Archive for November, 2006
30 November 2006
DaveScot
A small group of Wikipedia admins with a grudge against ID have been running amok with no oversight performing and/or allowing hatchet jobs on ID and its leaders. It’s long past time to expose what they’ve been doing. Wikipedia is far too popular and reliable source of information, especially for school children, to […]
Posted in Intelligent Design | 29 Comments »
30 November 2006
O'Leary
Recently, a caffeine-deprived friend was grousing about the fact that ID proponents don’t tend to be welcomed at “open theology” conferences.
“Open theology” implies a much more limited sort of God than the Immortal, invisible, God only wise of the Western monotheist (Jewish, Christian, Muslim) tradition.
Now, it’s unclear to me why the ID guys, who are […]
Posted in Intelligent Design | 70 Comments »
30 November 2006
O'Leary
So many media outlets have voted themselves the guardians of the bottom-up theory of life and the opponents of the top-down theory of life. Consistent with their mission, they seem to compete for what they can get wrong about intelligent design or any other idea that insists that mind comes first. Evidence has nothing to […]
Posted in Intelligent Design | 5 Comments »
30 November 2006
DaveScot
Controversial scientist predicts planetary wipeout
Billions of people could be wiped out over the next century because of climate change, a leading expert said.
Professor James Lovelock, who pioneered the idea of the Earth as a living organism, said as the planet heats up humans will find it increasingly hard to survive.
He warned that as conditions worsen, […]
Posted in Global Warming, Culture, Science | 16 Comments »
30 November 2006
DaveScot
Once again, when the secular ruling elite of the science establishment can’t make a convincing case on the merits they try to get their conclusions mandated by judicial fiat.
US Supreme Court appears divided over global warming
Posted in Global Warming, Courts, Science | 14 Comments »
29 November 2006
William Dembski
The Center for Inquiry’s new branch office in DC has issued a “Declaration on Science and Secularism” in which they lament the increasing appeal of ID among the unwashed masses. There’s a simple way for this problem to go away: stop stealing the money of the unwashed masses (in the form of taxes) to underwrite […]
Posted in Science, Culture, Darwinism, Intelligent Design, Evolution, Education | 23 Comments »
28 November 2006
William Dembski
“You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.” — Who said it and how does it apply to the ID-evolution controversy?
Posted in Intelligent Design, Evolution, Education | 29 Comments »
28 November 2006
DaveScot
Chromosomal sex determination in the platypus discovered to be a combination of mammal and bird systems. The resemblance to birds is now more than just superficial.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6568
Posted in Intelligent Design | 36 Comments »
28 November 2006
William Dembski
Here are articles that came out just since last night on the challenge to Darwinian orthodoxy in the UK. It looks as though Truth in Science is causing a media storm.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/27/id_blighty
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2006/11/061127_intelligent.shtml
http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2006/11/27/6092
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,1958138,00.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/28/ncreation28.xml
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/28/ncreation128.xml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6187534.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/28/ncreation228.xml
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/10924.html
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/intelligent.design.filtering.into.british.schools.as.darwin.debate.intensifies/8526.htm
Posted in Intelligent Design | 7 Comments »
28 November 2006
scordova
From Anti-evolutionists raise their profile in Europe in the November 23, 2006 issue of the prestigious scientific journal Nature.
Posted in Intelligent Design | 9 Comments »
28 November 2006
Scottus
If, like myself, you are in front of a computer all day and have the opportunity to watch/listen to online media as you work, then this apparent “summit” of top atheists and “skeptics” is worth a listen. I’m both amused and dismayed as I listen to this all-star cast discuss the best approach to evangelizing […]
Posted in Culture, Laws, Religion, Darwinism, Education | 21 Comments »
27 November 2006
William Dembski
With Dawkins and his village atheism getting so much attention, it’s only appropriate that THE BRITES is back in business: http://cedros.globat.com/~thebrites.org/index.htm.
Posted in Darwinism, Evolution | 11 Comments »
25 November 2006
William Dembski
Take a look at Ross McKitrick’s recent remarks on the subject of position statements from professional societies:
http://climatesci.atmos.colostate.edu/2006/11/23/should-scientific-societies-issue-position-statements-by-ross-mckitrick
He argues against the practice of societies issuing position statements. This has direct application to the ID debate and the public statements issued by the AAAS, NAS, AAS, etc. Here are two particularly insightful paragraphs from McKitrick’s post:
Official statements […]
Posted in Science, Intelligent Design | 19 Comments »
24 November 2006
William Dembski
Steven Pinker has published an interesting op-ed in today’s Harvard Crimson, criticizing the current report of Harvard’s committee on general education. If one could reformulate Pinker’s dogmatic pronouncements as questions to be examined, this would be a good essay. For example,
What is faith?
Is Earth truly an undistinguished speck in the cosmos, or […]
Posted in Culture, Science, Religion, Education | 33 Comments »
24 November 2006
O'Leary
Here is my review of Francis Collins’ The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (Free Press, New York, 2006), with a look at the other reviews.
Collins is a snapshot in time: the Christian scientist reassuring everyone that materialist science is no threat - on the very eve of the big blowout. Some might […]
Posted in Intelligent Design | 3 Comments »
24 November 2006
William Dembski
With Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, et al. on a rampage against religion, its worth putting the sins of atheism in perspective:
Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history
By Dinesh D’Souza
RANCHO SANTA FE, CALIF. - In recent months, a spate of atheist books have
argued that religion represents, as “End of […]
Posted in Culture, Religion | 19 Comments »
24 November 2006
William Dembski
Baylor University, which in the past has figured large in the debate over ID (see here), continues to struggle with its Christian identity. Check out the following blog entry by Hunter Baker, and especially comment #5: http://www.southernappeal.org/index.php/archives/2124.
