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Are You Too Dumb to Understand Evolution?
CreationEvolutionHeadlines ^ | September 10, 2008

Posted on 09/11/2008 9:55:10 AM PDT by GodGunsGuts

Sept 10, 2008 — Astrobiologist David Deamer believes that life can spontaneously emerge without design, but he thinks lay people are too uneducated to understand how this is possible, so he gives them the watered-down version of Darwin’s natural selection instead, which he knows is inadequate to explain the complexity of life. That’s what he seemed to be telling reporter Susan Mazur in an interview for the Scoop (New Zealand). Is the lay public really too dense for the deeper knowledge of how evolution works?...

(Excerpt) Read more at creationsafaris.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: 2smart2fall4it; atheistagenda; creation; crevo; darwin; evolution; god; intelligentdesign; scientism
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To: MrB

Another baseless contention. No support whatsoever for the hysteria.


1,801 posted on 09/24/2008 8:22:00 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: metmom
Why'd you change the subject? What you addressed wasn't even the subject of his post.

Odd. I could swear that much of this thread has been devoted to the question of whether public schools should allow teaching alternatives to evolution. There certainly isn't any other forum in the country where open discussion of science and creation is limited by court rulings.

As I have pointed out, there is at least one state that has decreed that alternatives may be taught. I eagerly await seeing their lesson plans. No one at FR seem willing to speculate on what will be taught.

My question regarding voucher supported schools stems directly from posts on the subject, posts that imply that vouchered schools will somehow better represent the desire of parents to have alternative Biology taught. Since there are quite a few voucher supported schools, I'm wondering if any of them teach alternative Biology.

1,802 posted on 09/24/2008 8:52:04 AM PDT by js1138
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To: WVKayaker
He is not very much spotted, and has a solid tail.
 
But...  will he respond to verbal commands?

 
 
              Good cat!
 

1,803 posted on 09/26/2008 5:15:22 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: js1138; metmom

When prayer WAS in school in this country, what ensued was freedom for ALL including the God-haters to the point they’ve hijacked everything....law, education, science, journalism, politics...etc. etc. etc.

Can you point to a school supported by vouchers that includes prayer in its daily activities?


Can you explain what this has to do with the factual aspects of my statement?


1,804 posted on 09/26/2008 6:52:44 AM PDT by tpanther (All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Edmund Burke)
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To: js1138; tpanther
Odd. I could swear that much of this thread has been devoted to the question of whether public schools should allow teaching alternatives to evolution.

Equally odd..... I don't see what that has to do with tpanther's original comment (post 1790) "When prayer WAS in school in this country, what ensued was freedom for ALL including the God-haters to the point they’ve hijacked everything....law, education, science, journalism, politics...etc. etc. etc." that you changed the subject on. And now you're changing the subject again.

1,805 posted on 09/26/2008 7:03:29 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: tpanther
Can you explain what this has to do with the factual aspects of my statement?

There were facts in your statement?

First of all, unless you fancy yourself as God, thinking you are a twit is not the same as hating God. Secondly, prayer is not going back in public schools, no matter how long you hold your breath or scream. You obviously mistake this country for a Christion version of Saudi Arabia.

During much of your golden age when prayer was in public schools, African Americans were either enslaved or denied basic political rights -- all with the full blessing of southern Christian churches. If there are God Haters in this picture these churches are their home.

1,806 posted on 09/26/2008 7:16:22 AM PDT by js1138
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To: mrjesse
Well, according to your claim the 2.1 degrees is due to the fact that the earth rotates 2.1 degrees in the 8.3 minutes it takes light to travel the 1AU from sun to earth. And so if the 2.1 degrees isn't cosntant, then either the earth has to move in or out, or the speed of light needs to change, or the rotational rate of the earth needs to change -- none of which are happening at a fast enough rate to change the 2.1 degrees significantly in either of our lifetimes! What do you mean it's not constant?

I tried to explain this before, but you didn't want to get into it. At dawn the light from the Sun is preceding the Sun. At some point the light that we see from the Sun is aligned with its position, then the light that we see starts to lag the Suns position.

and there are many more reference clearly explaining that Stellar Aberration is the name describing the 20 arcseconds of apparent angular displacement of the sun and other objects due to the earth's transverse velocity of 67K miles an hour as it orbits the sun. Stellar Aberration is unrelated to the distance of the object.

