creationism
pharyngula | June 16, 2008Bill Dembski seems to be a bit peeved at those theistic evolutionists — they keep siding with the evolutionary biologists, whether they're Christian or atheist or whatever! And all that despite the fact that the atheists often roll their eyes and laugh when the theistic evolutionists start babbling their vague claims about a guiding deity. The "biggest detractors" of ID have been his fellow Christians. How can that be?
I've got two answers for that. One: selection. When someone in an embattled school district wants a speaker to come in and explain evolution to them, they're going to pick…
evolvingthoughts | June 16, 2008
From the Enough Rope series by the inestimable Andrew Denton, interviewing Sir David Attenborough, in the course of which, this segment on creationism, below the fold. Humane thoughts of a great humanist.
ANDREW DENTON: Let's talk about the imagination of human beings. You're strongly on the record as being opposed to the concept of creationism. Why do you feel so strongly about it?
I feel so strongly about it because I think that it is in a quite simple historical factual way wrong. Um the arguments I would ah put forward ah now that we are um more knowledgeable about the world as a…
pharyngula | June 15, 2008Oh, my. Bobby Jindal was on TV, and he got asked about evolution. Here's his answer to a question about whether he had doubts about evolution.
One, I don't think this is something the federal or state government should be imposing its views on local school districts. You know, as a conservative I think government that's closest to the people governs best. I think local school boards should be in a position of deciding the curricula and also deciding what students should be learning. Secondly, I don't think students learn by us withholding information from them. Some want only to teach…
mikethemadbiologist | June 15, 2008I've discussed Republican rising star Bobby Jindal's public support for creationism before. What's galling is that his idiocy can't be laid at cognitive deficiency or ignorance. I was in the same graduating class as Jindal, and I know that every biology major had considerable exposure to evolutionary biology.
Clearly, Jindal is being willfully ignorant to avoid theologically inconvenient reality. Now Jindal is further attempting to lower the value of my degree: he performed an exorcism, and believes that it cured the 'possessed' woman of cancer.
(Don't tell Orac, or his head might explode…
gregladen | June 13, 2008 The University of Minnesota Mascot, Goldie Gopher. Biological engineers at the University of Minnesota tend to be creationists. The main professor who teaches this subject is a creationist and he teaches a creationism seminar on a regular basis. He helps run and organize a Christian student group that has a pledge of faith for members. The bio-engineers student group uses a gopher (our school symbol) standing in the Leonardo position ala the Discovery Institute.
Yes, you read that right. The symbol of the student group for biological engineering is a take-off of the Discovery…
pharyngula | June 13, 2008Over the years, I've developed a rough classification system for creationist screeds. One of the most common is the 'deluded parrot', in which the writer just repeats the same tiresome old canards we've heard a thousand times before: "If man evolved from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys?" is a common example. Then there are the 'malevolent vermin', which you don't see much of on the web — because they usually write profanity-laced threats to my personal email, and are quick to gloat over my prospective tenure in hell. The 'pious aunties' aren't quite so vicious, but they are shocked…
sa smith | June 13, 2008I dont read Uncommon Descent. I only read filtered, purified UD TARD at After the Bar Closes. Today, I was reminded once again why Intelligent Design Creationism has been a magnificent failure, via Bob O'H:
What's our strategy. The strategy is multipronged. Let me just give you one prong: WIN THE YOUTH. The release date for Miller's book is June 12th. I've got a book titled Understanding Intelligent Design: Everything You Need to Know (co-authored with youth speaker and high-school teacher Sean McDowell) whose release date is July 1st. It is geared specifically at mobilizing Christian young…
pharyngula | June 13, 2008Carl Zimmer has this lovely post on the Lenski lab work on E. coli evolution, and look! The first author on that paper, Zachary Blount, showed up with an offer to answer any questions!
But sadly, you should also look at who the first person to take him up on the offer is: Larry Fafarman. If you don't know of him, you're fortunate. He's a mentally ill, permanently obtuse, persistent freakazoid creationist who, given a chance, will run the rational discussion right off the rails.
