creationism
sa smith | October 4, 2009Poor Jonathan Wells.
He saw my new haircut on Facebook, got all excited for his vacation to Oklahoma to see me, and then I stood him up. Poor babby. Threw a massive tantrum on EN&V trying to get my attention. Poor poor babby.
Well its a cold rainy Sunday, Arnies snoozing on the futon, so I dont mind taking a minute to indulge Johnnys attention-whorism.
... OU graduate student Abbie Smith, announced on her foul-mouthed blog...
*clears throat* Spooge, balls, bloody vaginal belch.
... Sure, you want to go see the TARD [short for retard] parade...
TARD is short for The Arguments Regarding…
gregladen | October 2, 2009The Louisiana Science Education Act opened the door for creationism to be taught in the state's public schools, and now the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is propping the door open, the Louisiana Coalition for Science charges. In a September 28, 2009, press release, the LCS noted, "On September 16, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) ignored the recommendations of science education professionals in the Louisiana Department of Education (DOE) and allowed the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF), a Religious Right lobbying group, to dictate the procedure concerning…
gregladen | October 2, 2009The Medieval Religious State of Saudi Arabia has a school called King Abdullah's University of Science and Technology, which is co-ed (that is an extraordinarily progressive idea for Teh Kingdom) and very science oriented. The idea, obviously, is for Saudi Arabia to maintain it's old patriarchal relgious-oligarchic ways but at the same time not get mushed by the modern world by including some rational thinking and stuff. But a senior Saudi cleric has called for a vetting of the university's curriculum in order to remove "alien ideologies."
Evolution is an alien ideology, apparently.
"…
tfk | October 1, 2009Newsweek interviews Richard Dawkins:
Are those incompatible positions: to believe in God and to believe in evolution?
No, I don't think they're incompatible if only because there are many intelligent evolutionary scientists who also believe in God--to name only Francis Collins [the geneticist and Christian believer recently chosen to head the National Institutes of Health] as an outstanding example. So it clearly is possible to be both. This book more or less begins by accepting that there is that compatibility. The God Delusion did make a case against that compatibility in my own mind.
I…
gregladen | October 1, 2009You've heard of Who is Your Creator. I first discussed them back on Oh Six. Then, they came up again in Oh Seven.
Then we heard from them more recently: New Creationist Videos Being Produced in Area High School. When I contacted them to ask about what high school was producing the creationist videos, I was told that I was not allowed to know that because I was part of the opposition.
Well, the latest news has just come down the pipes regarding Who is Your Creator Dot Com:
Within a couple of months, Who Is Your Creator will be rolling out our new campaign that will be offering free…
laelaps | October 1, 2009
Not long after I wrote about how creationists got paleontologists Simon Conway Morris and James Valentine to appear in the anti-evolution film Darwin's Dilemma I received a message from someone at the Faraday Institute. Conway Morris had done an interview with them about science and religion for a miniseries called Test of Faith, they said; would I be interested in receiving a copy of the DVD? I said "Sure" and the film came in the mail last week. I cannot say I was very impressed.
For those who have not heard of it before, the Faraday Institute is a John Templeton Foundation-funded group…
gregladen | September 30, 2009A lecture, by Dr. Don Bierle of FaithSearch International.... Sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ at UW-Superior. Dr. Bierle is a "former skeptic" and everything.
Location:
Kathryn Ohman Theater, McCaskill Hall
U. Wisconsin-Superior
Superior, WI 54880
10/04/2009 · 07:00 PM - 09:00 PM · (715) 394-8320
sa smith | September 30, 2009Yeah... I didnt go see 'Darwins Dilemma' last night.
Why?
Because Ive seen EXPELLED.
At least when I watched EXPELLED I was in the comfort of my own home and could do dishes/vacuum/watch other movies when I got bored. But Id be trapped in a theater!
Also, I got no response to my debate request re: Wells HIV/Evolution Denial... I just dont understand why ID Creationists dont want to debate me... :(
Sooo... Youll have to wait for Ians write-up.
Ian has written his view of Meyers talk. His post actually contains information and complete sentences, not just "AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!":
Meyer was in…
pharyngula | September 30, 2009It was very simple: DIRP.
