Commentary on the Endless Dispute Between Evolution and Creationism
Jason Rosenhouse received his PhD in mathematics from Dartmouth College in 2000. He subsequently spent three years as a post-doc at Kansas State University. Observing the machinations of the Kansas Board of Education led to his unhealthy obsession with issues related to evolution and creationism. Currently he is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at James Madison University, in Harrisonburg, VA.
August 31, 2006
Category: Religion
Have a look at this interesting article, by Samantha Shapiro at Slate, about the decline of conservative Judaism. She writes: Since 1886, the Jewish Theological Seminary has sought to negotiate a middle ground between Orthodox Judaism, which (to vastly oversimplify)...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 1:35 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 29, 2006
Category: Politics
Slate offers up this depressing article, by Amy Sullivan about how religious people view the Democratic Party: Which is why it is startling that in the two years since this Democratic revival began, the party's faith-friendly image has dimmed rather...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:02 PM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
Chris Mooney's excellent book The Republican War on Science is now available in paperback. So if you didn't buy it in hardcover, shame on you! But now you have a chanc eto redeem yourself. Kidding aside, Mooney does a first-rate...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 4:57 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 27, 2006
Category: Religion
David Heddle provides a typical example of the mental gymnastics required to believe that God is all -knowing and all-powerful. He writes: Many of you know I live in a small town in New Hampshire. In a month or so,...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:10 PM • 62 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 26, 2006
Category: Anti-Creationism
How bad have things gotten for the ID folks? They're pathetically excited about the publication of Jonathan Wells' new book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Drwainism and Intelligent Design. It used to be that the ID folks were keen to...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:30 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Miscellaneous
It's been a good week for entertainment. I saw Snakes on a Plane, of course. Very enjoyable, though inevitably a bit disappointing given the hype. Needed more snakes. And Prison Break returned this week. I had to tape the premiere...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 4:23 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 25, 2006
Category: Anti-Creationism
I am currently holding in my hands a little book called Evolution and Christian Faith, by Stanford University biologist Joan Roughgarden. I don't agree with Roughgarden's religious views, but she sure does a good job of nailing ID: Furthermore, neo-Darwinism...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:31 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Evolution in Pop Culture
That's the title of this article from the August 2006 issue of GeoTimes. The article is by Kathryn Hansen. The article details some of the difficulties faced by national parks and museums in communicating science to the public. It begins...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 1:11 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 23, 2006
Category: Mathematics
The cable news channels have been falling all over themselves for the last few days, desperate to find something new to say about the JonBenet Ramsey fracas. Meanwhile, what do you suppose the lead story was on yesterday's edition of...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:46 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Anti-Creationism
The Daily Howler has this disturbing report about the Q&A session from a recent presentation by Ann Coulter. Try to believe that a sentient human being actually asked the following question: QUESTION FROM SOMEONE EZRA KLEIN DOESN'T KNOW (7/28/06): Hi....
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:35 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Evolution in Pop Culture
Anyone familiar with D. James Kennedy, leader of Coral Ridge Ministries, knows that he is one of the vilest ignorance peddlers in the business. When I lived in Kansas I listened frequently to his sermons on the local Christian radio...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:40 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 22, 2006
Category: Anti-Creationism
My latest essay for CSICOP's Creation Watch site is now up. This time: Why you should be suspicious of creationist and ID arguments even if you know very little of the science involved. Enjoy!...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:35 PM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Anti-Creationism
A few weeks ago, Canadian journalist Denyse O'Leary joined the team over at William Dembski's blog Uncommon Descent. This presented her with a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, she is surely aware that she knows nothing at...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:34 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 21, 2006
Category: Mathematics
I'm afraid I have to blog and run today. I have to scamper off to Dulles Airport an hour from now to retrieve a friend. (Don't worry, I've already set the VCR to tape the premiere of Prison Break!) So...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:53 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 18, 2006
Category: Mathematics
A reader asked me, in response to yesterday's post, why I failed to make any mention of the Mobius Strip. Addressing that topic seemed like a good way to close the week's blogging. Imagine that you take a long thin...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 8:01 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 17, 2006
Category: Mathematics
Tuesday's New York Times had this lengthy article about progress on one of the great open problems in mathematics: Poincare's conjecture. Actually, it looks increasingly likely that the problem is no longer open: Three years ago, a Russian mathematician by...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 9:51 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 16, 2006
While I was away, William Dembski offered up this revealing post. He describes how he met philosopher Barbara Forrest and asked her to autograph his copy of Creationism's Trojan Horse. She signed it, “To Bill, With Thanks.” Dembski writes: Indeed,...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 11:21 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 15, 2006
Category: Religion
Prior to my break, there was some discussion, in the comments to this post, about the Day-Age Theory. This refers to the idea that the “Days” in the first chapter of Genesis actually refer to very long periods of time....
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:29 PM • 34 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Administrative
Things have settled down a bit here in Harrisonburg. The JMU Math Department has now nestled in to its new digs in the appallingly named, but otherwise attractive, Roop Hall. Sadly, my office currently has no shelves on the walls,...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:15 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 3, 2006
Category: Administrative
Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. I'm in the process of buying my first house, which means most of my time lately has been spent either dealing with that, or sitting around worrying that I'm making some terrible mistake....
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:04 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
