Posted on 08/09/2002 10:52:13 PM PDT by jennyp
There have been a lot of little news items having to do with creation vs. evolution lately, each one not necessarily worth a thread on its own. Here are the last 10 days' worth of headlines culled from Creation/Evolution: The Eternal Debate:
Posted on 2002/08/09
New Fossil Discovery Sinks Evolutionary Theories
Harun Yahya - 2002/08/01
When the Toumaï fossil was found recently, and was quickly dismissed by some as just a female gorilla, most creationists rejoiced at the foolishness of those deluded evolutionists. But prominent Muslim creationist Harun Yahya is more impressed. He hopes Toumaï will "sink our current ideas about human evolution".
Posted on 2002/08/09
Scientific American's 15 Errors
Harun Yahya - 2002/08/01
Not to be outdone by the Christian ministry Answers in Genesis, the Muslim creationist Harun Yahya provides his own critique of Scientific American's recent "15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense".
Posted on 2002/08/09
Revolution in science: a genetic discovery to change the world
The Independent - 2002/08/10
RNA interference (RNAi) is a new technique for turning off individual genes that could turn out to be revolutionary for curing genetic diseases, cancers, & viral infections of all kinds, not to mention for our understanding of which genes do what. (Set of 4 articles)
Posted on 2002/08/09
Researchers' Latest Results in Search for Ancient Martian Life
NASA-JPL - 2002/08/02
In the latest study of a 4.5 billion-year-old Martian meteorite (ALH84001), researchers have presented new evidence confirming that 25 percent of the magnetic material in the meteorite was produced by ancient bacteria on Mars. These latest results were published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Posted on 2002/08/09
History of Science Society Adds its Voice for Evolution
NCSE - 2002/08/09
NCSE is pleased to announce a further addition to New Voices for Evolution: a statement from the History of Science Society reading, in part, that "such concepts as evolution and geological change are well established and belong in science curricula along with other basic scientific ideas. ... In view of this historical perspective, the History of Science Society disapproves of recent efforts by state school boards effectively to remove evolution as a subject from the secondary school curriculum, either through textbook disclaimers or censorship."
Posted on 2002/08/09
Speed of light slowing down after all?
AiG - 2002/08/09
...in addition to being different from the prediction of Barry Setterfield's theory, this research by itself does not support c-decay theory of the magnitude that Setterfield proposed. The change is billions of times too small. In fact, the newspaper hype surrounding Davies’ theory, and the quotes attributed to him, hardly seem to be justified by the Nature article itself, which is rather speculative. ...
Posted on 2002/08/09
KC conference explores evolution debate
Kansas City Star - 2002/07/29
Until intelligent design is accepted by a majority of scientists, don't look for it in public school science classes, a panel of evolution supporters said on Saturday (7/27). The idea that life arose not through unguided natural processes but from the intent of an intelligent being is an interesting postulate at this point, but nothing else, the panel said at a debate closing a Kansas City gathering of ID advocates. Four evolution advocates debated four ID adherents at the third annual Darwin, Design and Democracy conference at Rockhurst HS.
Posted on 2002/08/08
Moderates Lose 2 to Conservatives in Kansas Board of Ed Primaries
KC Star - 2002/08/07
Voters on Tuesday ousted two incumbent moderates on the Kansas Board of Education, raising the possibility that the board could return to a 5-5 moderate-conservative split. The split on the board has been an issue since Aug. 1999, when a then-conservative majority approved science standards that omitted many references to evolution, the big-bang theory and the age of the Earth. After a moderate majority was elected two years ago, the board reversed the 1999 vote.
Posted on 2002/08/07
Selection for short introns in highly expressed genes
Nature Genetics - 2002/07/22
Transcription is a slow and expensive process. Thus, at least for highly expressed genes, transcription of long introns, which are particularly common in mammals, is costly. We show that introns in highly expressed genes are substantially shorter than those in genes that are expressed at low levels.
Posted on 2002/08/07
T.O. Creates New Kent Hovind FAQs Portal
Talk.Origins - 2002/08/08
Talk.Origins has come out with a page that gathers together their several Kent Hovind pages, as well as several off-site links, into a handy starting point.
