creationism
pharyngula | September 19, 2008I mentioned before that Richard Dawkins' site was banned in Turkey, by the legal actions of Harun Yahya/Adnan Oktar, the Muslim creationist. Now you can learn a little more: a spokesperson for Turkish creationism called up the editors of the New Humanist to explain their side of the story. As you might guess, they aren't very convincing — it boils down to the fact that they were offended by the mean things said about professional con man, liar, and religious kook Adnan Oktar, so they had to shut down access to the site.
And then they have the gall to sweetly ask the New Humanist if they'd…
pharyngula | September 19, 2008I am not yet in Madison, but I am in the Land of the Cheeseheads and am about to hit the road and expect to be there by early afternoon. And then I discover two coincidences, one happy and one mildly problematic.
By my good luck, Ron Numbers is speaking on the campus today, at 3:30 in Science Hall room 180. Hey, I should be able to make that! I just hope he doesn't dispense some jewel of wisdom that compels me to rewrite my talk on the spot.
One concern: this is September 19th! It's Talk Like a Pirate Day! This means, of course, that I have to give my lecture in a hokey dialect, which always…
clock | September 18, 2008The story about Creationist school board in Brunswick Co, NC is now getting some legs:
Brunswick school board to consider creationism teaching:
The board allowed Fanti to speak longer than he was allowed, and at the end of his speech he volunteered to teach creationism and received applause from the audience. When he walked away, school board Chairwoman Shirley Babson took the podium and said another state had tried to teach evolution and creationism together and failed, and that the school system must teach by the law.
Editorial: Teach science in science class:
If you wonder why American…
laelaps | September 18, 2008This past spring the science blogosphere was all a-twitter over the release of the creationist propaganda film Expelled. Was it a success? A flop? A big budget fluff piece that only attracted those already inclined to agree? Such debates aside, the release of Expelled and the opening of Ken Ham's Fun House (aka The Creation Museum) signals the fact that anti-evolutionists are willing to dump millions of dollars in attempts to "reclaim America for Christ."
While the museum in Kentucky* and Expelled have received plenty of press, modern day anti-evolutionists are trying to extend their…
pharyngula | September 17, 2008This is cute: college professor is preparing a lecture on homology, rummages about on the internet to see if there are any useful or interesting sources, and finds one that leaves him bemused and amused at the prospect of using it as an example in class…a bad example. The source is Conservapædia! The story concludes with a little understatement:
The Conservapedia entry on homology seems more concerned with acceptance of "custom and tradition" as a basis for "truth of religious matters" than with possible comparisons we might make among organisms. Indeed, it seems that the Conservapedia aims…
clock | September 17, 2008Not in my back yard!
It appears that some people are, erm, a little behind the times down in Brunswick County. That dog will not hunt, though, as it has no legal legs to run on, as PZ explains - it's even less sophisticated than what the Dover board tried to do.
pharyngula | September 17, 2008Well, well, well. Look what the Brunswick school board in North Carolina has been up to…
"It's really a disgrace for the state school board to impose evolution on our students without teaching creationism," county school board member Jimmy Hobbs said at Tuesday's meeting. "The law says we can't have Bibles in schools, but we can have evolution, of the atheists."
When asked by a reporter, his fellow board members all said they were in favor of creationism being taught in the classroom.
The topic came up after county resident Joel Fanti told the board he thought it was unfair for evolution to…
pharyngula | September 16, 2008Michael Reiss has resigned from his position as the director of education of the Royal Society.
Some of Professor Michael Reiss's recent comments, on the issue of creationism in schools, while speaking as the Royal Society's Director of Education, were open to misinterpretation. While it was not his intention, this has led to damage to the Society's reputation. As a result, Professor Reiss and the Royal Society have agreed that, in the best interests of the Society, he will step down immediately as Director of Education a part time post he held on secondment. He is to return, full time, to…
laelaps | September 16, 2008Over the past few weeks a number of visitors have made it to this blog by searching the web for information about Sarah Palin & dinosaurs. Previously there wasn't much to say beyond a 2006 quote, but now new evidence has appeared that suggests that Palin indeed tried to get creationism into the classroom despite her public comments that she desired no such thing.
According to a little muckraking done by David Talbot for Salon.com, Palin may very well be a young earth creationist who tried to sneak fundamentalist religion into public schools;
Another valley activist, Philip Munger, says…
pharyngula | September 15, 2008Get ready for more fallout over Sarah Palin, who seems to be even crazier than I thought. There was an attempt to rehabilitate her from the accusations of pushing creationism recently, but the counterclaims got the facts all wrong. They claim that she only said that schools ought to "debate both sides," but that's the creationist position — pointing out that she was reciting creationist slogans does not somehow get her off the hook. And then there's this litany of eyewitness stories from residents of her home town, who seem to be cheerfully trotting out to stick a knife in her campaign.
