Darwinism and the Deterioration of the Genome

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,” and rarely occur in others, known as “cold spots.” An intensive review of the literature fails to reveal a single clear example of a beneficial information-gaining mutation. Conversely, thousands of deleterious mutations exist, supporting the hypothesis that very few mutations are beneficial. These findings support the creation origins model.

Actually it isn't the Catholic Church per se that helped in the development of science, but the CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW in general.

In his book -- CHRISTIANITY ON TRIAL, Vincent Carrol did historical research and concluded that ...

Contrary to popular belief, Christianity has more to do with the spread of knowledge and science than its hindrance. Yes there were times when the church blocked progress in intellectual discovery and scientific enterprise, but they make up the exceptions to the rule. Even many secular thinkers have noted that it was the Christian world view that in so many ways made the rise of modern science possible.

The world view of the Roman Empire was syncretistic, fatalistic and superstitious. This made poor ground for scientific inquiry to grow and flourish in. However, the biblical Christian worldview was much more conducive to scientific progress.

For example, the cyclical view of history of pagan Rome was replaced by the linear conception of history in Christianity. Christians believed in a orderly, purposeful world which had a sense of direction and meaning, something which the scientific mind could tap into and explore. A perspective which viewed the world with purpose and meaning waiting to be discovered was much different than a fatalistic and cyclical view of history which offered little incentive to those who were scientifically motivated.

True, scientific advance did take root in two other cultures: the Islamic world and China. But in both the efforts stalled, and it was only in the Christianised West that science continued to develop. Bear in mind, for example, that it was Western technology and know-how that discovered and utilised the oil that sat for millennia in Middle Eastern (Muslim) deserts.

SEE HERE :

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1893554155/sr=1-1/qid=1154977284/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-2975855-7787044?ie=UTF8&s=books

From your link:

Health-Related "Degree" Holders

Well-run correspondence schools, whether accedited or not, can provide courses that are legitimately educational and useful for some types of jobs. However, they lack the depth of full-time college or graduate school programs and cannot prepare anyone to provide competent clinical services to patients. Competence cannot be achieved without a long period of supervised experience in seeing patients. In fact, in a recent e-mail to me, one of CPU's co-founders stated:

CPU did not prepare any students for the clinical practice of nutrition. CPU in its entire history never offered internships or clinical practicums associated with a masters or doctoral degree program of any kind which is the established requirement to justify professionally the "clinical practice of nutrition." [5]

CPU alumni with health-related "degrees" include:

* Jerry R. Bergman, BS, MA, MEd, MPH, PhD (2), one of whose doctorate degrees is a PhD in human biology from CPU. Biographical information describes him as a creationist, licensed clinical counselor, consultant and teacher at several colleges.

Here are the details of Jerry Bergman's educational background :

Dr. Bergman is an adjunct associate professor at Medical University of Ohio and also teaches biochemistry, biology, chemistry and physics at Northwest State Community College in Ohio. He has taught at the college level for 35 years including 7 years at Bowling Green State University, 6 years at the university of Toledo, and 20 years at Northwest State. He started as a graduate student in biochemistry at Medical College of Ohio in 1985, and was later hired as an adjunct instructor and research associate in the experimental pathology department and he still is still on the faculty at MCO (now named Medical University of Ohio). He has also worked for several years as a therapist at various psychological clinics including Arlington Psychological associates in Toledo, Ohio. Bergman has nine academic degrees. He obtained an Associate in Arts degree in Biology and Behavioral Science, from Oakland Community College, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1967, a BSc from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan in 1970 where he had majors in sociology, biology, and psychology, from where he also obtained an M.Ed. in counseling and psychology in 1971 and studied for a PhD in measurement and evaluation, minor in psychology from Wayne State. Bergman received an M.A. in social psychology from Bowling Green State in 1986.