Posted on 2002/08/07
Save Me from My Comrades: Dawkins Disses Bush
Here - 2002/08/07
Inside a longer article re: Iraq appealing to England to stop the invasion: "A Guardian survey yesterday of leading politicians, diplomats, military chiefs and scientists showed the depth of scepticism across British society about any involvement in an Iraq attack. ... Richard Dawkins, an Oxford science don, suggested Mr Bush was just as much of a danger to world peace as Saddam Hussein, adding: 'It would be a tragedy if Tony Blair were to be brought down through playing poodle to this unelected and deeply stupid little oil-spiv.'"
Posted on 2002/08/07
Inconstant Speed of Light May Debunk Einstein
Reuters - 2002/08/07
A team of Australian scientists has proposed that the speed of light may not be a constant, a revolutionary idea that could unseat one of the most cherished laws of modern physics -- Einstein's theory of relativity. The team, led by theoretical physicist Paul Davies of Sydney's Macquarie University, say it is possible that the speed of light has slowed over billions of years. If so, physicists will have to rethink many of their basic ideas about the laws of the universe. "That means giving up the theory of relativity and E=mc squared and all that sort of stuff," Davies told Reuters.
Posted on 2002/08/06
Evangelical colleges paid to teach evolution
AiG - 2002/08/06
Increasing numbers of evangelical colleges around the world are accepting large monetary awards from the John Templeton Foundation to run courses that promote evolutionary teaching and millions of years. One such course, run by an evangelical Bible college and taught by theistic evolutionists, never touched on the implications of evolution and millions of years for the Gospel of Jesus Christ or the implications for the authority of Scripture.
Posted on 2002/08/05
AiG Strikes a Nerve
AiG - 2002/08/03
Ken Ham revels in the fact that Scientific American's lawyers accused AiG of copyright infringement when it responded to SA's recent article "15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense". Obviously it's proof that "the secular world is closely watching AiG and is trying to suppress our Biblical message", which "is seen as a serious threat by the ‘world.’"
Posted on 2002/08/02
Sheer vs. Real Possibilities: A Response to Allen Orr
designinference.com - 2002/08/02
This is Dembski's response to Allen Orr's review of No Free Lunch, which we reported on a week ago. Dembski repeats his demand that biologists produce actual causal explanations for IC structures instead of merely showing why they're plausible. At the same time, Dembski ignores Orr's critique of Dembski's use of No Free Lunch theorems to prove that Darwinism can't create specified complexity.
Posted on 2002/08/02
Human-Specific Retroviruses Developed When Humans, Chimps Diverged
U. of Georgia - 2002/08/02
Scientists have known that remnants of ancient germ line infections called human endogenous retroviruses make up a substantial part of the human genome. Once thought to be merely "junk" DNA, many of these elements in fact perform functions in human cells. Now, a new study suggests for the first time that a burst of transpositional activity occurred at the same time humans and chimps are believed to have diverged from a common ancestor - 6 million years ago. These new results suggest retroviruses may have had some kind of role in that divergence.
Posted on 2002/08/02
The Battle for the Cosmic Center
ICR Impact - 2002/07/25
Biblical teaching places man at the center of God's attention. Recent astronomical evidence restores man to a central place in God's universe. Over the last few decades, astronomers have become convinced that the red shifts of light from distant galaxies occur in distinct, evenly spaced groups. The Hubble Law implies that galaxies are expanding in evenly spaced spherical shells around us, who are sitting at the center of the universe - just where the Bible says we are.
Posted on 2002/08/02
Commentary on Scott and Branch's "'Intelligent design' Not Accepted by Most Scientists"
designinference.com - 2002/07/02
This is a must-read, if only to see Dembski say "All the design could have emerged through a cosmic evolutionary process that started with the Big Bang." Later, he compares evolutionists to the Taliban!
Posted on 2002/08/02
Boiled Creationist with a Side of Hexaglycine: Sarfati on Imai et al. (1999)
No Answers in Genesis - 2002/07/31
In an AiG web article titled Hydrothermal origin of life? Jonathan Sarfati manages to write three pages about a single five page original peer reviewed paper on growing short peptides in a simulated hydrothermal vent system, published in Science by Imai et al. (1999), and to make over seventeen errors of fact, emphasis or interpretation. Not bad, even for a fanatical creationist.
Posted on 2002/08/01
Updates to Talk.Origins Fossil Hominids Pages
Talk.Origins - 2002/07/31
Jim Foley's comprehensive set of pages on hominid & australopithicene fossils at Talk.Origins has been updated. Includes new pages on the spectacular new skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, which causes problems for creationists who claim that habilis is an ape and erectus is a human, the new 6-7 million year old Toumaï skull from Chad, and Homo habilis: is it an invalid taxon?
