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PETERSBURG, Kentucky - Ken Ham's sprawling creation museum isn't even open yet, but an expansion is already underway in the state-of-the art lobby, where grunting dinosaurs and animatronic humans coexist in a Biblical paradise. A crush of media attention and packed preview sessions have convinced Ham that nearly half a million people a year will come to Kentucky to see his Biblically correct version of history. "I think we'll be surprised at how many people come," Ham said as he dodged dozens of designers working to finish exhibits in time for the May 28 opening. The $27 million project, which...

Just out of curiosity, I did a little research about Google trends to see which countries other than the USA are interested in the issue of Intelligent Design vs. Evolution. SEE THE RESULT HERE : http://www.google.com/trends?q=Intelligent+Design&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all Now, Click on the “regions” tab. What is interesting is... it shows that our good ally in the War on Terror, Australia has about half the searches for Intelligent Design that we do. But please note that Australia’s population is about 20 million. The USA on the other hand has about 280 million people. This shows that Australia's INTEREST for ID is about 6...

An evaluation of DNA/RNA mutations indicates that they cannot provide significant new levels of information. Instead, mutations will produce degradation of the information in the genome. This is the opposite of the predictions of the neoDarwinian origins model. Such genome degradation is counteracted by natural selection that helps maintain the status quo. Degradation results for many reasons, two of which are reviewed here. 1) there is a tendency for mutations to produce a highly disproportionate number of certain nucleotide bases such as thymine and 2) many mutations occur in only a relatively few places within the gene called “hot spots,”...

The Human Factor :A man of science face Darwin and the Deity. by David Klinghoffer The Language of God A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis S. Collins Free Press, 304 pp., $26 ------------------------------------- Head of the Human Genome Project, Francis Collins is among the country's foremost author ities on genetics, a staunch Darwinist, and a prominent critic of Intelligent Design. He's also an evangelical Christian who dramatically describes the moment he accepted Jesus as his personal savior. If that sounds like it might be a paradox, read on. Collins was hiking in the Cascade Mountains of western Washington...

PETERSBURG, Ky. - Like most natural history museums, this one has exhibits showing dinosaurs roaming the earth. Except here, the giant reptiles share the forest with Adam and Eve. That, of course, is contradicted by science, but that’s the point of the $25 million Creation Museum rising fast in rural Kentucky

As the August 1, 2006, Kansas primary elections approach, evolution is a burning issue. The state board of education is at the center of the furor, of course; in November 2005, the board voted 6-4 to adopt a set of state science standards that were rewritten, under the tutelage of local "intelligent design" activists, to impugn the scientific status of evolution. The standards were denounced by a host of critics, including a group of 38 Nobel laureates (PDF), the National Science Teachers Association, the National Academy of Sciences, the , the American Institute for Biological Sciences, the committee that wrote...

State Board of Education panel may look at guidelines for classroom discussion of science controversies Less than five months after evolution won a round in the State Board of Education, some board members want to reopen the debate. Colleen Grady, a board member from the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville, wants to add guidelines to the state science standards for teaching on such topics as evolution, global warming, stem-cell research and cloning. Grady said she views her proposal as a compromise to ensure that differing views are considered when teaching such hot-button issues. "We would provide a template so schools would...

Virtually all the chattering-class attention has targeted Coulter's comments disparaging the "Jersey Girls" or (this past weekend) a charge that she plagiarized a few sentences. On the latter point, Coulter can defend herself. But a quick scan of one of the sentences in question shows wording that is easily different enough to pass the smell test on that issue. The "Jersey Girls" are four widows whose husbands died on 9/11. Coulter excoriates them for using their family tragedies to promote a left-wing political agenda. Whether one would have used exactly the same words to make the author's point (who can...

