creationism
pharyngula | June 23, 2009In more ways than one. You know I mocked his weird decision to sell an edited version of Darwin's Origin with a long-winded creationist introduction just this morning…and he's already edited the ad to include a quote from me.
"It's like a book with multiple personality disorder -- two parts that absolutely hate each other; an intro that is the inane product of one of the most stupid minds of our century, and a science text that is the product of one of the greatest minds of the author's century." PZ Myers, biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris
Now he has…
pharyngula | June 23, 2009Even here in Minnesota, we get creationists ranting in the newspapers. This one is in the Brainerd Dispatch.
In response to a previous writer's statement " ... modern neo-Darwinian synthesis of organic evolution is supported by more compelling and intellectually satisfying empirical evidence that any other idea ever advanced by the world's scientific community ... "
The retort to this statement is simple: hogwash! Remember, the neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory is not "change over time" or "modifications through natural selection within an existing species", nor dynamics of cellular…
pharyngula | June 23, 2009What a deal. For only 99¢, you can get an abridged version of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life; you can tell it's been abridged because the title has been reduced to Origin of Species. It's also special because it contains a 50 page introduction by Ray Comfort, which tells you everything that the creationists are sure is wrong about the rest of the book. It's like a book with multiple personality disorder — two parts that absolutely hate each other, an intro that is the inane product of one…
pharyngula | June 22, 2009We only have a month or two left. I have been reminded of a prediction made in the July/August 2004 issue of Touchstone magazine. Brace yourselves.
Where is the ID movement going in the next ten years? What new issues will it be exploring, and what new challenges will it be offering Darwinism?
Dembski: In the next five years, molecular Darwinism—the idea that Darwinian processes can produce complex molecular structures at the subcellular level—will be dead. When that happens, evolutionary biology will experience a crisis of confidence because evolutionary biology hinges on the evolution of…
grrlscientist | June 21, 2009tags: universe, god, religion, creationism, humor, funny, satire, Edward Current, streaming video
In this video, we learn that God created the entire universe for the enjoyment of us humans on Earth. To believe otherwise is arrogant and deluded! [4:08]
mikethemadbiologist | June 20, 2009I've posted many times about how the theopolitical right and movement conservatives use words as weapons. They are not supposed to be taken at face value, but rather are meant to manipulate others. A good, although old, example is "evolution is just a theory." Any professional creationist who says that knows this is false--in fact, he is probably so familiar with the rebuttal, he could repeat it for you. The Slacktivist, a former anti-abortion activist, notes the same phenomenon regarding the rhetoric surrounding abortion:
If you're confronted with an evil equal in magnitude to that of…
sa smith | June 19, 2009There is nothing wrong with not knowing something.
I dont know lots of stuff.
You dont know lots of stuff.
Its okay-- we share knowledge with each other. I dont *have* to be an expert in car repair. I dont *have* to be an expert in particle physics. You dont *have* to be an expert in retroviruses. We are a hippy commune of knowledge.
Seems like the only people who *have* to know EVERYTHING are Creationists. Pressures not on them from our end-- I dont expect Creationists to know how to feed themselves without assistance, much less the details of ERVs. No, its the Creationists who insist…
pharyngula | June 17, 2009As we all know to our great shame, Ken Ham has this Creation "Museum" in Kentucky. As has been reported before, it's a thoroughly bogus bit of bunco, with dinosaurs wearing saddles and all the ills of the world laid at the feet of Charles Darwin.
There are a few things you might not know. Like that it's rolling in dough, with almost $18 million in revenue and $14 million in assets. It's entirely tax free, which helps, and Ham is a relentless self-promoter.
This one may shock you: public schools are sending kids on field trips to the museum. It's usually under the guise of an extra-curricular…
pharyngula | June 17, 2009So right away, you know not to trust it. No details are given, we are simply told that "a major study he commissioned by a respected researcher unveils for the first time in a scientific fashion the startling reasons behind statistics that show two-thirds of young people in evangelical churches will leave when they move into their 20s". That's actually a nice result from my perspective…so it's too bad that I can't believe what he claims.
