creationism
pharyngula | March 8, 2009Do you want 50 reasons you shouldn't believe in evolution? I think the list pretty well covers all the real reasons people are creationists.
pharyngula | March 7, 2009With humor, of course. Here's the opening of his talk at the University of Oklahoma last night.
He also responded by donating funds from the RDF to Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education…which brings up an important point. There are lots of smart Oklahomans who are really angry at the stupidity of these ignorant legislators. Listen to the audience in the video clip, too: they are laughing at the creationist clowns.
Keep laughing. And vote the fools out of office. Oklahoma can be a state standing up for reason.
pharyngula | March 7, 2009One of the mysteries of my email is that there are noticeable waves of like content that come through. Right now I'm getting a lot of hate mail that rants and raves about how clever I must think I am … which is definitely not a theme that I've been pushing, so all I can assume is that somewhere out there is a website or email chain that is talking about my horrible egotism.
Either that, or they're all just suddenly feeling very inadequate and are lashing out.
Here's one that not only accuses me of parading my mighty brains about, but of also pretending to be "'cool' and 'hip'" — but anyone…
pharyngula | March 7, 2009As I mentioned the other day, the Oklahoma legislature was contemplating a resolution to condemn Richard Dawkins. It turns out that that was a moderate compromise — the original version of the resolution attacked the University of Oklahoma department of zoology. Look closely at the language in this motion:
WHEREAS, the University of Oklahoma is a publicly funded institution which should be open to all ideas and should train students in all disciplines of study and research and to use independent thinking and free inquiry, not indoctrinate students in one-sided study and thinking; and…
palmd | March 6, 2009If someone were to write a biography of the Creationist neurosurgeon, "Unhinged" would be an apt title. He used to content himself with rants against philosophical materialism, and evangelize for dualism with a zealous religiosity. But that wasn't enough. The "forces of secularism" seemed to keep growing, despite his desire to see some heavenly smiting. In his latest rants, the gloves are off---it's scalpels at twenty paces.
Let's see what's got Egnor so exercised.
First came the announcement by Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) that they would boycott Louisiana…
mikethemadbiologist | March 6, 2009Dominionists for Tancredo 2012, that is. In response to this post about creationist wackaloons and giraffes, over at the Dominionists for Tancredo site, we find:
Evolutionists would have you believe that the giraffe neck "evolved" so it could reach food higher and higher in trees.
But God created the giraffe with a very specific purpose in mind: Noah needed a scout who could see far distances, searching for dry land.
After the Flood, and the water cleared, God rewarded the Giraffe for his good services by creating the acacia tree, whose leaves rise to a height that perfectly matches the…
pharyngula | March 5, 2009He's on his way to Oklahoma (no, that's not what rouses my envy), and an Oklahoma legislator has proposed a resolution to condemn him.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 1ST SESSION OF THE 52ND OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE:
THAT the Oklahoma House of Representative strongly opposes the invitation to speak on the campus of the University of Oklahoma to Richard Dawkins of Oxford University, whose published statements on the theory of evolution and opinion about those who do not believe in the theory are contrary and offensive to the views and opinions of most…
mikethemadbiologist | March 5, 2009Despite some of the gnashing of teeth and wailing around these parts about how mean we are to creationists on ScienceBlogs and how this will backfire, as I've noted before, creationist is slowly becoming mainstreamed as a pejorative (as opposed to a religious belief that should be exempted from criticism). Steve Benen writes:
I call them "conversation enders." These are comments that lead you to know, the moment you hear them, that the writer/speaker is either clueless or intellectually dishonest, and there's really no reason to engage the person in a serious dialog.
I suspect we all have…
pharyngula | March 5, 2009Ray Comfort is sure that his new book is selling poorly because of a conspiracy among atheists to give it bad reviews on Amazon.
But he said he's sure his book sales have been affected because of the negative reviews, "because people purchase upon other people's opinions."
Has he considered that the book might just be awful? No, apparently not.
Still, he said, the book can't be too bad.
…
Comfort said the strong opposition easily is explained.
"I simply expose atheistic evolution for the unscientific fairy tale that it is, and I do it with common logic. I ask questions about where the…
gregladen | March 5, 2009... again ... This just in from the NCSE:
Antievolution law proposed in Florida
It's not a hurricane or even a tropical storm. But a small knot of ignorance is twisting through the Florida state senate.
Late last week, Stephen R. Wise (R-District 5) filed Senate Bill 2396, which if passed, would require "[a] thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution." Like other "academic freedom" bills that aim to smuggle creationism back into the classroom, this bill would let educators teach the supposed scientific controversy swirling around evolution.
