creationism
tfk | November 24, 2010There's been a running discussion among a group of journalists about what to call folks who do not accept the scientific finding that the earth's climate is changing and has already changed because of human activities. "Skeptic," "denier," "denialist," and other contenders are all considered, and generally rejected by the journalists. "Skeptic" is the preferred self-identification, while those who accept the scientific finding tend to prefer calling their opponents "deniers."
I favor "denier." I think they fall into a broad trend of science denial which encompasses creationism and anti-…
gregladen | November 20, 2010So much bad publicity spins out of Louisiana about so many things that we don't often get a chance to shine a spotlight on the competent, dedicated people who are the real reason that this state works at all. And since Thanksgiving is almost here, it is a good time to tell the world that Louisiana has intelligent, accomplished, dedicated citizens, teachers, scientists -- and students! -- who are trying to stop the damage that the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF) and their allies are doing to Louisiana science education. Several of Louisiana's finest testified on November 12, 2010, in favor of…
mikethemadbiologist | November 17, 2010Or something. By way of Howie Klein, we discover that Blue America PAC, which supports candidates, who among other things, are not global warming denialists, is faced with a nuisance lawsuit. This attack is led by 'Let Freedom Ring, Inc.', a conservative faith-tank. And who funds Let Freedom Ring? Well (italics mine):
'Let Freedom Ring, Inc.' is a Conservative think-tank that was set up in 2004 in the USA thanks to a $1 million donation from Dr John Templeton, Jr., President of the John Templeton Foundation. The organization seeks to promote the neo-conservative agenda led by President…
pharyngula | November 17, 2010I know it's a respectable field; kinesiology is the study of human movement, and I've known some who are sensible and well-trained (applied kinesiology, on the other hand, is total bunk). But it's becoming a bit like engineers and the Salem hypothesis — I also run into creationists who proclaim their kinesiology degrees, like the frothing mad Joseph Mastropaolo. I'm beginning to think there must be some deep conceptual hole in the formal educational background of kinesiologists.
Anyway, here's another example: a professor of kinesiology, Phil Bishop has written the most wonderfully…
mikethemadbiologist | November 17, 2010Because that's what it seems they're claiming. I'll get to that in a bit. Rolling Stone invited Matt Taibbi, David Gergen, and Gary Hart to discuss political events of the day. The subject of the Tea Party came up, at which point Taibbi said:
To me, the main thing about the Tea Party is that they're just crazy. If somebody is able to bridge the gap with those voters, it seems to me they will have to be a little bit crazy too. That's part of the Tea Party's litmus test: "How far will you go?"
Gergen and Hart both, despite their supposedly being smart people, misinterpreted what Taibbi said…
gregladen | November 15, 2010Last year, the American Freedom Alliance, a California based Don't Think Tank, attempted to insert, Trojan style,* a creationist film called Darwin's Dilemma into the repertoire of films shown at the California Science Center.
The film is a pro-Intelligent Design film, and behind this insulting and immature ruse was, you guessed it, the Discovery Institute.
When the California Science Center reviewed the film, they found its science content lacking in accuracy, truth, integrity, and stuff and canceled the showing. In so doing, the CSC was carrying out its obligation to promote excellent…
gregladen | November 12, 2010Louisiana is one of those states where really stupid stuff tends to happen, especially when it comes to evolution in the school curriculum. Recently, a state panel was in a position to chose either creationist textbooks with which to abuse the children for whom they are responsible, or good biology textbooks to educate the children for whom they are responsible. Under considerable pressure to not become the next national laughing stock, the advisory council voted 8-4 to use the correct books.
That's good news, but it ain't not over yet. This was only a preliminary vote, and the final…
pharyngula | November 12, 2010Poor little Ray Comfort is out of sorts because I accused him of promoting a death cult. He does, of course; he wanders about, accusing people of being sinners damned to hell, and pretending that they can be save by believing his Jebus stories.
The amusing part about his latest whine is that he misspells my last name multiple times, even gets my initials wrong once, and also misspells Larry Moran's name. I don't think his brain is working right. He also accuses me of backing out of a radio debate with him — he knows that is not true, and was informed by the radio station that it was their…
pharyngula | November 3, 2010That's not the Insane Clown Posse…it's Ray Comfort again, screwing up once more.
First, he complains about Richard Feynman (I know! Comfort vs. Feynman sounds a bit like Bambi vs. Godzilla), because he didn't give a simple answer to the question about how magnets repel and attract, but actually goes on at length about what are good questions before explaining succinctly that these forces are everywhere, we just take them for granted. It might be annoying if you want a one-sentence answer, but aren't willing to accept "go master Maxwell's equations" as that explanation.
Comfort's explanation…
mikethemadbiologist | October 30, 2010There's been a lot of chortling about Republican Senate candidate and Tea Buggerer Christine O'Donnell's recent misunderstanding of the First Amendment. But it actually reveals a lot about the mindset of movement conservatives (and, remember, everything you need to know about how they operate can be understood by observing creationists). ScienceBlogling Ed Brayton sets the stage:
The debate was actually held at Widener Law School, which probably explains why the audience literally bursts into laughter when she she says:
"Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?"
