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.
September 26, 2007
Category: Administrative
Janet Stemwedel is not the only one around here applying for tenure. I am likewise in the process of making the best argument I can for having my school keep me around for a while. Sadly, this is a time...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 3:57 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 24, 2007
Category: Politics
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University earlier today. Judging from this clip, it looks like he made a fool of himself. According to the New York Times, it seems something vaguely evolution related came up: He then gave...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:13 PM • 59 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 22, 2007
Category: Religion
According to The New York Times, Russia is having some church / state issues: One of the most discordant debates in Russian society is playing out in public schools like those in this city not far from Moscow, where the...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:36 PM • 17 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
Tim Lambert over at Deltoid links to this article, by Aaron Swartz, about the relentless right-wing smear campaign against Rachel Carson. Carson was the author of the 1962 book Silent Spring, where she argued, among other things, that pervasive use...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 12:29 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Anti-Creationism
Received your latest letter today, and while it was just shy of coherence, I think I can see where your bewilderment lies. From your enclosed diagram, it has become apparent to me that for the past six weeks we...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 4:01 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 21, 2007
Category: Anti-Creationism
We now continue our discussion of Ian Hacking's wide-ranging essay on evolution and ID. We left off with Hacking having just completed several paragraphs on the uses of tree metaphors in human history. So far my main criticisms have been...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 1:36 PM • 25 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 20, 2007
Category: Anti-Creationism
Here at ScienceBlogs we often debate the best way of promoting science literacy generally, and an understanding of evolution in particular. Is a calm recital of the evidence a good approach, or does that merely come off as an uninspiring...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 11:44 PM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Miscellaneous
We have a new Science Blogger! She is ScienceWoman: What I do write about are my experiences as an early career scientist who also happens to be a woman. I share my life as the mother of a spunky seven-month...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:22 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
I've just started reading Jonathan Chait's new book The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics. One of the more remarkable developments in the last twenty-five years of American politics is the...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 4:25 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Anti-Creationism
ERV has a must-read series of posts up (Part One, Part Two, Part Three) about William Dembski's latest bit of performance art, this time delivered at the University of Oklahoma. Sounds like things went well for the good guys. Lot's...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 2:40 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science
Maybe evolution is not the front line in the fight for good science education. Judging from this clip, from Dan Abrams' show on Tuesday night, it would seem there are more pressing problems in that area:...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 1:55 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 17, 2007
Category: Philosophy
Okay, I'm back. Prison Break seems to be off to a rip-roaring, if extremely implausible, start. Guess I'll keep watching. I've followed it for this long, I suppose I should hang around to find out what happens to these guys....
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 11:35 PM • 39 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion
I only have time for a quick blog post (Prison Break comes on in twenty minutes!), but do have a quick look at this post over at Richard Dawkins' site. (Hat tip to Larry Moran for directing me to it)....
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:49 PM • 51 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 13, 2007
Category: Religion
My first published piece of writing on evolution and creationism was a review of Ken Miller's Finding Darwin's God for Skeptic magazine, published in 2000. In light of my recent posts at this blog, you might find it hard to...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 8:24 PM • 57 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion
In the comments to Jake's post from yesterday, Russell Blackford left a comment that perfectly summarizes my own views on Richard Dawkins and The God Delusion:...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:40 PM • 21 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 12, 2007
Category: Religion
Over at Pure Pedantry, Jake Young weighs in with a lengthy essay on the subject of promoting atheism. The essay makes some interesting points, and is centered around a 1922 article by John Dewey in The New Republic. Sadly, Jake...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 11:47 PM • 43 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 11, 2007
Category: Religion
According to Newsweek there's trouble brewing at Olivet Nazarene University: There may be some battlefields where the gospel's “blessed are the peacemakers” holds true. But despite the work of a growing number of scholars and millions of dollars in foundation...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:00 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science
Over at blogfish, Mark Powell has a little challenge for me: Scientists opposed to “framing” science keep asking for an example of what framing science looks like when done well. Here's a very good example in Carl Safina's description of...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 12:13 PM • 43 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 7, 2007
Category: Politics
Bill Maher turned up on Hardball the other night. As usual, he had some insightful things to say. Here's the first item I especially liked. Matthews' question was about the surge in Iraq:...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 4:05 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 6, 2007
Category: Anti-Creationism
D. James Kennedy died earlier this week. Shortly after I moved to Kansas I discovered the local Evangelical radio station. This was my introduction to precisely what Christianity means to very large segments of the South and Midwest. Preacher after...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 8:00 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 4, 2007
Category: Mathematics
As a companion piece to yesterday's post have a look at this essay in the religious periodical First Things, written by Amanda Shaw. The purpose is to draw a parallel between imaginary numbers and belief in God. You see, for...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 8:34 PM • 31 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 3, 2007
Category: Mathematics
I think my calculus students would probably not think so. But as John Allen Paulos reports, not everyone agrees:...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:23 PM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion
I had not intended to do another post on this subject. But in response to P.Z.'s post , my fellow Panda's Thumber Burt Humburg left a lengthy comment that I feel requires a response. So I'll ask your patience as...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:42 PM • 36 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