You don't seem to understand what Stellar Aberration is at all. It has almost nothing to do with the Earths velocity. It is measuring the displacement depending on which side of the Sun the Earth is at, using the Sun as the center of the coordinate system. You should really try to read and understand your own references : )

"Stellar aberration is an apparent shift in the position of stars due to the motion of the Earth Eric Weisstein's World of Astronomy as it orbits the Sun, Eric Weisstein's World of Astronomy especially for stars away from the ecliptic (i.e., the orbital plane of the Earth). It was first measured by Bradley Eric Weisstein's World of Biography around 1728, who found aberrations of at most 20.5 arcseconds (Duffett-Smith 1992, p. 62) that occurred at the celestial poles."

Because the sun and the earth are moving through space together at half a million miles an hour -- in other words, their speed relative to eachother is only 67KMPH -- not half a million MPH -- we don't even have to worry about the higher speed.

You are getting closer. Drop the 30 kilometers/second and you will almost have it : )

Well how can this be? First of all, as you know, Stellar Aberration, which is caused by the observer's transverse velocity, causes the apparent position of the object being observed to be ahead (in relation to the observer's direction) of where the object actually us. Remember, driving in the falling snow - the snowflakes appear to come from in front of you.

That is an argument I gave you but you rejected it. I am glad to see you now trying to incorporate it, it gives me hope that you aren't entirely a lost cause : )

In any case, the half a million miles an hour causes what is called Secular Aberration, it amounts to about 0.04 degrees but it only applies to things not moving at half a million miles an hour with us - and it doesn't apply to the Sun.

Heh, you might possibly have taught me something : ) I was not familiar with that term. Are you beginning to understand that there are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to figuring out where things are in the Universe? Especially when they may no longer even be there, but we will still see them for millions and maybe billions of years?

Thus, I maintain that the biggest source of apparent angular displacement of the sun for an observer on the earth is Stellar Aberration, and is about 20 arcseconds, and is due to the earth's transverse velocity of 67K mph as it orbits the sun.

Ahh, I have failed. >Legrande hangs his head in shame< Stellar Aberration has almost nothing to do with the Suns apparent position due to the Earths rotation. My dog Midnight is a pretty quick learner, maybe I should try and teach her some orbital mechanics : )

But why would you do this? Because last time you said "I give. You win." my response was "At which point did you realize that your statement was foundationally incorrect?" -- of course which you would not answer, so then you came back that I was clueless and all the sudden you didn't "give" anymore. So what does this mean? Does it mean that there's one thing worse for you then to give up and that is to admit that you knew you were wrong but wouldn't admit it?

I have given up on trying to convince you of anything. I will admit to a morbid curiosity and a sadistic streak though. I like to see what happens after I drown flies and then cover them in salt, or watching you squirm as your preconceived notions come tumbling down.

If I am a little slow in answering you for a while don't despair, I am a little busy making money while the financials are imploding :)

1,807 posted on 09/26/2008 7:39:55 AM PDT by LeGrande
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To: js1138; metmom; MrB

There were facts in your statement?

First of all, unless you fancy yourself as God, thinking you are a twit is not the same as hating God. Secondly, prayer is not going back in public schools, no matter how long you hold your breath or scream. You obviously mistake this country for a Christion version of Saudi Arabia.

During much of your golden age when prayer was in public schools, African Americans were either enslaved or denied basic political rights — all with the full blessing of southern Christian churches. If there are God Haters in this picture these churches are their home.


You’re too paranoid to engage. You sound exactly like Rosie O’Donnell asserting Fundamentlaist Christians are no different than militant Islamists.

I’m not calling for prayer back in schools, you’re missing the point.

Again.

Although if a child wishes to pray when it’s not interefering with school, I would most definitely assert that this is his right.

Schools should be places to learn and be educated, neither a place of proselytizing OR being socialized into godless liberalism.

It’s CLEARLY the latter that is occuring and finally, slowly but surely, society is realizing it.

What we see now is when a kid merely thanks Jesus he made it through such a godless socializing sham is threatened with legal action or being arrested.

Founding Fathers spin in their graves.

As far as your last paragrpah, perhaps you can show us some New Testament scripture which would lead us to believe that it was both somnehow OK to mistreat African-Americans OR that this was somehow biblical and not political.

Try to focus again: the question was about proving we became a THEOCRACY when prayer was in school, not about the political ramifications of southern race relations.

(Speaking of holding my breath...I’m NOT holding it...not only are you too paranoid, you’re also intellectually helpless and dishonest.)