"…
gregladen | March 4, 2009 A Texas-sized battle over scrapping a longtime requirement that Lone Star State students be taught weaknesses in the theory of evolution has split politicians, parents, and professors who teach biology at the state's Christian universities.
"I hope to reach others on the weightier matters of the Resurrection, hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven while I work out how evolution does not have to conflict with Christianity," said Daniel Brannan, a biology professor at Abilene Christian University.
Brannan joined hundreds of scientists in signing a 21st Century Science Coalition…
pharyngula | March 4, 2009"WE WILL BURY YOU!" seems to be his message in his latest complaint. He is very upset that The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology is boycotting Louisiana, and he informs us all in a long argumentum ad populum that the ignorant outnumber us, addressed to the president and members of SICB.
Most Americans are creationists, in the sense that they believe that God played an important role in creating human beings and they don't accept a strictly Darwinian explanation for life. And they think that they ought to be able to ask questions about evolution in their own public schools. They…
mikethemadbiologist | March 4, 2009...for conservative budgetary policy. From Matt Yglesias:
Their other big [conservative] idea is feigned stupidity. Michael Steele pretended not to know what a fish passage barrier removal program is. Turns out that these are programs designed to remove barriers to the passage of fish. So that fish species don't vanish from certain habits and wreck entire ecosystems. Bobby Jindal was inspired to denounce "something called volcano monitoring". Volcano monitoring is when you monitor volcanos to try to understand when they might erupt. And now we get this Tweet from John McCain [image converted…
pharyngula | March 4, 2009Phillip Skell has a long and sleazy history of lying to support creationism. His usual tactic (actually, his only tactic) is to claim that evolution is irrelevant to science, denying the importance of the theory to understanding discoveries about the natural world, and refusing to believe that it has any application at all to anything. In a clear and straightforward op-ed, Stuart Faulk points out how easy it is to pick up any popular science magazine and find counterexamples to Skell's claims. And then he picks up a knife, sticks it in, and twists:
Given how easily Skell's arguments can be…
gregladen | March 3, 2009..Dr. Michael Behe is a biochemist at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. He's also a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, a well known creationist think tank whose purpose is to disguise religious doctrine as science in order to avoid the Constitutional ban on promoting religion in public schools. It was Behe that we were heading down to see....
From Lou's "Brief History of Moonbats"
pharyngula | March 3, 2009Richard Dawkins lectured in Michigan yesterday, and apparently, some silly Christian group was handing out a flyer beforehand, "Five Topics to Consider During Tonight's Lecture". It contained a small set of yawningly familiar arguments. I haven't heard of these brave Christians actually attended the lecture or tried to ask these in the Q&A (I would be surprised if they did — I had someone try this stunt at one of my talks, and not only did they run away without listening, but everyone who saw the questions on the handout just laughed at them), but I thought I'd take a quick stab at how I'…
pharyngula | March 2, 2009The Orlando Sentinel asks the same old stupid question: Should Florida schools be required to teach intelligent design along with the scientific theory of evolution?
Yes. Intelligent Design provides an alternative explanation to evolution, which is just a theory. It's healthy to give students a choice. (3 responses)
17.6%
No. Evolution is a time-tested scientific theory, like gravity. Intelligent design is inspired by religion and has no place in a science classroom. (13 responses)
76.5%
Not sure. I don't know enough about either subject to make an informed choice. (1 responses)
5.9%…
sa smith | March 2, 2009(H/T AtBC)
Oooooooookaaaaay. I think its time for nappy-nap time at the Discovery Institute. Casey-baby is all cranky, and now Michael Egnor, who is normally the most adorable cuddliest toddler ever has thrown a mighty temper tantrum.
While their ba-bas are warming up in the microwave, lets preserve this rant for posterity. Cause its all about how awesome Creationism is. Yes, Creationism. Engors word. Not mine (well, its mine too for describing ID, but he did it *points*):
Most Americans are creationists, in the sense that they believe that God played an important role in creating human…
gregladen | March 1, 2009This morning, interviewed by Yours Truly. Massimo was brilliant! You will not want to miss this. The podcast is up now at this location on the intertubes. You should also visit Dr. Dr. Dr. Pigliucci's web site, Rationally Speaking, here.
sa smith | March 1, 2009MUUUGH.
Someone tell Behe to shut up about viruses. SOMEONE.
From Lous notes on a recent presentation:
New Dude: HIV, someone in the family died this week. Evolutionary Biology, according to evolutionary biology says that HIV comes from some predecessor. That provided a research program. Let's look at the closest relative. Cousin doesn't kill chimpanzees. So I question this, this is an example that Darwinian evolution producing a research program to help people. What's ID done?
Behe: big sigh, I want to stress, but the talk goes quickly, but ID doesn't say that Darwinian evolution can't do…