In the 1993 movie Jurassic Park, one human character tells another that a Tyrannosaurus rex can't see them if they don't move, even though the beast is right in front of them. Now, a scientist reports that T. rex had some of the best vision in animal history. This sensory prowess strengthens arguments for T. rex's role as predator instead of scavenger. Scientists had some evidence from measurements of T. rex skulls that the animal could see well. Recently, Kent A. Stevens of the University of Oregon in Eugene went further. He used facial models of seven types of dinosaurs...

Recently, the state of South Carolina joined Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Kansas and New Mexico by approving statewide science standards which require a critical analysis of evolution in science classrooms. In these five states the standard-issue Darwinian evolution will still be taught, but with an interesting twist which ought to raise some eyebrows - the scientific WEAKNESSES of Darwinian theory will ALSO be disclosed. In a country where ideals such as free speech, diversity, balance and tolerance are preached constantly, the remaining states DO NOT ALLOW the scientific weaknesses of Darwinian evolution to be presented in our public school science classrooms. This...

LANSING -- Lawmakers have booted a plan requiring science teachers to present competing theories of evolution and global warming from legislation after critics said it would require public schools to teach religious theories about creation. The debate is not over. The House Education Committee voted 15-2 Wednesday to forward the bill by Midland Republican Rep. John Moolenaar requiring teachers to use scientific methods to evaluate scientific theories. It passed in an amended form proposed by Richland Republican Rep. Lorence Wenke that deleted examples of global warming and evolution, with support from Bad Axe Republican Tom Meyer and others. Lawmakers still...

In a veiled attack on creationism, the world's foremost academies of science on Wednesday called on parents and teachers to provide children with the facts about evolution and the origins of life on Earth. A declaration signed by 67 national academies of science blasted the scriptural teaching of biology as a potential distortion of young minds. "In various parts of the world, within science courses taught in certain public systems of education, scientific evidence, data and testable theories about the origins and evolution of life on Earth are being concealed, denied or confused with theories not testable by science," the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The best evidence yet for the oldest life on Earth is found in odd-shaped, rock-like mounds in Australia that are actually fossils created by microbes 3.4 billion years ago, researchers report. "It's an ancestor of life. If you think that all life arose on this one planet, perhaps this is where it started," said Abigail Allwood, a researcher at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology and lead author of the new study. It appears Thursday in the journal Nature. The strange geologic structures - which range from smaller than a fingernail to taller than a man - are...

You can't help but notice that there is a very vocal sort of a little clique of evolutionists on FreeRepublic, and there has always been a question in a lot of people's minds as to whether or not the theory of evolution is in any way compatible with conservatism. This new book ("Godless") of Ann Coulter's should pretty much settle the issue. Ann does not mince words, and she has quite a lot to say about evolution: "Liberals' creation myth is Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which is about one notch above scientology in scientific rigor. It's a make-believe story,...

Some scientists call for a bigger dose of evolution in doctors' educations Joon Yun, MD, began considering how evolution applies to human health a decade ago, when his first heart disease patients died. These cases disturbed Yun, then a Stanford radiology resident. But they also intrigued him. Having studied evolutionary biology in college, Yun tried fitting these medical failures into that framework. His mind wandered to the early days of humans when heart disease was a rare trigger of death. In the prehistoric era, a more likely cause of death would have been an attack by a predator. The human...

Avoiding quicksand along the banks of the Ivindo River in Gabon, Cornell neurobiologists armed with oscilloscopes search for shapes and patterns of electricity created by fish in the water. They know from their previous research that the various groups of local electric fish have different DNA, different communication patterns and won't mate with each other. However, they now have found a case where two types of electric signals come from fish that have the same DNA. The researchers' conclusion: The fish appear to be on the verge of forming two separate species. "We think we are seeing evolution in action,"...

"Australopithocines evolved into Homo erectus around 1.5 million years ago and Homo erectus, in turn, evolved into Homo sapiens around 400,000 years ago." This is presented to school children as no less certain than Washington's crossing of the Delaware. The statement makes dual claims: (1) there are fundamental anatomical differences between these three categories, and (2) each occurs in the right time frame. Let us examine these claims. The anatomical differences between these three groups must be very substantial for the statement to have any meaning. Any anthropologist should be able to spot a Homo erectus on a crowded subway...