1,808 posted on 09/26/2008 7:40:55 AM PDT by tpanther (All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Edmund Burke)
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To: Fichori
Christ did not promise to return 2000 years ago.

2000 years ago, He promised to return, but did not give the date.

Talk about opening your mouth and removing all doubt!

Well lets see what Christ actually said. Mathew 24:34 "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

Clearly Christ was prophesying that he would return again in the disciples lifetimes. He couldn't have been much clearer.

1,809 posted on 09/26/2008 7:53:46 AM PDT by LeGrande
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To: tpanther
During much of your golden age when prayer was in public schools, African Americans were either enslaved or denied basic political rights

Hey look! Prayer in school was the cause of slavery and political oppression of blacks!

Who knew?

1,810 posted on 09/26/2008 7:56:01 AM PDT by MrB (0bama supporters: What's the attraction? The Marxism or the Infanticide?)
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To: metmom
And promised everyone that he would return 2000 years ago as a conqueror.

Oh He did? Where? Would you mind providing the evidence to support that?

Mathew 24:34 "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

Now that would qualify as a clear prophecy. It only has one little problem, it was clearly a false prophecy. That generation all passed away and Christ didn't return.

1,811 posted on 09/26/2008 7:58:09 AM PDT by LeGrande
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To: MrB

For all the asseretions that condemn Christianity, I’ve yet to see a shred of evidence that the New Testament led anyone to believe they should carry out the Inquistion, their mistreatement of American Indians or slavery/lynchings in the old south.


1,812 posted on 09/26/2008 8:01:39 AM PDT by tpanther (All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Edmund Burke)
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To: tpanther
Schools should be places to learn and be educated, neither a place of proselytizing OR being socialized into godless liberalism.

I accept some of that, but the thread is about evolution, and evolution is the only game in town in the field of biology. Doesn't matter whether you are offended by it or whether it conflicts with some people's religious beliefs. There are people who sincerely believe that diseases are illusions. They have a right to their beliefs, but they aren't going to teach them in public schools.

1,813 posted on 09/26/2008 8:10:33 AM PDT by js1138
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To: js1138; tpanther; MrB

Gee, weren’t you the one upthread (post 1802) that was complaining about the thread getting off topic and not here you’re equating Christianity with Saudi Arabia and holding it responsible for slavery in the US?

Prayer was in schools in this country for centuries until it got kicked out through litigation and I don’t see that our history and society was like that of Saudi Arabia. People can see through the hysteria.

No, the God haters are not in churches. They’re the ones deliberately misrepresenting what Christianity is all about in a vain effort to justify eradicating it from public life.


1,814 posted on 09/26/2008 8:39:36 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: js1138

Yet another strawman. Diseases and illusions aren’t the central core issue.

The issue is origins and atheists refusing to understand they’re not the sole group deciding what Americans will terach to their children with their own tax dollars.


1,815 posted on 09/26/2008 8:54:15 AM PDT by tpanther (All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Edmund Burke)
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To: LeGrande; Fichori; MrB; Elsie; tpanther
Mathew 24:34 "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

Taking verses out of context in an attempt to discredit Scripture is intellectually dishonest.

The whole chapter is about the end of the age and what would happen to the people who lived then. Those people are the ones He was referring to; that all the signs of the end of the age would happen within one generation.

You're wrong again.

1,816 posted on 09/26/2008 8:56:10 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: LeGrande

Well lets see what Christ actually said. Mathew 24:34 "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

Clearly Christ was prophesying that he would return again in the disciples lifetimes. He couldn't have been much clearer.

 
 
 
 
Oh??
 
 
Matthew 24
 
 1.  Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.
 2.  "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
 3.  As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
 4.  Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you.
 5.  For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many.
 6.  You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
 7.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
 8.  All these are the beginning of birth pains.
 9.  "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
 10.  At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
 11.  and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
 12.  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
 13.  but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
 14.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
 15.  "So when you see standing in the holy place `the abomination that causes desolation,'  spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand--
 16.  then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
 17.  Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house.
 18.  Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.
 19.  How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
 20.  Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.
 21.  For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again.
 22.  If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
 23.  At that time if anyone says to you, `Look, here is the Christ!' or, `There he is!' do not believe it.
 24.  For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible.
 25.  See, I have told you ahead of time.
 26.  "So if anyone tells you, `There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, `Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.
 27.  For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
 28.  Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
 29.  "Immediately after the distress of those days "`the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'
 30.  "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.
 31.  And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
 32.  "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
 33.  Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.
 34.  I tell you the truth, this generation  will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
 35.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
 36.  "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,  but only the Father.
 37.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
 38.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;
 39.  and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
 40.  Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
 41.  Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
 42.  "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
 43.  But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
 44.  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
 45.  "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?
 46.  It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.
 47.  I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
 48.  But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, `My master is staying away a long time,'
 49.  and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.
 50.  The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of.
 51.  He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

1,817 posted on 09/26/2008 9:30:14 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: metmom; Fichori; MrB; Elsie; tpanther
Mathew 24:34 "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

Taking verses out of context in an attempt to discredit Scripture is intellectually dishonest.

