creationism
mikethemadbiologist | February 20, 2009One of the more promising trends I've seen is that the various forms of denialism that scientists regularly decry (including those of us here at ScienceBlogs) are starting to be recognized by non-scientists. I don't know if there's a direct cause-and-effect here, or if like-minded people are coming up with the same idea (the most depressing cause would be if this got started with a stupid blog comment...). Anyway, I bring you public policy professor Mark Kleiman (italics mine):
One largely unremarked aspect of global-warming denialism (as exemplified by George Will and demolished by Mike…
palmd | February 19, 2009I don't link to Pharyngula very often---our content just doesn't intersect that much, but I followed a link from today's post and had a good laugh.
You see, some comedian creationist cult leader put out a new book, and the reviews on Amazon are a real hoot. From one review:
My only disappointment with the proofs provided in this book is that my favorite, Eve, isn't listed among them. Evolution could have made her look like anything at all--like Rush Limbaugh, a big hairy wookie, or a naked mole rat for example. There's no way Adam would have tapped that. Instead, God chose to fashion one…
pharyngula | February 19, 2009I don't recommend reading Comfort's book, but I can whole-heartedly recommend the reviews of You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think: Answers to Questions from Angry Skeptics as worthy and entertaining. As you might guess, they aren't kind.
The best review, though, gives the book five stars. But then, what else would you expect from General JC Christian, Patriot?
pharyngula | February 19, 2009I speculated that the Washington state ballot proposal was motivated by the recent noise over atheist displays in the state capitol, and I was wrong. An interview with the woman behind the proposal reveals several things: 1) she really is something of an incoherent dingleberry, and 2) the primary impetus for this idea was — don't be surprised — creationism. Here's what she says:
"I think probably at least that more creation science is overlooked as not belonging in the public school system because of the religion (aspect)," she said.
She was impressed by Tom Hoyle (he has a Ph.D. in…
laelaps | February 19, 2009
The "Navel of the earth." From Paradise Found.
In 1885 the theologian William F. Warren, then president of Boston University, could no longer keep silent. Society was turning away from "old time religion" in favor of an ever-expanding naturalism that made(in Warren's view) the world a colder, darker place. The removal of the supernatural from science threatened all Warren held dear;
For many years the public mind has been schooled in a narrow naturalism, which has in its world-view as little room for the extraordinary as it has for the supernatural. Decade after decade the representatives…
gregladen | February 19, 2009In Washington. That's the idea of newly proposed ballot measure.
This measure would prohibit state use of public money or lands for anything that denies or attempts to refute the existence of a supreme ruler of the universe, including textbooks, instruction or research.
The Supreme Being. Stop Denying Him/Her.
If I was living in Washington, I'd be very tempted to vote yes on this. I'd also be lobbying to make sure the language gets cleaned up so that it can't be struck down on the grounds of some dumb-ass technicality.
Eventually, not long into the future, this act will be struck…
pharyngula | February 18, 2009A professor at the University of Vermont, Nicholas Gotelli, got an invitation to debate one of the clowns at the Discovery Institute. Here's what they wrote.
Dear Professor Gotelli,
I saw your op-ed in the Burlington Free Press and appreciated your support
of free speech at UVM. In light of that, I wonder if you would be open to
finding a way to provide a campus forum for a debate about evolutionary
science and intelligent design. The Discovery Institute, where I
work, has a
local sponsor in Burlington who is enthusiastic to find a way to make this
happen. But we need a partner on campus. If…
sa smith | February 17, 2009Behold, the doppelganger Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education:
Oklahomans for Better Science Education
LOL!
"Excellence? Nooo! Kids dont need no 'excellence'. They just need dem some more gooder science learnin! Hell, the president of OBSE is a Director of Accounting Applications, and him aint need no 'excellent' science learnin! 2+2=4! Thats all the science does kids needs! Quality calculator machines and a Bible! That be better science education!"
LOL!
I just found out this OBSE tool shed existed because theyre 'helping' the Trinity Baptist cult bring the Dukes of TARD to…
pharyngula | February 17, 2009The Guardian has a well-done article on British creationism, which looks from here like a low-rent, twee version of the rampant excesses of our American idiocy (We're #1!). It also looks very familiar, with the same dead arguments and the same old delusions.
We also get new twists on old tropes. Remember the horrible New Scientist cover that we knew was going to be abused by the creationists? It is.
"I am guided ultimately by the parameters that the Bible lays down," admits John Peet, travelling secretary of the Biblical Creation Society. He estimates that 90% of the congregation at the…
sa smith | February 16, 2009Just received word (literally, 5 minutes ago) Senate Bill 320 was killed in committee! This required several 'nay' votes from Republicans, so thank you to those brave souls.
SUCK IT, IDiots!