A leading British scientist said yesterday that he had given up trying to persuade creationists that Darwin's theory is correct after repeatedly being misrepresented and, he said, branded a liar. Speaking at the Guardian Hay festival at Hay-on-Wye, the evolutionary biologist Steve Jones spoke of his frustrations when trying to debate with religious opponents. "I don't engage with creationists directly," he said, saying that, when he had, they had frequently quoted him out of context or accused him of lying. "If somebody has decided to believe something - whatever the evidence - then there is nothing you can do about...

ADF filed friend-of-the-court brief in defense of textbook stickers which accurately stated that evolution is a theory ATLANTA — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit today vacated a lower court decision that declared Cobb County science textbook stickers which stated “evolution is a theory, not a fact” unconstitutional. The court was critical of the district court for issuing its ruling against the stickers despite holes in the evidentiary record in the case and remanded the case back to the district court for new proceedings. “No school should be in trouble for simply stating the facts. That’s what...

BALTIMORE - Mayor Bloomberg lashed out against conservatives yesterday for ignoring science and common sense on issues like stem-cell research, global warming and even evolution. Making his latest foray into national issues, the mayor blamed ideologues for trying to drag the nation back decades by disputing scientifically proven facts. "Today we are seeing hundreds of years of scientific discovery being challenged by people who simply disregard facts that don't happen to agree with their agendas," he told medical graduates of his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University. The pointed comments came just a day after Bloomberg made national news with his...

Author Ray Comfort says TV satirist too insecure to accept offer A Christian author and TV host whose latest book, "Intelligent Design Versus Evolution: Letters to an Atheist," debunks Darwinism has challenged fellow television personality Bill Maher to a public debate on the origins of the Earth. Says Ray Comfort: "Mr. Maher, like all believers in the theory of evolution, simply has a blind faith in a theory-tale that can't be substantiated. It's just another opiate of the masses – a religion called 'Darwinism' that piously robes itself in what it thinks is 'science.' It is true science fiction." Comfort...

In his op-ed "Evolution's bottom line," published in The New York Times (May 12, 2006), Holden Thorp emphasizes the practical applications of evolution, writing, "creationism has no commercial application. Evolution does," and citing several specific examples. In places where evolution education is undermined, he argues, it isn't only students who will be the poorer for it: "Will Mom or Dad Scientist want to live somewhere where their children are less likely to learn evolution?" He concludes, "Where science gets done is where wealth gets created, so places that decide to put stickers on their textbooks or change the definition of...

In recent days, newspapers worldwide have been blazing headlines similar to what I read in my hometown paper: “Scientists say fossil find completes a human evolutionary chain.” Like the original Nature article2 upon which it was based, the San Diego article is an amazing mixture of fact and fiction. By “fiction,” I mean philosophy or belief that is completely unsubstantiated by factual evidence. In the San Diego newspaper article, Ethiopian anthropologist Berhane Asfaw, one of the Nature authors, is quoted: “We just found the chain of evolution, the continuity through time. One form evolved to another. This is evidence of...

Rebutting Darwinists Posted: April 15, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com I suggested here last week that the established authorities of every age act consistently. They become vigilantly militant against non-conforming dissidents who challenge their assumptions. Thus when the dissident Galileo challenged the assumptions of the 17th century papacy, it shut him up. Now when the advocates of "intelligent design" challenge the scientific establishment's assumptions about "natural selection," it moves aggressively to shut them up. So the I.D. people have this in common with Galileo. I received a dozen letters on this, three in mild agreement, the rest in...

The Maryland General Assembly adjourned on April 10, 2006, meaning that both antievolution bills introduced during the legislative session are dead. House Bill 1531 would, if enacted, have provided that teachers in Maryland's public schools and faculty members in Maryland's public institutions of higher education "shall have the affirmative right and freedom to present scientific information to [sic] the full range of scientific views in any curricula or course of learning"; the phrase "the full range of scientific views" was evidently taken from the so-called Santorum language, which was in fact stripped from the federal No Child Left Behind act....