The whole chapter is about the end of the age and what would happen to the people who lived then. Those people are the ones He was referring to; that all the signs of the end of the age would happen within one generation.

Well lets see who Christ was talking to. Mathew 24:3 "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"

Clearly Christ was telling his desciples that their generation would see the end of the world and Christ returning. This is about as clear as prophecies get and about as false too : )

The prophecy also contradicts Ecclesiastes 1

1:4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

1:5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

I just left in the last verse because that little scripture was believed literally by all the Christians until the Copernican revolution and was used by the Christians to persecute and burn at the stake scientists like Giordano Bruno.

1,818 posted on 09/26/2008 9:39:42 AM PDT by LeGrande
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To: LeGrande; mrjesse
“You don't seem to understand what Stellar Aberration is at all. It has almost nothing to do with the Earths velocity. It is measuring the displacement depending on which side of the Sun the Earth is at, using the Sun as the center of the coordinate system. You should really try to read and understand your own references : )” [excerpt]
LeGrande, you might want to read this wikipoodle snippet:

The aberration of light (also referred to as astronomical aberration or stellar aberration) is an astronomical phenomenon which produces an apparent motion of celestial objects. It was discovered and later explained by the third Astronomer Royal, James Bradley, in 1725, who attributed it to the finite speed of light and the motion of Earth in its orbit around the Sun.[1]

At the instant of any observation of an object, the apparent position of the object is displaced from its true position by an amount which depends upon the transverse component of the velocity of the observer, with respect to the vector of the incoming beam of light (i.e., the line actually taken by the light on its path to the observer). In the case of an observer on Earth, the direction of its velocity varies during the year as Earth revolves around the Sun (or strictly speaking, the barycenter of the solar system), and this in turn causes the apparent position of the object to vary. This particular effect is known as annual aberration or stellar aberration, because it causes the apparent position of a star to vary periodically over the course of a year. The maximum amount of the aberrational displacement of a star is approximately 20 arcseconds in right ascension or declination. Although this is a relatively small value, it was well within the observational capability of the instruments available in the early eighteenth century.



“Stellar aberration is an apparent shift in the position of stars due to the motion of the Earth Eric Weisstein's World of Astronomy as it orbits the Sun, Eric Weisstein's World of Astronomy especially for stars away from the ecliptic (i.e., the orbital plane of the Earth). It was first measured by Bradley Eric Weisstein's World of Biography around 1728, who found aberrations of at most 20.5 arcseconds (Duffett-Smith 1992, p. 62) that occurred at the celestial poles.”
Hey LeGrande, congratulations on using an external source!

Lets not forget:

“Well how can this be? First of all, as you know, Stellar Aberration, which is caused by the observer's transverse velocity, causes the apparent position of the object being observed to be ahead (in relation to the observer's direction) of where the object actually us. Remember, driving in the falling snow - the snowflakes appear to come from in front of you.”
“That is an argument I gave you but you rejected it. I am glad to see you now trying to incorporate it, it gives me hope that you aren't entirely a lost cause : ) ” [excerpt]
Can you say, Strawman!

“Ahh, I have failed. >Legrande hangs his head in shame< Stellar Aberration has almost nothing to do with the Suns apparent position due to the Earths rotation.” [excerpt]

At the equator, Stellar(Diurnal) Aberration accounts for ~0.32 arcseconds of displacement of the Suns apparent position.

All due to the rotation of the Earth.


1,819 posted on 09/26/2008 10:02:33 AM PDT by Fichori (ironic: adj. 1 Characterized by or constituting irony. 2 Obamy getting beat up by a girl.)
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To: LeGrande; Fichori; MrB; Elsie; tpanther

If what you posted is an example of your reasoning process it’s no wonder you believe in the ToE.

Evoatheists do that kind of twisting, bending, and convoluting of information to arrive at their conclusions as well.


1,820 posted on 09/26/2008 10:05:41 AM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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