The…
pharyngula | October 28, 2010Joshua Joscelyn is a fellow who, once upon a time, worked within Kent Hovind's creation science ministry. No more, though; he has just posted his resignation letter on facebook. Has he finally seen the light of science? Has he at last seen through the fact that Kent Hovind was a deluded and not-very-bright con artist? No, of course not. He's still a true believer.
I first came to work with CSE in mid 2007 as a park guide at Dinosaur Adventure Land, swiftly moving into my roles as head of publications and the apologetics departments as well as producer for the popular series, Creation in…
pharyngula | October 26, 2010Jerry Coyne is being berated once again for daring to speak out against the folly of religion. This time, it's a complaint by Michael Zimmerman, instigator of the clergy letter project, claiming that all those positive atheists are driving away the religious people who would support the teaching of evolution.
Like religious fundamentalists, Coyne is arguing that people must choose between religion and science, that they can't accept both. There are, I believe, two problems with this position. First, pragmatically, studies have clearly suggested that in the United States, when people are given…
tfk | October 25, 2010I'm in DC doing meetings and stuff, so regular blogging will return later in the week. Meanwhile, via Ed Yong, a paper On Angry Leaders and Agreeable Followers, which finds:
[T]he two studies we conducted showed that agreeableness moderates the effects of a leaderâs emotional displays. In a scenario study, participants with lower levels of agreeableness responded more favorably to an angry leader, whereas participants with higher levels of agreeableness responded more favorably to a neutral leader. In an experiment involving four-person teams, teams composed of participants with lower…
pharyngula | October 25, 2010The big overpriced embarrassment in Kentucky gets all the attention, but the creation 'museums' are sprinkled all over our country, like flyspecks on a sugar cookie. Mmm-mmmm.
Here's an account of visiting the one in Glen Rose, Texas, run by the big-haired Carl Baugh. Every once in a while I'll tune him in on the TV — he's got a regular creationism show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network — but he's kind of hard to take for very long.
There is an astonishing revelation in the article that I didn't know, and really impels me to visit that place. Guess who looms over the interior of the 'museum…
pharyngula | October 23, 2010Christopher Booker is whining. He went to a meeting of "scientists" and writes up the usual collection of creationist conspiracy theories: they're oppressed, evolution is in a state of collapse, Darwin himself raised objections to his theory (never mind that he also answered them), complexity, complexity, complexity, famous scientists reject evolution, the scientific establishment is a gang of Lysenkoist bastards, oh, and by the way, global warming is a hoax and smoking isn't that bad for you. Boring claptrap, all.
The one thing that stood out in his parade of cliches was the fact that he…
pharyngula | October 23, 2010Michael Egnor must be fishing for traffic to the graveyard of rotting ideas that the Discovery Institute calls a blog. He claims to honestly want to understand what positive values the New Atheists have, so he posted a quiz for Larry Moran and invited the authors of various blogs — all of which get more traffic and are livelier than his, and also, by the way, allow comments, making his request rather disingenuous.
His questions are so far out of it that I'm not really interested in answering them. It's like a particularly crusty and dogmatic alchemist stirring beneath the cobwebs of his dead…
pharyngula | October 21, 2010Do us all a favor and yank it out and invest it elsewhere. L&N is partnering with the Creation "Museum" in a 5K run. I have no objection to Ken Ham endorsing healthy exercise — presumably being a creationist dolt doesn't interfere with the functioning of your limbs — but jebus, respectable businesses should be embarrassed to be associated with those kooks.
pharyngula | October 20, 2010I know. You're still trying to get over the shock of learning that little Billy Dembski admits to being a biblical literalist. Brace yourself for this one, then: Glenn Beck is also a creationist, and his reasons are really, really stupid.
You know, if you know so little about evolution that you think the fact that monkeys aren't turning into humans is a credible argument, maybe you should have "MORON" tattooed across your forehead.
Evolution is an engine of diversity. It produces "endless forms most beautiful", to quote the guy who thought it up. Asking why different species don't all…
gregladen | October 20, 2010I just received this dispatch from Monica Metzler, President of the Illinois Science Council. This is important.
The current leading candidate in the Illinois Governor's race has acknowledged his belief in intelligent design and his willingness to permit individual school districts to allow it to be taught. Teaching ID in schools isn't a top campaign issue and doesn't get addressed in debates, but the outcome of this election could mean a disastrous turning point for Illinois schools and science in general. The situation in Illinois is such that if Sen. Brady wins, many school districts in…
pharyngula | October 20, 2010I have to commend him on his honesty: William Dembski has come right out and plainly said that he believes in a 'literal' interpretation of the bible, and that his god actually created the earth in 6 days culminating in the conjuring into existence of Adam and Eve.
In writing The End of Christianity today, I would also underscore three points: (1) As a biblical inerrantist, I accept the full verbal inspiration of the Bible and the conventional authorship of the books of the Bible. Thus, in particular, I accept Mosaic authorship of Genesis (and of the Pentateuch) and reject the Documentary…