I knew ahead of time exactly what it was going to be: complexity, complexity, complexity, complexity, complexity, complexity, complexity, therefore, DESIGN. It doesn't follow. The logic is nonexistent. It's the kind of thing you'd expect a competent person with a Ph.D. in philosophy to recognize, but no, it's the same ol' thing, trotted out every time they get up to speak.
COMPLEXITY DOES NOT IMPLY DESIGN. You can build up an awesome mess of complexity by accident, so you need to demonstrate something other than complexity to demonstrate intent.
razib | September 29, 2009The Religious Landscape Survey has a lot of data various denominations. Recently I noticed something weird about Mormons; they are very anti-evolution, as well as anti-universalist in their views on salvation, according to this survey. These are notable views because Mormons don't have well established attitudes on evolution from on high (which is why Mitt Romney expressed anti-Creationist sentiments without any blowback during the 2007-2008 campaign), and, their religious tradition actually seems to have been influenced by American Universalism, and so an exclusive attitude toward salvation…
sa smith | September 28, 20096.55-- AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
SALLY KERN IS HERE!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
7.06-- Pretends hes talkin up Darwin. DIRP! John Lynch would be having a seizure.
7.09-- Intelligent Design>Evilution
7.10-- Meyer is clueless on origin of life and Darwin. He sounds exactly like a parrot. I know the people studying origin of life, and they are waaaaaaay beyond this kindergarten shit Meyers talkin bout. This is like listening to a fourth graders report on 'origin of life'. My god this hour is going to be long...
7.18--…
tfk | September 28, 2009Darwinism and popular culture: Darwinists resort to whining when they are not popular (Also, this just in, water runs downhill):
In responding to a news item from two weeks ago, I'll assume Creation still has gotten a distributor. Therefore it's crummy and boring and will never get a distributor, as it did last week.
With Bonus Shorter D'oh! Leary: Origin of life theory: Complexity theorist Kauffman moving on:
I don't know who Stuart Kauffman is or what he does, but he sure isn't a genius. Neither is Bill Dembski, who at least has the courtesy not to self-aggrandize, for instance by…
tfk | September 28, 2009Last Friday I made some remarks about polling and evolution and atheism that got some knickers in twists. To summarize: Kevin Padian was asked to comment on a stupid stunt by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron, who are passing out copies of the Origin of Species along with a foreword that alleges Darwin caused the Holocaust. Padian was appropriately dismissive, and noted that "The two kinds people who believe that religion and evolution can not coexist are extreme atheists and extreme religious fundamentalists. Everyone else doesn’t really have a problem. [A majority] of Americans believe that a…
laelaps | September 25, 2009
During my studies of the history of paleontology I have often stumbled upon the work of the same scientists over and over again. The 19th century anatomists Richard Owen and Thomas Henry Huxley, especially, worked on a variety of fossil vertebrates and were critical to the establishment of paleontology as an evolutionary science, yet there are other influential researchers who have not retained the same level of notoriety. The Scottish paleontologist Robert Broom, an immigrant to South Africa who belonged to the generation of scientists after Owen and Huxley, was among these lesser-known…
pharyngula | September 25, 2009This is a lovely example of offended sensibilities that was sent to the University of Minnesota alumni association, as well as several other administration people and myself. I don't think the author realizes it, but this is the kind of hate mail that makes me very happy.
Dear Alumni Association,
Due to the protest of the museum in August of 2009, I will no longer be contributing donations to the University. Actions have consequences -- even free speech actions. I believe that tax payers of Minnesota have a interest in not having our professors at the public universities contributing…
gregladen | September 24, 2009
The new film about Darwin, Creation, will be distributed in the United States after all, according to a story in the Hollywood Reporter (September 24, 2009). The film is expected to be released by Newmarket Films in December 2009. Earlier the producer of the film, Jeremy Thomas, lamented to the Telegraph (September 11, 2009), "It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about. ... It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America." A few days later, however, NBC Bay Area (September 15, 2009) reported that a…
mikethemadbiologist | September 23, 2009Argh. The post got borked because I'm using a very old computer with weird keystroke habits. The article is from here:
The Oklahoma House of Representatives Education Committee has just approved House Bill 2211. The bill is expected to pass the full House, and then to go to the Senate. Its authors describe it as promoting freedom of religion in the public schools. In fact, it does the opposite.
HB 2211 is identical to bills widely introduced into state legislatures across the nation, where they have met various fates. Texas's Legislature passed it, and Texas is experiencing serious problems…