Bible proves Earth is center of universe, author argues The Earth is at the center of Robert Sungenis' universe. Literally. Yours too, he says. Sungenis is a geocentrist. He contends the sun orbits the Earth instead of vice versa. He says physics and the Bible show that the vastness of space revolves around us; that we're at the center of everything, on a planet that does not rotate. He has just completed a 1,000-page tome, "Galileo Was Wrong," the first in a pair of books he hopes will persuade readers to "give Scripture its due place, and show that science...

Students pushing for intelligent design Secondary pupils in Northern Ireland are spearheading a campaign to introduce a scientific concept, banned in the United States, into the curriculum. Students from both secondary schools and some of the province’s most prestigious grammar schools claim that so-called intelligent design will give a “more balanced view of how the world came into being”. Intelligent design is the concept that certain features of the universe and living things are best explained by an “intelligent cause” – the existence of God. Its leading proponents say it is a scientific theory that stands on equal footing...

The battle to get intelligent design into school books was lost in Dover, and it is time for proponents to lay down their swords. Creationists describe their mission to overturn evolution in military language, calling it the fundamental dispute of the culture wars. We recently saw the resolution of one of the most significant battles in this war: the end of the Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District trial in Pennsylvania. [Link to text of opinion.]This was the first case dealing with creationist attempts to introduce intelligent design into public schools. The Thomas More Law Center, which defended...

No story related to human evolution has drawn as much press—and as much imagination—in recent times as the account of family members in Turkey (of Kurdish descent) who walk hunched over, using their hands as well as feet to ambulate. In fact, over a one-week period, more AiG supporters alerted us to this news item than any other we have ever received—by far. Initially some scientists thought this bizarre story might have been a hoax, but after studying this family for some time, a TV documentary crew and researchers have concluded that it is not (e.g., the siblings, they discovered,...

Of the three intellectual pillars of modern liberalism -- Marx, Darwin, and Freud -- only one is still standing. Marx fell in 1989, along with the Berlin Wall. Freud's demise is more difficult to date; suffice it to say that, by the end of the century, no one, with the possible exception of Woody Allen, took him seriously any more. Darwin, I predict, will suffer a similar fate within the next ten to fifteen years. That may seem counterintuitive in light of recent legal and public-relations setbacks suffered by critics of Darwinism -- notably a federal judge's decision forbidding the...

Intelligent design theory is creating quite a stir. Most recently Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher said he supported school boards teaching Intelligent Design. In December, a Pennsylvania judge ruled against a Dover Township school board decision to include the theory in text books, costing the taxpayers about a million dollars in legal fees. Movements to begin teaching the intelligent design theory have popped up in dozens of states forcing local legislators and courts to address the issue. The concept is simple: Were humans created by some sort of intelligent designer, possibly a deity, or by did we evolve scientifically based on...

Russia: Creationism Finds Support Among Young By Claire Bigg A 15-year-old Russian schoolgirl has filed a court action to demand that creationism feature in the school biology curriculum, alongside Darwin's evolutionary theory of the origins of life. The idea of introducing creationist views into the classroom seems to find sympathy among a number of Russians, particularly young people. Religious zeal, scientific ignorance, or simple bravado -- what makes young people reject the long-enshrined theory of evolution? MOSCOW, March 10, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Maria, a schoolgirl from St. Petersburg, is demanding that the Russian Education Ministry rewrite biology textbooks to include...

(AgapePress) - A Christian evangelist known as "Dr. Dino" advocates a three-pronged approach to countering public school textbooks that use faulty evidence for Darwinian evolution. Dr. Kent Hovind says instead of trying to get intelligent design or creationism taught in public schools, the main objective of critics of evolution should be requiring accuracy in science textbooks. Hovind, the founder of Florida-based Creation Science Evangelism, notes many states already have laws requiring textbooks to be accurate -- and if they do not, he says, teachers should have the right to correct any inaccuracies in those books. "Jesus lived in the Roman...

