KU prof's e-mail irks fundamentalists (Christian Bashing OK)

Wichita Eagle ^ | 25 Nov 2005 | Associated Press

[Coyoteman]

A devotee of scientism typically takes umbrage at having favorite dismissive epithets tossed back in his face. They can generally dish it out far better than they can take it. So be it.

My Ph.D. is in mathematics (Univ of MN, 1975), but I have also studied physics, chemistry, and astronomy at the university level, and done wide reading in philosophy of mathematics and philosophy of science beginning with a series of college level courses in philosophy. My formal study of biology ended in high school, but personal studies have kept me in touch with developments in molecular biology at the level covered in, e.g., Watson's "Molecular Biology of the Gene". I see, in checking the Amazon listing, that I am one edition behind (4th). I will have to pick up the 5th edition and see what I've missed in the last few years.

If you look back on my posts you will not see much name calling. I don't consider it productive.

Thanks for a brief glimpse into your background. That gives me some idea of who I am dealing with. I have a Ph.D. in Anthropology, and two of my fields for the exams were human osteology and fossil man.

So, let the games resume!

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

Those interested in following the discussions about the development of biological knowledge beyond the polemical level may also want to become familiar with this text:

Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fourth Edition (Hardcover)
by Bruce Alberts, Alexander Johnson, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, Peter Walter
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0815332181/ref=pd_bxgy_text_b/102-5784961-9541720?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Students of computer science and mathematics will find much to fascinate them in the advances of molecular biology. Some of the most interesting challenges in the representation and formal manipulation of information are being set forth by the investigators on the frontiers of this discipline.

[Right Wing Professor]

Why not? One cannot criticize Islam in any public court without official and unofficial reprisals.

OK. So we've established your goal is a fundamentalist theocracy. That's what we thought, but thanks for confirming it.

[Right Wing Professor]

You can look at young-earth creationists and think them fools, but this country treasures its freedom of religion. That includes freedom from having it "stuck to you" in public places.

Sure thing, Mullah Omar. But here in America, we have this thing called "free speech".

[Right Wing Professor]

It isn't about the First Amendment. It's about being rude and antagonistic simply for the sake of being rude and antagonistic.

Being rude and antagonistic is protected speech.

[Prime Choice]

You're funny.

No, I was pointing out that our contemporary society holds some religions as sacrosanct while leaving other religions open for cheap pot shots.

I'm sorry you missed this obvious point. Maybe if you let go of your anti-Christian bias, you'll be able to appreciate the reality of the situation.

[Quark2005]

At a conservative estimate, say 15 Sites per enzyme must be fixed to be filled by particular amino acids for proper biological function. . . [T]he probability of discovering this set by random shuffling is one in 10^40,000, a number that exceeds by many powers of 10 the number of all atoms in the entire observable universe [Science News, Vol. 121 (January 16, 1982)].

I would expect that someone with a PhD in mathematics would understand that it is totally meaningless to apply probability in such a convoluted manner.

[Coyoteman]

Just all "happened" one day?

No silly, it took billions of years. You want days, see the bible literalists.

[dmz]

Yes, evolution is the preferred dogma of lefties everywhere. Their low level of tolerance ranks right down there with Islamofacists, with whom they share a hostility to both God and America.

Wow. Believing in evolution makes one anti-God, and anti-American to the order of the islamic terrorists. Who knew?

[Coyoteman]

I meant it all started one day in a...............bang!

No idea. Bones are more my field.

[onja]

Yeah, I pretty much accept around that time period. There is a lot of flood evidence. I personally find it important though that every culture has had an almost identical flood story seperate of each other. That's pretty cool.

With those pictures, does that show the evolution of chimps into homo sapiens? Are those ones in between supposed to be the missing links between apes and man? If so, do you have a link that tells how they are similar? I'm not really much of a archaologist so I don't really understand those pictures. For all I know all those could all be humans(shows my ignorance).

[VOA]

bump

[Quark2005]

I meant it all started one day in a...............bang!

So, you're saying the Big Bang didn't occur?

Why don't you prepare an alternative scientific model of the Creation of the universe that explains the observed cosmic redshift, 3 degree Kelvin isotropic background radiation, universal H/He/Li element ratios and increasing presence of quasars & bluer stars with greater astronomical distances; then get back to us with your findings.

[onja]

God said, "Let there be Heavens" or something like that. :)

[Coyoteman]

OK, I'll bet you that one human bone from a 7 foot tall African man, and one from a 5 foot tall Asian woman look like different species too.

You bet wrong. We look at morphology, not size. See the following:

STS 14 Pelvis (on the left)

~Discovered by Robert Broom and J.T. Robinson at Sterkfontein, South Africa in 1947

~Dated to 2.5 million years

What do you think?

http://www.msu.edu/~heslipst/contents/ANP440/africanus.htm

[Dimensio]

Normally (unless this post deters them), this will also bring out all the God-haunted FReepers, who will never admit Christian-bashing

I've seen maybe two Christian-bashers here on FR, and not frequently. The rest of the people typically accused of being "Christian-bashers" are always accused as such by creationists who seem totally unwilling to accept the fact that it's creationist-bashing (and deservedly so), not Christian bashing. It's just called Christian bashing because creationists claim that they are the only "true" Christians in the world.

[Coyoteman]

With those pictures, does that show the evolution of chimps into homo sapiens? Are those ones in between supposed to be the missing links between apes and man? If so, do you have a link that tells how they are similar? I'm not really much of a archaologist so I don't really understand those pictures. For all I know all those could all be humans(shows my ignorance).

The point of my post #57 was to show you some of the fossil evidence. You had written in #54 "There should be tons of fossil evidence. There isn't."

I don't expect you to know all of the details of these specimens, as that takes years of study. But the point I am trying to make is that you are dismissing a couple of hundred years of evidence by thousands of scientists, with little actual knowledge on your part of the field, theories, or data. You are acting from your religious belief.

Yeah, I pretty much accept around that time period. There is a lot of flood evidence. I personally find it important though that every culture has had an almost identical flood story seperate of each other. That's pretty cool.

On the flood--I have been in a lot of residential sites in the western US which cross-cut the 4,000-5,000 time period and there is no evidence of a large scale flood. Rather, we have general continuity of stratigraphy, occupation, pollen, macrobotanical (plant parts) remains, radiocarbon dates, etc.