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
pharyngula | February 16, 2009This was kind of a lost weekend for me — Darwin Day on Thursday, Columbus on Saturday, St. Paul on Sunday, with all the flitting about through the air and on freeways in between, so I'm a bit swamped now on Monday morning, struggling to catch up with all the real important stuff that I get paid for in my job, and that I usually get done on the weekend. So no, Greg, I don't have much to say about our panel discussion on evolution/creation education on Sunday — you'll have to do it for me!
It was a good discussion, though, with a whole gang of UM educators up front talking about our diverse…
gregladen | February 16, 2009So, yesterday Afternoon, there was a meeting of the Minnesota Atheists that included a one hour panel discussion of evolution, creationism, science education, and so on. The panel was moderated by Lynn Fellman, and included (in order from right to left as the audience gazed on) Randy Moore, Sehoya Cotner, Jane Phillips, Greg Laden, and PZ Myers.
There were several ways in which this discussion was interesting, and I'll tell you a few of them here. Presumably PZ will have something as well. (UPDATE: PZ has this.)
To begin with, this was a pretty full room (a hundred or so?) and almost…
razib | February 15, 2009Pew has the numbers:
The main surprise here are Mormons. I knew that they had become much more Creationist over the past 3 generations due to their identification with conservative Protestants, but I didn't know that it went this far. In The Creationists Ronald L Numbers states:
In 1935 only 36 percent of the students at the Mormons' Brigham Young University denied that humans had been "created in a process of evolution from lower forms." By 1973 the figure had risen sharply to 81 percent.
This is interesting because Mormons have no objections to evolution which are distinctively Mormon.…
pharyngula | February 15, 2009I swore off reading Simon Conway Morris long ago, after reading his awful, incoherent book, Life's Solution, which I peevishly reviewed. He's the go-to guy for Cambrian paleontology, and he's definitely qualified and smart, but he's got two strikes against him: he's a terrible writer, making most of his output well-nigh unreadable, and he's one of those scientists with a serious god infection, which means much of what he writes collapses into babbling theology at some point.
He's done it again. Simon Conway Morris has an opinion piece in the Guardian, and it's his usual tirade: atheists are…
pharyngula | February 15, 2009The Steve project has reached a landmark: 1000 scientists named Steve have signed a testimonial to evolution. Best of all, the latest Steve is also a Darwin!
palmd | February 15, 2009Science is hard. But science, and the methodological naturalism that underlies it, has proved to be the best way to observe, describe, and explain our reality. Sure, people can come up with ridiculous straw man arguments like, "but how do you measure love?" but these arguments ring hollow. (We measure "love", a behavior, by the observable behaviors that human beings report when they are "in love".) To a scientist, the appeal to magic to describe the world is difficult to understand, since the real puzzle is so much more fun. If, for example, you discover the cause of a particular disease…
pharyngula | February 15, 2009I missed the science fair (I might get a shot at it later today), but a reader did send in a quick report on what you'll find there.
I stopped by the Twin Cities Creation Science Fair Saturday night at the Har Mar mall. I am not a science educator so I may not be a fair judge and I don't know how the various ages should relate to their various projects. I did not take a close look at all of them but there were some that seemed fairly decent, effects on plant growth, measuring impurities and contaminants in well vs tap water, air rifle velocity measurement, measuring wood hardness, color…
pharyngula | February 14, 2009One of my favorite meetings is the annual Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meetings. One of my favorite cities to visit is New Orleans, Louisiana. The two pleasures will not be coinciding at any time in the near future because of the ineptitude and inanity of Louisiana's legislature and governor, Bobby Jindal. Here's the press release from the LA Science Coalition:
National Scientific Society to Boycott Louisiana over LA Science Education Act
The first tangible results of the Louisiana legislature's passage and Gov. Bobby Jindal's signing of the 2008 Louisiana Science Education…
gregladen | February 14, 2009This weekend at Har Mar Mall, in Roseville, just north of the Minneapolis - Saint Paul border.
I've been watching this event every year for few years now, and a couple of years ago it got quite interesting when the organizers of the event discovered that I had caught them is a lie and provided photographic evidence on my blog. That prompted them to make a public statement that I was an "Atheist abusing children." (See this.)
The pot. The kettle. Whatever.
If you are in the vicinity, go to the science fair and do the Lewis Black thing!!!! Don't forget to bring a fossil.
gregladen | February 14, 2009Feb 15 - Darwin Year Panel Discussion Featuring Myers, Laden, Moore, Cotner and Phillips
2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origins of Species. In honor of this, we have assembled a distinguished panel of scientists to give us their thoughts on evolution, creationism, and Darwin. The panelists are: PZ Myers, Randy Moore, Greg Laden, Sehoya Cotner, and Jane Phillips.
The discussion will be moderated by Lynn Fellman. Lynn is a frequent science interviewer on our Atheists Talk radio program. She is also an…