Answers in Genesis had been an international organization, with the U.S. branch under Ken Ham based in Kentucky, and an Australian branch under Carl Wieland in Queensland (which was formerly known as the Creation Science Foundation). Now the Australian group (along with ministries in Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa) has changed its name to Creation Ministries International, explaining in a recent brochure that the U.S. group did not want to be "subject to an international representative system of checks/balances/peer review involving all the other offices bearing the same 'brand name'." ... The U.S. group, known for spending millions on...

AN EXAMINATIONS board is including references to “creationism” in a new GCSE science course for schools.

On Charles Darwin’s passing in 1882, influential friends intervened to thwart his wish to be buried in a humble coffin in his parish. Such an interment, they felt, would deprive England of the privilege of honouring one of its great men. So it was that the professed agnostic was buried with high ceremony in Westminster Abbey. Canon Frederic Farrar’s eulogy assured his countrymen that the views of the deceased did not menace the Crown with the boisterous materialism promoted in the free thought press. Darwin’s life-long service to his parish, and his occasional acknowledgement of the Creator, proved his loyalty...

The Dover Area school board voted Tuesday night to pay 1 million dollars in legal fees to the attorneys that successfully sued the school district over its intelligent-design policy.... After board members voted, Beth Eveland, one of the parents who sued the district, told the board she and other plaintiffs at the meeting considered it a fair offer. However, she said they were dismayed that the taxpayers and children were left with the bill and believed the old board members should be held accountable. The smallest amount of accountability is an apology, she said.... Heather Geesey, the only remaining member...

MORE THAN A CENTURY and a half since Charles Darwin wrote "On the Origin of Species," evolution remains a controversial concept among much of the population. The situation is quite different in the scientific community, where evolution is almost universally accepted. Still, attacks on the teaching of evolution continue. The more recent criticism of evolution comes from proponents of intelligent design, a new label for creation "science." They claim ID is a valid scientific alternative to explaining life on Earth and demand it be taught in science classes in our schools along with evolution.Although intelligent design is cloaked in the...

Churches urged to back evolution By Paul Rincon BBC News science reporter, St Louis US scientists have called on mainstream religious communities to help them fight policies that undermine the teaching of evolution. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) hit out at the "intelligent design" movement at its annual meeting in Missouri. Teaching the idea threatens scientific literacy among schoolchildren, it said. Its proponents argue life on Earth is too complex to have evolved on its own. As the name suggests, intelligent design is a concept invoking the hand of a designer in nature. It's time to...

The Fine Tuning of the Universe by Rabbi Mordechai Steinman with Dr. Gerald Schroeder An amazing array of scientists are bewildered by the design of the universe and admit a possibility of a designer. According to growing numbers of scientists, the laws and constants of nature are so "finely-tuned," and so many "coincidences" have occurred to allow for the possibility of life, the universe must have come into existence through intentional planning and intelligence.In fact, this "fine-tuning" is so pronounced, and the "coincidences" are so numerous, many scientists have come to espouse The Anthropic Principle, which contends that the universe...

Ricky Nguyen and Mariama Lowe never really believed in evolution to begin with. But as they took their seats in Room CC-121 at Northern Virginia Community College on November 2, they fully expected to hear what students usually hear in any Biology 101 class: that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was true. As professor Caroline Crocker took the lectern, Nguyen sat in the back of the class of 60 students, Lowe in the front. Crocker, who wore a light brown sweater and slacks, flashed a slide showing a cartoon of a cheerful monkey eating a banana. An arrow led from...

[Original article actually starts here.] The governor also said he should have asked his previous appointees to the State Board of Education more questions about their position on the controversial issue, and that he will be asking about it before making future appointments. "There were cases in which I didn’t ask the right questions, in some cases where I supported someone Gov. Bob Taft says that although he’s convinced the state’s 10 thgrade biology teaching standards do not include intelligent design, there should be a legal review of the companion lesson plan to ensure Ohio is not vulnerable to a...