In 1992 Bergman received his Ph.D. in human biology from Columbia Pacific University, a now defunct nontraditional distance learning school. Columbia Pacific University lost its state approval to operate in 1995 and was ordered to close permanently in October 2000 by the State of California. A court invalidated all degrees awarded after 1997 and ordered the student fees refunded. Bergman has written a detailed perspective on the school's fall from grace.

Bergman also received a Master of Science degree in biomedical science, from the Medical College of Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, 1999. In 2001 he obtained a Master of Public Health degree from the Northwest Ohio Consortium for Public Health (consisting of the Medical College of Ohio, the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State). In 2004 he received another MA from Medical College of Ohio. Dr. Bergman has also completed coursework at the University of Wisconsin, Miami University in Oxford Ohio (where he was accepted into the doctoral program in chemistry, so far completing 33 semester hours) and the University of California, Berkeley. He now has over 700 publications in a variety of scientific and popular journals, plus 20 books and monographs. His work has now been translated into 12 languages and he has spoken widely in the United States, Canada and Europe on his research.

He is a member of MENSA, and received the 1998 Edgar Langsdorf award for excellence in writing.

May I add though, that the important thing is to address HIS ARGUMENTS. His educational background, while helpful, does little to address the validity of what he presents.

I tend to think that God allowed the evolution to take place, but that evolution is driven by much more intricate and intelligent mechanism than crude rolling of the dice.

The Darwinist view will not allow that.

In 1995, the official Position Statement of the American National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) accurately states the general understanding of major science organizations and educators:

The diversity of life on earth is the outcome of evolution: an unsupervised, impersonal, unpredictable, and natural process of temporal descent with genetic modification that is affected by natural selection, chance, historical contingencies and changing environments.

Or in the words of the famous evolutionist, George Gaylord Simpson, "Man is the result of a purposeless, and natural process that did not have him in mind."

How do they know the process was unsupervised?

How do they know the process was mindless?

How do they know the process was purposeless?

Their statements are problematic in that they are unscientific. It cannot be proven that evolutionary processes are "purposeless" or that humans were "not in mind." Science cannot demonstrate these assumptions either way ... and that's the problem with their position. They become proponents of a religion of atheism; I say religion because their conclusion is NOT science, it is faith ... just as much as OUR conclusion is faith. Clearly, their definition is diametrically opposed to any concept of a personal creator being involved in the evolutionary process.

To be fair, NABT removed the language after it was pointed out by the philosopher, Alvin Plantinga, and the theologian Huston Smith, that their guideline was really an implied atheism and went beyond what the scientific evidence for the theory could show. However, the concept of natural selection (absent a creator) remains the central tenant of evolution as taught in the classrooms. The definition of natural selection includes unsupervised, mindless and purposeless. Clearly, in defining evolution they have left the world of science and entered the world of philosophy and theology, and established atheism (a religion) in our classrooms.

The same guy who wrote this article, besides getting his PhD from an unaccredited mail order mill, also wrote this:

NAAWP News. 1985 [ca December 1]. Page 2: "Letters to the Editor":

Gentlemen:

There have been many discussions relative to reverse discrimination in academia, a serious problem which is of major concern to many professionals.

Advertisements often state: "Minorities are strongly encouraged to apply."

In actuality, quite often minorities are hired over better qualified whites.

The writer recalls attending a convention which was primarily for the purpose of recruiting new faculty. While discussing a faculty position with the dean, we not uncommonly had the experience of another dean walking in, uninvited, exchange small talk with the dean the writer was being interviewed by and state, "Do you have any blacks in the area of sociology?"

In one case in particular, the dean answered, "No, but I have a highly qualified white who has published quite a few articles and has impressed our faculty considerably." The answer to this was, "No, we're not interested, we're looking for a black," and he walked out!

I was recently informed relative to a position in criminal justice for which I applied why I would not be hired. My second doctorate, which I am currently completing, is in criminal justice. I received a letter from a friend who, although a secretary and not a faculty member, stated that she talked to the hiring committee about the status of my application and whether it was complete. She was then openly told that they were only considering women candidates for the position. This, she informed me in writing. Thus, regardless of my qualifications, I was not going to be considered!

