Anti-Creationism

EvolutionBlog will be going dark for the next two weeks or so. I will be leaving my cozy digs in Harrisonburg to enjoy some serious wandering. First is a drive up to Pittsburgh for the International Conference of Creationism. How could I pass that up? Then I will explore the fine points of the Pennsylvania Turnpike as I shoot on over to visit the 'rents in my New Jersey office. There follows a quick train ride up to New York for the big blogger meet-up. I will also be sure to take care of the two most important things in any trip to New York: The visit to big bro over in Brooklyn, and…
During my recent trip to the Creation Museum I picked up a copy of David DeWitt's book Unraveling the Origins Controversy. DeWitt is the Director of the Center for Creation Studies at Liberty University. It's been a while since I've read an actual YEC book, and I was growing nostalgic for the experience. And wouldn't you know it! Almost as soon as DeWitt turns from religious questions to scientific ones, the quote-mining begins. Consider this: Often the evidence that is used to support common ancestry is the similarities between organisms. Mayr explained: Since all members of a taxon…
I have spent the last few days working my way through Ken Miller's new book Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul. (OAT) Short review: Worth reading, but also a bit disappointing. Now for the long review: My first published piece of writing on evolution was a review of Miller's book Finding Darwin's God, (FDG) for Skeptic magazine. My reaction to the book was probably typical among atheists. The first half of the book is a masterful smackdown of creationism and intelligent design. Miller's arguments were clear and convincing, and written in graceful prose that was a…
Here's the latest from William Dembski: Colorado Governor Bill Ritter's signing of a transgender anti-discrimination bill points up the lunacy that ensues in a world without design. He then links to this article by Ross Kaminsky in the right-wing magazine Human Events. I have no comment on whether or not this is a good bill, since I have not read it and know about it only from Dembski's post. It sounds fine in principle, but Kaminsky raises some interesting practical issues in his article. Human Events is not a publication I trust, however, especially not on issues like these. But perhaps…
The New York Times provides an update on the latest shenanigans of the ID folks: Now a battle looms in Texas over science textbooks that teach evolution, and the wrestle for control seizes on three words. None of them are “creationism” or “intelligent design” or even “creator.” The words are “strengths and weaknesses.” Starting this summer, the state education board will determine the curriculum for the next decade and decide whether the “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution should be taught. The benign-sounding phrase, some argue, is a reasonable effort at balance. But critics say it is a…
Looks like an exciting weekend in our nation's capitol. The sevetneenth edition of the World Humanist Congress will be in Washington D.C. from June 5 to June 9. I think I can be persuaded to go check it out! Click Here for all the details.
Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the big Creation Museum in Kentucky. They grow up so fast, don't they? To recognize the occasion, the Northern Kentucky Enquirer offers us this article. It's a sadly typical representative of the genre. All 280 staff members of the museum and founding ministry, the nonprofit Answers in Genesis, begin their days in prayer before visitors arrive. Since it opened May 28 last year, more than 400,000 people have visited the $27 million, 60,000-square-foot museum, which presents a literal interpretation of the Bible, including the belief that God created the…
I went to see Expelled yesterday. I am happy to report it was a private screening. Had the theater to myself. Last time that happened was when I saw Snakes on a Plane (a far more scientifically accurate film, by the way). Granted, it was a Monday night. Indeed, when I go to see movies I nearly always do so on Mondays or Tuesdays specifically to avoid the crowds. The fact remains that for a new release I can typically count on about a dozen people watching the film with me. And let's not forget that I am living in a town that is -- how shall I put this? -- somewhat right of center…
Meanwhile, the release date for Ben Stein's antievolution propaganda piece Expelled draws nigh. If you've been following any of the press coverage you are probably aware that one of the main charges in the film is that Darwinism in some way led to the Nazis and the holocaust. In that light, it is worth noting that one of the “scientists” appearing in the film to cast aspersions on evolution spends his free time saying things like this: By their own will, [Jews] prefer to live a separate life, in apartheid from the surrounding communities. They form their own communes (kahals), they…
William Dembski's lead blogflak DaveScot has stepped in it even more badly than usual. Commenting on Richard Dawkins' recent appearance on Bill Maher's show the other night, he writes: I watched Dawkins on the Bill Maher show last night. Among other interesting things he said was when it comes to belief in gods if you were to rate his belief on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being most belief and 10 being least he puts himself at a 6. Then he compares belief in gods with belief in fairies and pink unicorns. So I guess he's conflicted about those too. Bill Maher then ridiculed religion in…