Also, since it is Ken Ham, he knows exactly what the problem is and what we need to do to keep more kids in the faith.
The book explores a number of reasons…
grrlscientist | June 16, 2009tags: National Center for Science Education, NCSE, religion, fundamentalism, creationism, intelligent design, streaming video
This video gives you a brief overview of what the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) does to protect our schools from the tyranny of religious brainwashing posing as "science" [3:19]
tfk | June 15, 2009Why Aren't Scientists Allowed to Believe In God?
It's a shame that some people try to stop scientists from believing in God.
Is Darwinian Evolution Compatible with Religion?
Scientists who accept evolution are wrong to believe in God.
Sounds like they need to work on message discipline.
pharyngula | June 14, 2009I'm warning you. It's a disaster waiting to build: when the newspapers start reporting creationist versions of stories without questioning them, without providing explanations of the fallacies, and without even bringing in authoritative scientific voices to knock their claims down, all you do is feed the confidence of the creationists. It's even worse than "he said she said" journalism. That's exactly what the BBC has done, though, with a piss poor story about attendees at Ken Ham's preposterous creationist "museum".
I'm going to be charitable and assume the author intended to hang the…
sa smith | June 14, 2009I know you all read PZs blag, but I really need to take a moment to point out this bit of irony.
Casey Luskin I mean, 'The Discovery Institute' *WINK!*, just filed a false DMCA claim against a YouTube user for criticizing Luskins appearance on some random FOX News show.
Now, Im fairly certain that it was Casey, not 'The Discovery Institute' that filed the false claim. The DI has a pretty fast and loose interpretation of copyright laws-- I really cant imagine they would have a problem with 'fair use' of their work after they stole 'fairly used' XVIVOs cellular animations in presentations,…
pharyngula | June 14, 2009Ray has always been good for hours of hilarity — he writes amazingly stupid stuff. But now Ray has competition: Eric Hovind has a blog! It's not quite as insane as Ray's, but it does have more evil and stupidity.
For example, Eric likes a poem that he quotes — it's a crude racist ditty that, I'm told, you can also find on the Stormfront web site. It's written as if by some caricature of an immigrant, and ends like this:
We think America darn good place!
Too darn good for the white man race.
If they no like us, they can scram,
Got lots of room in Pakistan ..
Hovind has been shown that some…
pharyngula | June 13, 2009Regular readers here may be familiar with WhoIsYourCreator, a creationist who blows through here and The Panda's Thumb now and then to dump a load of creationist cut-and-paste in the comments. WhoIsYourCreator is actually Julie Haberle, a deranged creationist whose chief accomplishment to date has been to erect foolish billboards all over the place. To date — but now she can take credit for another accomplishment. Her billboards and organization prompted a Christian to dig deeper into this evolution stuff, and what he discovered was that Haberle and others in the creationist movement have…
pharyngula | June 12, 2009I got a very annoying announcement on our university listserv today. Among the usual community and campus events, it says:
Please mark your calendars: Don Bierle, PhD in Biology, polar explorer, and former skeptic, shares FaithSearch Discovery at Morris Area High School Sunday, September 27, 6:30 pm. This event is sponsored by Stevens County Ministerial and area churches.
This really pisses me off.
Our local high school has problems. It's underfunded, it's academically compromised in many ways, and we were immensely relieved to get our kids out of there. It's a small school, with a total of…
pharyngula | June 12, 2009
Of course, as everyone knows, all flies are geneticists and evolutionists, which kind of deflates the joke.
tfk | June 11, 2009
Afarensis and PZ note that the Discovery Institute is trying to hide Youtube videos criticizing their pet dachshund, Casey Luskin.
Luskin Someone at Disco. has apparently been hitting his their own product, a danger in the Disco. scene. He or she thinks that they have a copyright claim on video made by Fox News. He Disco. doesn't. Fox News does, so if anyone is going to take down this video, it will be Fox, not Disco.
CaseyWhichever Disco spinner did this also needs to understand that copyright law is not a tool for censorship. Copyright exists, according to the US Constitution, "To…
pharyngula | June 11, 2009Now they're taking advantage of YouTube's easy censorship to shut down a critique of Casey Luskin.