At…
gregladen | September 15, 2008For the last three or four decades, a delusional cult has spread within the United States, the leaders of which have every intention of taking over the country, in fact, the world. Sounds funny, but it really is not. If you don't think this is true, you are naive, and if you have not seen this happening you are not really looking.
Sarah Palin's Churches and The Third Wave from Bruce Wilson on Vimeo.
If John McCain is elected president, it will be because of the strength of this cult, in combination with the power of racism manifest as the so-called "bubba vote" whereby a large…
pharyngula | September 14, 2008Should creationism be taught in the classroom? It depends on what you mean by "taught".
For instance, I recently lectured our freshman biology majors on the age of the earth. I first made up a list of facts and concepts that I wanted them to take away from the class: there were plain dry facts, like that the earth is 4½ billion years old, the Cambrian was about 500 million years ago, the Permian extinction was about 250 million years ago, etc. — the bony outline of a geological history of the earth that every biologist should know. Then there were the major events in the history of the…
clock | September 14, 2008
This is one a couple of posts about Creationism, written originally on May 1st, 2005.
Creationism Is Just One Symptom Of Conservative Pathology
I am not an "evolutionist". I am not a "Darwinist". I am a biologist. Thus, by definition, I am an evolutionary biologist. Although my research is in physiology and behavior, I would never be able to make any sense of my data (or even know what questions to ask in the first place) without evolutionary thinking.
As I am also interested in history and philosophy of biology, I consider myself a Darwinian. But not a "Darwinist" or "evolutionist" - those…
mikethemadbiologist | September 13, 2008Yes, I'm being mean, but this clip below has all the legitimacy of creationism--which is to say none:
Really, creationism is just as nutty, this is simply not dressed up in pseudoreligious baggage.
Bonus Insanity: A creationist has put together a site opposing Electronic Arts' game Spore because it is brainwashing kids into 'believing in' evolution. Apparently, we "Evolutionaryists" are very mean too.
evolvingthoughts | September 12, 2008
Here is a roundup of links and stuff that I don't have time to blog on right now.
A. C. Grayling replies in a piece of beautiful snark to Steve Fuller's response to his review of Dissent over Descent. Thony is not permitted to point out any further historical inaccuracies...
Leiter reports that a philosopher who blogs, from Yeshiva, James Otteson, may have been removed because he said things on the blog that are sexist, or at least interpreted to be, according to Inside Higher Education.
Will Thomas at Ether Wave Propaganda has the first of a series on the historian Simon Schaeffer, on…
tfk | September 12, 2008A site called Opposingviews.com has asked the question: Does intelligent design have merit?
Defending the proposition that it does, the Disco. Inst. responds officially and through two sockpuppets: Michael Behe, and Jay Richards (both Disco. fellows). Taking the position that it doesn't, we've got the National Center for Science Education, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and (of all places) the Ayn Rand Center or Individual Rights.
When we were approached about posting to the site, the administrators suggested having 3-4 responses of 300-400 words each. Of course, the…
gregladen | September 12, 2008Life Science Teachers: Take special note!
This is not yet an error in the mainstream press, but there is an error afoot, currently represented in the widely read slashdot, which I imagine will propagate. The purpose of this post is to alert you to this problem and prepare you for the occasion when you run into a wackaloon creationist waving their arms around and screaming "Carbon dating does not work! It's been proven." This story also has a Global Warming Denialism component.
What I'm going to do here is give you the basic facts, then the misinterpreted text.
We start with the basic…
gregladen | September 11, 2008The Minnesota Science Standards are currently in the process of review and updating. This is what the governor of Minnesota thinks. He's wrong about the "local" thing. He is such a ball-less ass. Oh, I so wish he was in Palin's position. Maybe.
If you are in Minnesota and want to provide your feedback on the standards, and you are not Tim Pawlenty, please click here. If you ARE Tim Pawlenty, bite me.
laelaps | September 11, 2008As reported today in the Guardian, the director of education of the Royal Society, Michael Reiss, believes that creationism should be brought into the science classroom as an alternate "worldview" to evolution. It is not a misconception, fairy tale, or jumble of nonsense, Reiss argues, but just another way of looking at the world. What a bunch of bunk...
For years creationists have argued that the long public argument over evolution is not one of science, but of worldviews. We have all the same facts, they say, but we look at them through different "glasses." Reiss' position plays right into…
sa smith | September 11, 2008The 'fellows' at the Discovery Institute are so kind! They must have heard I was feeling down, so they sent out a hysterical email to brighten my day!
Help Us Get Lawmakers Expelled
Dear friends,
We're excited to be able to tell you that on October 21st Expelled: No
Intelligence Allow, starring Ben Stein, will be released on DVD. In
Expelled, Stein brilliantly exposed the widespread persecution of
scientists and educators who are pursuing legitimate science that challenges
Darwin's theory of evolution.
Rush Limbaugh called the movie "powerful" and "fabulous" and said Stein's
"interviews…