Probably the most blatant example was a position the writer applied for at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. It was specifically stated in writing that unless a minority candidate could be recruited (specifically a black), the position would not be filled. The college was not able to recruit a minority candidate (they all probably had far better offers elsewhere) and felt the position needed to be filled, thus the writer was finally hired, but only temporarily. The writer was then terminated after seven years, and a minority was hired. This was true even though the writer was the most prolific member in the department, and his student ratings were in the 90 percentile.

Admittedly, in the writer's case, other elements entered in, such as objection to the writer's political-religious values. Nonetheless, reverse discrimination was clearly part of the decision to terminate the writer.

The Ohio Civil Rights Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission both refused in essence to investigate these concerns. It seems apparent to the writer, in reviewing the Ohio Civil Rights function and actual practice, and interviewing about a dozen persons relative to their performance, that their major interest is not in carrying out the Civil Rights law, but their major concern often is specifically helping blacks. They seem vigilant in fighting cases of discrimination against blacks, but far less so in helping whites.

It has been found that educated blacks now actually begin with a higher starting salary than whites. The writer interviewed a colleague of his at a small college and asked why there were no blacks on the cafulty. He answered that, as a small college, they simply could not afford to pay the salaries blacks demanded. They have repeatedly tried to recruit blacks, but most can obtain a far higher salary elsewhere, so go elsewhere.

Another case was when the writer was employed at a small college. At the same time he was hired, a black was hired in the same department. This man had a master's degree, but hadn't published and had no teaching experience. The writer had a decade of teaching experience, over 230 published articles, and the equivalent of three Ph.D.'s, and was formally completing his second Ph.D. at the time. Because of a severe decline in enrollment, it was decided that one of the persons hired in the writer's department should be let go. Needless to say, the writer was let go instead of his black colleague who was far less qualified. He discussed this with the dean and others, and they were quite open, stating simply "There's no way we could let so and so go. He would bring a charge of discrimination against the college and probably win." He further added that a black with a master's degree is about equal to a white with Ph.D.

In reviewing literature relative to discrimination, a great deal of concern seems to be expressed relative to discrimination in favor of blacks which, in essence, amounts to preferential status. The writer has uncovered a great deal of religious discrimination, discrimination against other groups such as whites and little concern seems to be expressed to right this wrong. I am certainly not advocating discrimination against blacks, but I stronly [sic] believe persons should be hired purely on their qualifications. There are serious problems, though, when the blatant reverse discrimination, which is clearly occurring, exists. This, in the long run, hurts all of us. Hiring should be based upon qualifications and not on skin color. This reverse discrimination is deplorable and will have tragic results for our nation.

Jerry Bergman, Ph.D.

*sniff*
*snicker...*
*chuckle chuckle...*
(busting out laughing) Bwaaa haaa haaa!!!! ROTFLMAO!!!!!!

This guy's problem is the same as the problem most people who participate here (on both sides) have which is he has a little bit of knowledge and understanding of biology but is no expert in any way shape or form. This paragraph for example:

The likelihood of producing certain families of amino acids such as polar and non polar, must also be determined. This classification of randomly produced amino acids is important in protecting genome information because members of the same amino acid family have similar functions in producing the required protein conformation. Amino acids from one family can sometimes be interchanged and still produce a functional polypeptide or protein. The random production of amino acids based on frequencies of m-RNA codons would yield too few (only 18.8%) of the charged amino acids that are critical to produce the hydrophobic interaction required to maintain the correct conformational structure of proteins (Ritter, 1996, p. 69). Only 4.7% of the 64 randomly produced codons would lead to the sulfur-containing types of amino acids (methionine and cysteine) necessary for disulfide bonding in proteins. Random production of the codes for amino acids would also tend to produce a high percentages of nonpolar uncharged and polar uncharged amino acids (62.7%).

He's just mixed up -- he kind of knows what he's talking about but it is words not understanding of the molecules and chemical properties.

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