Posted on 2002/07/31
Pufferfish DNA Yields Clues to Human Biology [Another 1,000 Human Genes?]
DOE Joint Genome Institute - 2002/07/25
An int'l research consortium led by the US DoE’s Joint Genome Institute reported today on the draft sequencing, assembly, and analysis of the genome of the Japanese pufferfish Fugu rubripes. Pufferfish have the smallest known genomes among vertebrates. While it has roughly the same number of genes as the much larger human genome, it's in a compact form streamlined by the relative scarcity of the “junk” DNA that fills much of the human sequence. Through comparison of the human and pufferfish genomes, the researchers were able to predict the existence of nearly 1,000 previously unidentified human genes.
Posted on 2002/07/30
Race Is Seen as Real Guide to Track Roots of Disease
NY Times - 2002/07/30
Challenging the widely held view that race is a "biologically meaningless" concept, a leading population geneticist says that race is helpful for understanding ethnic differences in disease and response to drugs. Dr. Neil Risch of Stanford U says that genetic differences have arisen among people living on different continents and that race (i.e. geographically based ancestry) is a valid way of categorizing these differences.
Posted on 2002/07/30
Species and languages flock together
Nature Science Update - 2002/07/30
Areas with the most animal species also contain the greatest number of human languages, say researchers. The coincidence of biological and cultural diversity hints that preserving cultures may also preserve species, and vice versa. Development and conservation "probably need to go hand in hand", says Carsten Rahbek of the U. of Copenhagen. His findings call into question the wisdom of trying to save wildlife in remote uninhabited areas.
Posted on 2002/07/30
U.S. News and World Report joins in the evolution onslaught
AiG - 2002/07/30
U.S. News and World Report ran a major story pushing evolution on 29 July, 2002, giving it cover story exposure. The usual evolutionist hand-waving and bait-and-switch tactics were employed in a grand piece of propaganda. Here is our detailed response, interspersed between their actual item which is reproduced in full to avoid suggestions of misrepresentation:
Posted on 2002/07/29
Boeing tries to defy gravity
BBC News: Science/Nature - 2002/07/29
Researchers at the world's largest aircraft maker, Boeing, are using the work of a controversial Russian scientist to try to create a device that will defy gravity. The company is examining an experiment by Yevgeny Podkletnov, who claims to have developed a device which can shield objects from the Earth's pull. Dr Podkletnov is viewed with suspicion by many conventional scientists. They have not been able to reproduce his results.
Posted on 2002/07/29
Bacteria defies last-resort antibiotic
Nature Science Update - 2002/07/29
US doctors have reported the first case of a new strain of Staphylococcus aureus that is completely resistant to the antibiotic vancomycin, one of the last lines of defence against bacteria. Further outbreaks of infection are expected.
Posted on 2002/07/29
Jonathan Wells and Darwin's Finches
Talk.Origins - 2002/07/27
In Chapter 8 of Icons of Evolution, Jonathan Wells examines the case of "Darwin's Finches", and claims that textbooks exaggerate not only the importance of the finches to Darwin's thinking, but also the evidence that they are an excellent example of evolution in action. He also accuses biologists Rosemary and Peter Grant, who spent 30 years studying these birds, of exaggerating the evidence as well. As we shall see, Wells's case is weak. Darwin's Finches remain one of the best examples of adaptive radiation in the literature of evolutionary biology.
Posted on 2002/07/26
Book Review: No Free Lunch
Boston Review - 2002/07/25
Excellent, engaging article by Orr, as he cooly dismantles Dembski's latest book. Assuming his understanding of "NFL" was correct, his critique is devastating. And to think I found this at the ARN site! If they're highlighting this review, then it can only mean there's a fierce counterattack in the works. Read this article now to understand what all the fireworks will be about shortly.
Posted on 2002/07/25
Paranormal beliefs linked to brain chemistry
New Scientist - 2002/07/24
Whether or not you believe in the paranormal may depend entirely on your brain chemistry. People with high levels of dopamine are more likely to find significance in coincidences, and pick out meaning and patterns where there are none.
Posted on 2002/07/24
UCSD Researchers Identify Eye-Formation Strategy in Mice That Provides Clues to Development of Other Organs
UCSD Health Sciences - 2002/07/23
Researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a linkage between proteins that is an essential part of the complex series of molecular events leading to normal eye development in mice. The investigators also suggest that the combination of specific proteins in eye formation may be similar to yet unidentified genes that act together to allow development of other organs.
