in the Middle East even worse:
One of his books, “Atlas of Creation,” is turning up, unsolicited, in mailboxes of scientists around the country and members of Congress, and at science museums in places like Queens and Bemidji, Minn.
...
The book caused a stir earlier this year when a French translation materialized at high schools, universities and museums in France. Until then, creationist literature was relatively rare in France, according to Armand de Ricqles, a professor of historical biology and evolutionism at the College de France. Scientists spoke out against the book, he said in an e-mail message, and “thanks to the highly centralized public school system in France, it was possible to organize that the books sent to lycées would not
Creationism can be dangerous to your health. Downright lethal, in fact:
A MAN has been found guilty of manslaughter in the death of a 28-year-old Scots backpacker in Australia, it was reported last night.
Rudi Boa, a scientist from Culloden, died on 27 January last year after being stabbed in the chest. He had been on a working holiday with his girlfriend.
Alexander York, 31, a fellow tourist from Essex, had been charged originally with murdering Mr Boa at a caravan park in New South Wales after a late-night row over the evolution debate.
But a Supreme Court jury in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, yesterday found York not guilty of murdering Mr Boa by inflicting a single stab wound to the chest, the BBC reported. However, he was convicted of manslaughter.
...
The prosecution alleged that on the day of Mr Boa's death, he and Ms Brown had been drinking for five hours with York and a local man when they got into a disagreement about creationism and evolution.
The Scots, both biomedical sc
When I begin to despair of any mainstream American media outlet providing any offset to the roiling gasbags of Fox News, Keith Olbermann rises forth and provides counterpoint to this unelected administration and their policy of deception and cruelty. By now, you've all heard of Department of Homeland Stupidity honcho Chertoff's prophetic gut. Here, Olbermann puts the clown's gastric prescience into perspective."You have by now heard the remark — instantly added to our through-the-looking-glass lexicon of the 21st century, a time when we suddenly started referring to this country as 'the homeland,' as if anybody here has used that term since Charles Lindbergh or the German-American Bund in 1940. Michael Chertoff’s 'gut feeling.'"
Saint Gasoline » Blog Archive » Wheel of Misfortune: “… apparently, no one can solve a puzzle until ALL the gaps have been filled in, regardless of how well the existing evidence points to a correct and obvious conclusion!”
Better news from Britain: creationism gets the boot there, for now. It has no place in science classrooms, and "intelligent design" is correctly defined as religion:
Responding to a petition on the Number 10 ePetitions site, the government said: "The Government is aware that a number of concerns have been raised in the media and elsewhere as to whether creationism and intelligent design have a place in science lessons. The Government is clear that creationism and intelligent design are not part of the science National Curriculum programmes of study and should not be taught as science."
Source: Lucy Sherriff, "UK Gov boots intelligent design back into 'religious' margins," The Register, June 25, 2007
Technorati tags: bad thinking • creationism
Very disappointingly, the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly has decided not to act against creationism in Europe:
Europe's main human rights body on Monday cancelled a scheduled vote on banning creationist and intelligent design views from school science classes, saying the proposed resolution was one-sided.
...
Pressure to teach creationism is weaker in Europe, but an Assembly committee got active because a Muslim creationist book has appeared in several countries.
See this.
Guy Lengagne, the French Socialist member of the Assembly who drew up the report, protested after the Parliamentary Assembly voted to call off the debate and vote, and to send the report back to committee for further study.
"I have enough experience of parliamentary procedure to know that this is a first-class burial (for the report)," he said.
Deputies said the motion by the Christian Democratic group of parliamentarians also won support from east European deputies, who recalled that Darwinian evoluti
I just find creationist twaddle more entertaining than comedy, because who could write this stuff? This is comedy that writes itself. Just watch. I swear, this is the kind of thing you’d change the channel in embarrassment if someone would walk into the room and caught you watching.
View This Video on You Tube
To some, the concept of creationism may seem far fetched. Probably due to the fact that science has defined so many of the laws of physics and nature. Then further proven these laws validity through experimentation. Modern science which can define and predict the outcome of events with amazing accuracy, even on a microscopic or particle level. Based on the current
"Pro-Life", "Intelligent Design"... these guys do have a knack for positive wording (don't even think about positive thinking). I gather they call torture in Abu Ghraib "Truth Quest" and the negation of all independant safeguards or watchdogs (the UN, the Geneva Convention, the International Criminal Tribunal...) something like "Active Freedom".Bush's position on evolution resembles that of Revisionists on gas chambers : since there are alternative theories, students should be taught both angles*. This image may strike you as indecent and it is, but it clearly exposes the loopholes in the argumentation.I'm not making any sick parallel between the existence of gas chambers and the existence of God, nor between proven facts and beliefs : I'm comparing people who knowingly manipulate opinions through biased rethorics.I'm not even defending the theory of evolution, which is the best to date but won't explain everything. I just think the fundamentals of human society should be protect
People had sued, fought, pointed fingers, about to throw acids on one another to disfigure an adversary, and all these pointless battles were either to keep creationism in schools or to make sure that schools should only be teaching science. On and into the infinity. It has always been the case!
Come on folks, no one will win in these mindless battles, not even if you have proofs, and maybe not even Jesus can convinced the science folks that creationism has merit. On the reverse, even if Darwin himself came back to live, I don't think he could convinced the religious folks that they have been all along believing in fairy tales and mythologies. Then there are folks wanted to keep schools and churches stay detached.
A light bulb lighted up in my head and sudd