If you're interested, get on over there and counter Loony Fafarman with some intelligent discussion, 'k?
mikethemadbiologist | June 13, 2008So we know Ben Stein lies about evolution. Now, Stein is lying about economics (italics mine):
During the June 11 edition of Fox News' Fox Friends, conservative commentator and actor Ben Stein misrepresented Sen. Barack Obama's tax plan to raise the capital gains tax rate on the wealthiest earners. Stein stated, "I'm very worried about increasing the capital gains tax, unless you want to just increase it on people that are terribly wealthy," whom he defined as "people that have an income of $5 million a year or more." He added, "But people that have incomes in the hundreds and the low…
pharyngula | June 12, 2008They aren't all deluded gomers, only their politicians are. You should check out the Louisiana Coalition for Science, a smart group of Louisianans fighting for better science education.
gregladen | June 12, 2008By a vote of 94-3, Louisiana's House of Representatives today passed an academic freedom bill that would protect teachers and school districts who wish to promote critical thinking and objective discussion about evolution and other scientific topics.
There was no vocal opposition, and the floor speech by Rep. Frank Hoffman made clear that the bill was about science, not religion.
"This bill promotes good science education by protecting the academic freedom of science teachers," said Dr. John West, Vice President for Public Policy and Legal Affairs at Discovery Institute. "Critics who claim…
pharyngula | June 12, 2008The Louisiana house of representatives has approved a bill that would allow science teachers to "supplement" classes with wackaloonery. Remember that crazy teacher with the weird ideas you had back in 8th grade? Now he would be encouraged to bring in bible tracts, anti-abortion screeds, and puff-pieces by right wing editorialists decrying climate change as a communist plot, all in order to balance the teaching of that darned evidence-based biology and earth science stuff.
Note also that this bill, the "Louisiana Science Education Act", was introduced by a Democrat (Ben Nevers, the ignorant…
tfk | June 11, 2008SB 733, a creationist bill in the Louisiana legislature, was approved on a lopsided vote in the Louisiana House of Representatives today. It now moves back to the Senate, where small differences between this bill and the Senate version must be reconciled before it can go to Governor Jindal. Jindal is a leading contender for John McCain's vice presidential nomination.
In response to this and other attacks on the teaching of evolution in Louisiana, the indefatigable Barbara Forrest (author of Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design) and other activists in the Pelican State…
pharyngula | June 11, 2008Gosh. I sure hope the creationist extremists never get any substantial political power, because guess what some of them would like to do: they want to violently expel use crazy evolutionists. Ask Tom Willis, an utterly insane creationist (who is also, scarily, active in Kansas politics):
The arrogance displayed by the evolutionist class is totally unwarrented. The facts warrent the violent expulsion of
all evolutionists from civilized society. I am quite serious that
their danger to society is so great that, in a sane society, they
would be, at a minimum, denied a vote in the administration…
evolvingthoughts | June 11, 2008
History is one of those things that the venal mine to serve their special interests, with no concern for truth or accuracy. But it takes real stupid to say this:
Contrary to popular belief, as historian David Barton points out, the theory of evolution was around long before Charles Darwin. As far back as the 6th century B.C., Greek writers Thales and Anaximander had propounded the theory centuries before the birth of Christ. Aristotle, influenced by his intellectual forbears, also advocated a form of evolution.
Other ancient writers like Diogenes, Empedocles, Democritus, and Lucretius, all…
gregladen | June 11, 2008This just in:
Perhaps he was inspired by the turnout for Young People Fucking, or maybe he misses all that media attention he got after taking credit for getting C-10 through the House with nary a peep over the controversial changes to the film tax rebate. Whatever the reason, Reverend Charles McVety is headed back to the capital to co-host a private screening of a very different kind of film: Expelled: The Movie, the controversial anti-Darwin documentary that purports to expose a sinister anti-creationism bias within the mainstream scientific community.
The details are HERE.
mikethemadbiologist | June 11, 2008Or is it pendula? Regardless, one has to work for progress; it is not an indefatigable natural phenomenon. A while ago, I had this to say about racial progress in the U.S.:
Racial progress wasn't inevitable; it required a lot of sacrifice. It wasn't that long ago, that publicly saying that you weren't opposed to inter-racial marriage, in many parts of this country, meant that you would be called a Communist, un-American, and far, far worse. A few even paid for it with their lives. For all those left-of-center who think the political pendulum will swing back on its own, I think you're…
evolvingthoughts | June 10, 2008
This guy is brilliant, both as a guitarist and a lyricist.
Oh, his name's Chris Smither, if you want to Google him.
pharyngula | June 10, 2008It's awfully easy to forget Ken Ham's monument to malevolent ignorance, the Creation Museum, but while we're not visiting it, it's apparently doing a bang-up business, and they're even planning a major expansion. Stupidity sells, especially in America.
So it's a good thing that some people are still shining the spotlight on it. There's a new review of the museum from Demonbaby that's worth a read. This one highlights the creepy and gruesome nature of Ham's bogus theology.