(Excerpt) Read more at crevo.bestmessageboard.com ...
I'm more than happy to recommend some titles, if you wish. In the meantime, I'll sharpen my arrows in order to demonstrate that fascism is tied to Christianity in exactly the same manner as communism is tied to atheism...
No. My moral views stay more-or-less constant. Whenever the holders of power decide to take our rights, they can. That doesn't mean their actions are moral, and that certainly doesn't mean we couldn't or shouldn't resist.
It would also be morally correct for the Majority of Muslims to kill all non-Muslims and Morally correct for the USA to fight that cause.
In many Muslims' eyes, militant Jihad is seen as highly moral. It is, in fact, a God-ordained commandment. In my eyes as a secular American, it is completely immoral.
Our views are clearly incompatible, and I have no problem imposing my morality on them, using all the coercive force in the world.
Did you read my note at the bottom of the post? I was merely trying to establish ‘why’ the association occurs.
In addition to the Origin of Species, I've also read Das Kapital. Both are great books. Marx was, without a doubt, one of the greatest philosophers of history in the Western tradition. Was he wrong? Yes. But that doesn't diminish his intellect. I'd have been honored to receive praise from him.
A thief, murderer, etc… may be intelligent but he/she is using their resources for evil. It comes down to a man’s intentions. To quote Batman, “If only they would use their powers for good”.
Morality is either set in stone or in a constant state of flux dictated by man and his surroundings.
Now, I must attend to the Bat-Fax.
What is this:
“Nothing we do is wrong since we are merely matter plus chemical reactions and a substance is neither right nor wrong”
It’s the Riddler again, I must decipher this message… after dinner with the family, of course:)
Yes, my conception of morality differs from their's. I have no problem subjecting them to my (superior) will.
I'm not an ideologue. But don't mistake me for a nihilist; I have very strongly held beliefs.
You always have those in-alienable rights, regardless of whether you are oppressed or not. That is Morality. A standard that no man can change or remove. A level of life that cannot be reasoned away by intellectuals that have no concept of what they do not know. A force that gives the moral being to those that fight for freedom. A righteousness that prevails in all times and in all darkness.
Let me say that I am thankful that our men of war, our men of history were not the hopeless wanderers that you have become. I am thankful for the moral fiber that propels all righteous men forward into duty and honor. Honor to that morality, to those in-alienable rights handed down by the Creator. The Creator that make your life valuable enough to sacrifice theirs to protect.
Really...well if the majority of society, or at least the people with the guns, believe that you're a problem, then you probably will get killed. However, if the majority of society holds the Christian belief of respect for life, then I suppose you'd be in a better position, wouldn't you.
I mean, how do all you atheists stand living in a society that is 85% Christian? All that charitable giving, all that moral self-policing, the peace, the tranquility? How do you stand it?
Actually yes there was:
How do you establish a libertarian society when people can't agree on what "liberty" entails?
Well?
Sorry, but those aren't source materials, they are merely propoganda put together by a lawyer in a civil case. The numbers are exagerated and unsourced, furthermore the language is vitriolic; it makes no pretense of objectivity.
Certainly the Spaniards were brutal bastards, but holding Christianity complicit in their deeds is a stretch, if anything the few padres that accompanied the consquistidors exercised as much of a brake on blood lust as was possible.
This piece of tripe also makes no distinction between wars, pestilence and out right murder. To lump the entire history of the New World under the title Genocide is not history but political agenda. I'm surprized you've fallen for that old canard.
But most egregiously you, and others, have gone even further by blaming Christianity for these deaths. I fully expect you, and them, to turn over your homes and property and expatriate yourselves back to your point of origin. Enough w/ this foolish posturing and back up your principles!
My point is made. Thank you.
Strictly speaking, morality is relative to human nature, since its purpose is to provide a consistent framework for action that allows for humanity to flourish (to "maximize our eudaimonia", as Aristotle might say). But since human nature doesn't change, morality is essentially absolute. The problem is, the optimum moral framework for enhancing eudaimonia is not self-evident. Thus the need for competition between societies & civilizations, and for federalism, for that matter, and the need to learn from history.
There are some Truths that have become self-evident facts over time, in the sense that today it would be perverse to withhold assent: The right of free speech, the right of an individual to self-defense, the right of a massive group to self-defense against the government itself (i.e. secession), the right to contract, the prohibition against slavery (including slavery to enforce a contract), a representative form of government, etc. These things are locked in place in a Constitution, and only an overwhelming supermajority can change them.