The two scariest words in the English language? Intelligent Design! That phrase tends to produce a nasty rash and night sweats among our elitist class. Should some impressionable teenager ever hear those words from a public school teacher, we are led to believe, that student may embrace a secular heresy: that some intelligent force or energy, maybe even a god, rather than Darwinian blind chance, has been responsible for the gazillions of magnificently designed life forms that populate our privileged planet.

When it comes to intelligent design (ID), one thing is for certain—the mere mention of it stirs up much controversy. Whether it was President Bush telling reporters last fall that students should be taught ID alongside evolution or Judge Jones III ruling against the teaching of it in the landmark Dover (Pennsylvania) case, ID has become a major player in the creation/evolution battle. Without question, ID has gained an increasing amount of recognition and publicity over the last several years at local and national levels. But just where does ID fit in the battle? It really depends upon whom you...

Two new studies by a University of Rochester researcher show that mountain ranges rise to their height in as little as two million years--several times faster than geologists have always thought. Each of the findings came from two pioneering methods of measuring ancient mountain elevations, and the results are in tight agreement. The research papers, appearing in today's issue of Science and next week's issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters, mean scientists will have to re-evaluate tectonic processes that build high elevation plateaus, such as those in Tibet and the central Andes. "These results really change the paradigm of...

Intelligent Design reduces and belittles God’s power and might, according to the director of the Vatican Observatory. Science is and should be seen as “completely neutral” on the issue of the theistic or atheistic implications of scientific results, says Father George V. Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory, while noting that “science and religion are totally separate pursuits.” Father Coyne is scheduled to deliver the annual Aquinas Lecture on “Science Does Not Need God, or Does It? A Catholic Scientist Looks at Evolution” at Palm Beach Atlantic University, an interdenominational Christian university of about 3,100 students, here Jan. 31. The...

The debate concerning intelligent design and evolution has revealed some confusion about the concept of religious faith. What constitutes religious faith? Traditionally, religious faith refers to a belief in a particular revelation, a specially delivered message, something we couldn't figure out by reason alone. Thus, the Jewish people have faith in the revelation they believe was given to Abraham and is contained principally in the Torah. Muslims believe in the message given to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel and recorded in the Quran. Buddhists believe in the revelation that came to Siddhartha Gautama and will lead them along the eightfold...

Design and the Anthropic Principle Dr. Hugh Ross, Ph.D. Hugh Ross launched his career at age seven when he went to the library to find out why stars are hot. Physics and astronomy captured his curiosity and never let go. At age seventeen he was the youngest person ever to serve as director of observations for Vancouver's Royal Astronomical Society. With the help of a provincial scholarship and a National Research Council (NRC) of Canada fellowship, he completed his undergraduate degree in physics (University of British Columbia) and graduate degrees in astronomy (University of Toronto). The NRC also sent him...

Supporters of a Legislative package commonly called the FairTax, point out that no other tax reform and replacement idea comes close to providing the economic benefits for American working families and the growth of American Manufacturing like the Fair Tax HR 25/ S25. Major U.S. Manufacturers like Ford Motor and Delphi Corporation are facing difficult challenges and are planning or proposing major changes in order to compete in the global marketplace and to compete within the American marketplace. Talk Radio has been a buzz on the plan by Ford to cut 30,000 jobs and close several facilities. For months, cities...

Greek mythology tells the tale of Prometheus, a Titan who envied Zeus his godlike powers. Driven by his covetousness, he stole some of Zeus's power, then was caught and punished by being tied to a rock. The underlying assumption of this myth is that man and God are antagonists. Man covets godlike powers, but since God refuses to share any of his power, man must take it---or steal it. In ancient pagan civilizations, Promethean men were able to give free reign to the dark impulses that urged them to become as 'gods.' Although they lacked the ability to create life,...