Posted in Culture, Intelligent Design, Education | No Comments »
24 November 2006
William Dembski
Why Are They So Angry?
Granville Sewell
There are a lot of articles out there on the web intended to refute my writings on Intelligent Design, but if there is one that isn’t full of anger and personal insults, I haven’t located it yet. Other ID proponents have experienced similar reactions to their writings, and must […]
Posted in Intelligent Design | 45 Comments »
22 November 2006
GilDodgen
In this UD thread, Mentok brought up something that, it seems to me, is quintessentially behind the ID versus materialism controversy: Is there, ultimately, any purpose or meaning behind anything, especially our lives?
With thanks to William Lane Craig, the author of Ecclesiastes, and Carl Sagan, I offer the following:
Posted in Intelligent Design | 55 Comments »
21 November 2006
GilDodgen
Check this out: The Strange Case of Dr. Darwinist and Mr. Creationist
What a hoot! This guy is as dumb as the guy who robs a liquor store and leaves his ID behind.
Inspector Clouseau would be proud to have such a proficient protégé. With clumsy enemies like this, who needs friends?
Posted in Intelligent Design | 13 Comments »
21 November 2006
William Dembski
There’s a hilarious typo in the illustration accompanying the article on the recent Salk Institute evangelical atheism conference that appeared on the front page of the Science Times today. The fact that this got by the author and the editors at the NYT speaks volumes about the broader cultural illiteracy of the science-worshipping, liberal literary […]
Posted in Science, Religion | 29 Comments »
21 November 2006
DaveScot
It’s funny how Paul Myers, Richard Dawkins, Eugenie Scott, et al say that evolution isn’t about religion yet you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting one of their rants on religion. But that’s not the point of this article.
I have a problem with these people in that they arbitrarily limit what science can […]
Posted in Intelligent Design | 128 Comments »
21 November 2006
William Dembski
I suspect that the “junk DNA” hypothesis was originally made on explicitly Darwinian grounds. Can someone provide chapter and verse? Clearly, in the absence of the Darwinian interpretation, the default assumption would have been that repetitive nucleotide sequences must have some unknown function.
Source: University of Iowa
Date: November 21, 2006
From http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061113180029.htm
Scientists Explore Function Of ‘Junk DNA’
University […]
Posted in Intelligent Design | 29 Comments »
21 November 2006
William Dembski
First Richard Dawkins calls Michael Ruse the Neville Chamberlain of the evolution-ID debate. Now PZ Myers attacks Eugenie Scott for being too soft on us. It reminds me of the old joke about fascists in South America after World War II sitting around a table and musing: “Yep, we’re going to do it again, but […]
Posted in Darwinism, Intelligent Design, Evolution | 21 Comments »
21 November 2006
William Dembski
Obviously this new think-tank is not about science as such but about pushing a materialistic, Darwin-undergirded conception of science. Question: Did Kurtz ever get the memo from the NCSE that evolution is religiously neutral?
Mission statement: A Global Federation committed to science, reason, free inquiry, secularism, and planetary ethics
Source: http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=221
By Center for Inquiry
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE […]
Posted in Culture, Science, Religion, Darwinism, Evolution | 10 Comments »
20 November 2006
O'Leary
Over the past few months, The Post-Darwinist has been host to quite the little controversy over whether Hitler was a social Darwinist or a creationist. If you want to pursue that in detail, try
“Does Darwinism devalue human life?” (July 2, 2006)
What did Hitler believe abut evolution? (September 2006)
“Hitler as a Darwinist: Prof accused of academic dishonesty” […]
Posted in Intelligent Design | 19 Comments »
20 November 2006
scordova
Professor Larry Moran demanded pro-ID and pro-Creation students at universities be flunked. See Larry Moran  Will the real idiot please stand up?
Would Moran destroy the careers of aspiring scientists who make positive contributions to society — all this in the name of Moran’s dogmatism? It turns out one of the PhD alumni […]
Posted in Intelligent Design | 30 Comments »
20 November 2006
O'Leary
You wrote:
“‘flunk all the IDiots and make room for smart students’ … is clear-cut viewpoint discrimination.”
It’s more than that. The Darwinists know as well as anyone else how little good evidence exists for their current position* - which is much more far-reaching than Darwin’s original position, as their current position posits that the mind, the […]
Posted in Intelligent Design | 22 Comments »
19 November 2006
DaveScot
Richard T. Hughes (whose accomplishments other than being an ATBC poster child remain unknown) writes on religiosity and intelligence in response to Dembski:
Already been done, Bill:
http://www.answers.com/topic/religiosity-and-intelligence
http://kspark.kaist.ac.kr/Jesus/Intelligence%20&%20religion.htm
Numerous studies and meta-studies show that theistic belief is negatively correlated with IQ. I am fascinated by the causation aspect. Thick because they’re fundies? Fundies ’cause they’re thick. Shallow end […]
Posted in Intelligent Design | 29 Comments »
19 November 2006
William Dembski
Larry Moran has been getting some play on this blog, so I’ll throw in my two cents. I met Larry in 2002, when he attended a lecture I gave at U of Toronto and confidently explained to me and the audience how indirect Darwinian pathways explain the evolution of the flagellum from the type three […]
Posted in Darwinism, Intelligent Design, Evolution | 17 Comments »
19 November 2006
DaveScot
Received from a dear childhood friend and fellow Marine.
Farewell
Posted in Off Topic | 5 Comments »