In fact, the need for a gov't-power-limiting constitution itself is self-evident to any student of history.
On the other end, questions like "what goods & services should be produced?" can only be answered by the marketplace - which is a framework where both majorities and dedicated minorities can find satisfaction.
In between these two, you have the laws that get passed by Congress & by the individual states. When it's running well, the best & most universal ideas take over the meme pool in a process of Lamarckian evolution. You end up with a lot of laws that are imposed on us that are (indirectly) supported by the majority, but at least they had to endure some competition in the marketplace of ideas to achieve their dominance.
It's very messy. But until you can prove to me that this supernatural Authority Figure person actually exists, as opposed to being someone you merely hope exists for the sake of society, then it's the best framework we can hope for.
My post wasn't directed so much at you, but at the great multitudes here who wouldn't make that distinction.
It comes down to a man’s intentions. To quote Batman, “If only they would use their powers for good”.
But as the Incredible Hulk might have said, "No." I don't buy the argument that Karl Marx set out to be evil. I think he had the best of all possible intentions. He just got it wrong (for a multitude of reasons - I'd go into it here, but I'd be preaching to the choir).
“Nothing we do is wrong since we are merely matter plus chemical reactions and a substance is neither right nor wrong”
Jeepers Batman, that is some riddle. But I'd be hard-pressed to argue that there is no right-or-wrong. There is. You're just never going to get two people (let alone six billion) to agree on precisely what "right" is and what "wrong" is. That's a sad fact of life.
Pretty much what I said about a society based in liberty. Initiating force is the root of the problem. Restrain the initiators of force. Others can live in peace. It took Christians like yourself a long time to learn that. Many still have a problem with it.
You sure you want to stick by this gem? I can name a few famous students of history that came to entirely different conclusions. OF course just as Morally correct as yours.
Your system of morality seems to work. As long as you can dictate the base standard. What if Hitler was right? How can you know for sure?
Not very responsive to how to tell which of the various competing religions one should follow. However, it does seem morally relativistic. You have also not given any reason to choose one culture over another.
Sorry to butt in, but you commit the age-old fallacy of mixing up amorality and atheism. Many atheists are highly moral. I know I am (though you're free to argue that my morality is bunk). And as for charitable giving, I gave $475,000 to favorite charities last year, although I don't consider that to be an especially moral action. Moral atheists do what we feel is right, not what we've been ordered to do by an angry Lord.
And now we learn.......
As you are no doubt aware, abortion is one of the most vexing issues we face. There are many differences of opinion. Many thoughts regarding pregnancy, birth control, and sexuality are in a state of flux.
In difficult situations, some compromises may be necessary. You, of course, need a rationale for according "life" status to a fertilized ovum. It is indeed interesting how you spend the majority of your effort seeking to divide rather than finding common ground.
"living/morphing constitutionalists---
EVO science/RELIGION!!
Look at Ashcroft/Bork/Thomas---TEST--gauntlet for office!
"Pulling it all together, what we have right here in our own country are all of the ingredients necessary for a totalitarian police state. We have a federal government that nobody in his right mind would trust, which lies to us incessantly, uses illegal force against its citizens with impunity, and collaborates with totalitarian dictators under cover of a massive propaganda campaign conducted by our supposedly free press."
"Our major information media are dominated by closet totalitarians who pay lip service to democracy while... covertly promoting---the interests of communist despots."
"The political opposition is made up largely of cowards who are so intimidated by our totalitarian propaganda media they are unable to offer effective resistance to even the most egregious violations of civil liberties by the corrupt Clinton regime. They have become, in the fullest sense of the term, Weimar Republicans. And finally, we have that which makes it all possible, a listless, docile, dumbed-down public who gape mindlessly at all of the above phenomena without the slightest glimmer of comprehension, and prattle the latest propaganda cliches dumped into their empty heads by the mainstream media."
"The Elian affair has truly given us a glimpse into the abyss of tyranny. The message that comes through loud and clear is that the system isn't working. The question that remains to be answered is whether we still possess the intelligence and fortitude necessary to fix it."
Edward Zehr(deceased...nov2001) can(not) be reached at ezehr@capaccess.org
Published in the May. 22, 2000 issue of The Washington Weekly(defunct)
Copyright 2000 The Washington Weekly.
Now Free Access to All Stories at http://www.federal.com
EVO FR taliban!
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