Not because it's false, mind you. There is no reasonable definition of science that includes Intelligent Design and Creationism, and it is perfectly legitimate to point that out. In certain contexts, like when you are arguing that it is unconstitutional to teach ID in public high school science classes, it is even an important and relevant point. But it is not the main reason serious scientists want nothing to do with the notion and it should not be the first thing you say when debating the subject. Case in point, consider how the usually excellent Steven Novella opens this post about ID…
I suspect that everyone reading this has heard the story of what happened when P.Z. Myers and Richard Dawkins tried to attend a screening of Expelled in Minneapolis last week. Short version: P.Z. got recognized and was not allowed in. Dawkins was not recognized and was allowed in. If you've been living in a cave for the last week you can check out P.Z.'s post here. Then scroll through the remainder of his recent posts to hear about the fallout. There are many aspects of this worth discussing, but here I am interested in only one. Matt Nisbet, you see, is once more beating his favorite…
Finally, The Christian Century has published this lengthy report of a visit to the Creation Museum. It was written by Jason Byassee. Most of the article is a bemused and slightly cynical account of the exhibits you find at the museum. It was the last paragraph that really caught my eye, however: Reconciling Christian claims about God, creation and humanity with the findings of Darwin and his successors is an important and daunting task, one that mainline theology has still not satisfactorily accomplished. AiG can hardly be faulted for attempting the task, though its effort is a…
ID folks make numerous assertions said to represent scientific challenges to conventional evolutionary theory. These claims are uniformly wrong, which is one of the reasons scientists generally ignore them. But ID folks also claim that adopting a design perspective could lead to great progress in science, if only scientists would take off their materialist blinders. There is an acid test for all such claims: Go discover something! Writers are fond of saying “Show, don't tell,” and that adage applies very well here. If your perspective is so useful, then prove it by discovering something…
As reported in this article in Reason Magazine: My favorite response from any candidate about the evolution/creationism debate was from former Sen. Mike Gravel (Alaska). When LiveScience asked the senator if he thought creationism should be taught in public schools, Gravel replied, “Oh God, no. Oh, Jesus. We thought we had made a big advance with the Scopes monkey trial....My God, evolution is a fact, and if these people are disturbed by being the descendants of monkeys and fishes, they've got a mental problem. We can't afford the psychiatric bill for them. That ends the story as far as I'm…
In other news, philosopher Mary Midgley offers some thoughts on the proper way to respond to ID. The title: A Plague on Both Their Houses. You can probably guess what's coming, especially if you're aware of Midgley's history with Richard Dawkins (more on that later). If you're expecting Midgley to decry equally people like Dawkins who liken evolution to atheism and religious fundamentalists who promote creationism and ID, then you would be right. Which is already a bad sign. Even if you sincerely believe that evolution and religion are compatible and that people like Dawkins are guilty of…
Remember Guillermo Gonzalez? He was the astronomer from Iowa State University who was denied tenure earlier this year. The reason for the tenure deinal? Depends who you ask. Gonzalez, you see, is a rising young star in the ID movement. He coauthored a singularly bad book entitled The Privileged Planet, in which he argued not simply that the Earth was designed, but designed specifically with the idea of human scientific investigation in mind. A truly idiotic idea, which explains why the book was published by Regnery (among their other authors: Ann Coulter and Jonathan Wells. Get the idea…
If you followed the link in the last post and need to be reminded what a real journal looks like, you might want to have a look at the first issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach. I've only read the article titles so far, but they look pretty interesting. And since the editors are Niles Eldredge (of punctuated equilibrium fame) and his son Gregory Eldredge, I'm optimistic that it will be worth reading. Go have a look!
Every once in a while the ID folks get into their heads to set-up an actual academic journal. You know, a place where they can lay out all that cutting-edge research kept out of the real journals by dogmatic Darwinian stormtroopers. These journals invariably founder on their inability to find any scientists willing to write for them. Remember Proceedings in Complexity, Information and Design? It's been moribund since November 2005. Or how about Origins and Design? That one went belly-up around the turn of the century. The latest representative of the genre is Anti-Matters. It bills…
From the Louisville Courier-Journal: There is a great educational injustice being inflicted upon thousands of children in this country, a large percentage of whom come from the Kentucky, Ohio and, Indiana areas. The source of this injustice is a sophisticated Christian ministry that uses the hook of dinosaurs, the guarantee of an afterlife, and the horrors of hell to convince children and their families to believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible. The tax-exempt ministry, Answers in Genesis, and its new $28 million creation museum in Boone County has become the de facto source of…