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.
October 31, 2007
Category: Evolution
Back in June, Brown University biologist Ken Miller published this review of Michael Behe's book The Edge of Evolution in Nature magazine. Considering the venue, Miller quite appropriately focused on Behe's rather dubious scientific arguments and showed that they were...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:51 PM • 195 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 29, 2007
Category: Religion
At least, that is the conclusion you would inevitably come to if you read Town Hall on a regular basis. The wesbite that boasts of being the first conservative web community seems to have a yen for anti-atheist propaganda. For...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 9:06 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
Former World Chess Champion and current political activist Garry Kasparov appeared on Bill Maher's program the other night. The entire, seven minute interview is worth watching, but I especially liked this part:...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:09 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion
This week's New York Times Magazine has this lengthy article suggesting that the evangelical voters are modertaing their views a bit: So when Fox announced to his flock one Sunday in August last year that it was his final appearance...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:32 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 25, 2007
Category: Politics
Writing at the Cato Insititue blog, Chris Edwards believes he has found the Ann Coulter of the left: For those who think that it's just conservatives, such as Ann Coulter, who are mean-spirited, they should check out the new book...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 4:32 PM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 24, 2007
Category: Religion
Another day, another debate between Christopher Hitchens and a defender of the faith. This time it was Dinesh D'Souza. The video of the procedings can be found here. It was a frustrating debate. Through most of it I felt D'Souza...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:01 PM • 25 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
Columbia University Law Professor Michael Dorf uses the Dumbledore flap as a teachable moment: These principles may seem obvious enough when considering the relation of a fiction writer's intentions to her text, but they are highly contentious when it comes...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 4:55 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 23, 2007
Category: Literature
Christian apologist John Mark Reynolds answers no: Recently, J.K. Rowling announced to the world that one of her characters, the heroic mentor of Harry Potter, Dumbledore was gay. Nonsense. There is no evidence of it in the books and the...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 1:37 PM • 48 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Anti-Creationism
I see P.Z. Myers already has the video of Bill O'Reilly's interview with Ben Stein. But just in case you're at work and don't want to get caught watching such filth, I have taken the liberty of providing a transcript...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 12:40 PM • 26 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 22, 2007
Category: Literature
J.K. Rowling made some news at Carnegie Hall the other night: But when the questions began -- they had been submitted by audience members before the event -- she came into her own. Finally able to talk freely about the...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:01 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Anti-Creationism
A while back I wrote an opinion piece (PDF Format) for BioScience magazine entitled “Leaders and Followers in the Intelligent Design Movement.” The intent of the essay was to draw a distinction between the rampant dishonesty among the leaders of...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:14 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 18, 2007
Category: Evolution
Slate has an interesting piece on som erecent dinosaur finds in Argentina:...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 3:54 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 17, 2007
Category: Evolution
In my blog entry of a few days ago regarding Jerry Fodor's poorly argued essay in The London Review of Books, I remarked that Fodor divided his criticisms of natural selection into both an empricial and a conceptual criticism. I...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:56 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Administrative
It's been pointed out to me that the banner residing atop my blog is a bit dull. There's a very good reason for that. I haven't the faintest idea how to make a snazzier one. Apparently other people have had...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:40 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion
From the public editor of The Sacramento Bee: There they were, two stories on the Metro cover last Monday about a common topic: religion and beliefs. Yet they were as opposite as night is to day. The headlines said it...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:32 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 15, 2007
Category: Politics
Sunday's New York Times offers a poignant look at some of the victims of the Iraq War: IT was a bitterly cold night in the Baghdad winter of 2005, somewhere in the predawn hours before the staccato of suicide bombs...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 3:26 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Evolution
Philosopher Jerry Fodor offers up the latest example of a familiar genre: essays declaring the forthcoming demise of natural selection, coupled with very little in the way of supporting argument. He is writing in the London Review of Books. There's...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 3:23 AM • 86 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 12, 2007
Category: Anti-Creationism
The new issue of the Reports of the National Center for Science Education turned up in my mailbox the other day. As always, it contains lot's of interesting nuggets. Michael Ruse reviews Sahotra Sarkar's recent book, Doubting Darwin: Creationist Designs...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:00 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
Paul Krugman does his usual fine job of exposing the utter lack of conscience on the American political right:...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:32 PM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 11, 2007
Category: Religion
UPDATE: October 12, 5:00 pm. It has been pointed out to me that my statement that support for Israel has been a constant of post WWII American foreign policy is not correct. President Truman recognized Israel upon its formation, but...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:33 PM • 47 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 10, 2007
Category: Evolution
My reviews of Phillip Kitcher's Living With Darwin and Francisco Ayala's Evolution and Intelligent Design are now available over at Skeptic's website. Enjoy! I should probably mention that I wrote this review some time ago, and in the meantime Ayala...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:15 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 9, 2007
Category: Academe
As if worried that fellow lunatic Michael Barone might receive the honor for the silliest attack on universities in recent memory, Dennis Prager steps in with his own worthy pretender to the title. His jumping off point is the recent...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:46 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Academe
Town Hall columnist Michael Barone has a bee in his bonnet about universities: I am old enough to remember when America's colleges and universities seemed to be the most open-minded and intellectually rigorous institutions in our society. Today, something very...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:17 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
It seems that Larry Craig is not resigning: Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho, defying the wishes of many in his own Republican Party, said Thursday that he would remain in the Senate through next year despite a court ruling...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 4:49 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 8, 2007
Category: Religion
Take away the question mark and that's the name of a blog maintained by Zack Exley. I came across it by following links from BoingBoing and Andrew Sullivan. Exley's premise is that “secular progressives” ought to take a second look...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 7:35 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
From the stopped clock department, two of my least favorite New York Times columnists have managed to get it right on the subject of Clarence Thomas. Here's Frank Rich:...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 6:00 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 1, 2007
Category: Chess
Viswanathan Anand of India is the new, mostly undisputed, World Chess Champion, thanks to his stellar performance at the Mexico City tournament. The Chess Ninja has the details. By all accounts Anand is a class act and a well-deserving champion....
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 4:44 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
