Free Republic

Phillip E. Johnson (1940-2019) was a unifying figure, but not a compromiser. A unique and wise influencer, his strategy will continue.Op-ed by David CoppedgeWhen I heard yesterday that Dr Phillip Johnson had passed away November 2, I was saddened, but I knew that his influence was alive and well. As “godfather” of the intelligent design movement (not “father” since design arguments go back to antiquity, and the phrase “intelligent design” predates him1), Johnson’s influence was indubitably profound for ID. But how about for creationism? There have been a few creationists who have been critical of his approach, thinking he...

The Truth about Radiometric Dating June 2019 Prove it. That’s the challenge biblical creationists often face when discussing the scientific validity of the Genesis creation account with skeptics. Many people leave the church, especially young adults, when they think that the Bible and science can’t be harmonized. But what if incredible harmony actually exists? Those who believe in millions and billions of years often point to radiometric dating as indisputable scientific proof that Earth is old. Since the biblical timeline indicates a young earth that’s only about 6,000 years old, creation scientists must address the radiometric dating issue. We need...

How valleys and canyons formed during Noah’s Flood by Micheal Oard Continental valleys and canyons come in all sizes and shapes. Some are V-shaped valleys, and others U-shaped canyons. Some are shallow and others have tall vertical walls, like the Grand Canyon. We rarely observe valley and canyon formation taking place today and then only in association with a flooding event. Therefore, uniformitarian1 theories about valley and canyon formation are not built on observational science but instead upon their assumptions about the past.

No, Dinosaurs Aren’t in the Bible: Part 3 How Young Earth Creationists Get Dinosaurs Wrong By Philip Cottraux For part 3 of this series, I want to critique Young Earth Creationism from a viewpoint that doesn’t get much attention; its scientifically incorrect portrayal of dinosaurs and the clumsy way it tries to factor them into the creation account. Let me disclaim once again; this has nothing to do with the age of the earth and although I’m personally an Old Earth Creationist, I’m not at all trying to prove that the planet is older than 6,000 years. One of the...

By Philip Cottraux It’s been a long time since I’ve weighed in on the creation controversy, mostly because I hate how divisive it is. But I want to start a series critiquing Young Earth Creationism on a particular aspect that doesn’t get a lot of attention: the clumsy and unscientific way it tries to factor dinosaurs into the creation account. Smart aleck atheists sometimes demand explanations why the Bible doesn’t mention dinosaurs, implying Genesis is an ancient fairy-tale that gets Earth’s origins wrong. This isn’t a problem for old-earth interpretations, but the Young Earth Creationist claims that adding up the...

No, Dinosaurs Aren’t in the Bible: Part 2 Leviathan By Philip Cottraux Last week I wrote about how the infamous passage in Job 40 about the Behemoth is often misconstrued as a dinosaur. In the very next chapter, God describes a monstrous fire-breathing sea dragon, the Leviathan, which Young Earth Creationists speculate was a real-life marine reptile, even citing this passage as evidence that dragons from ancient lore must have been based on an actual animal. I pointed out that dual references of a cow-like fertility deity and a fire-breathing dragon of chaos often appear in ancient literature in conjunction,...

Discovery Institute’s 2019 Dallas Conference on Science & Faith Videos are now online James Tour: The Mystery of the Origin of Life Eric Metaxas: The Miracle of the Universe Stephen Meyer: God and the Origin of the Universe Jay Richards: The Privileged Planet Stephen Meyer: Darwin’s Doubt

When Charles Darwin finished The Origin of Species, he thought that he had explained every clue, but one. Though his theory could explain many facts, Darwin knew that there was a significant event in the history of life that his theory did not explain. During this event, the “Cambrian explosion,” many animals suddenly appeared in the fossil record without apparent ancestors in earlier layers of rock. In Darwin’s Doubt, Stephen C. Meyer tells the story of the mystery surrounding this explosion of animal life—a mystery that has intensified, not only because the expected ancestors of these animals have not been...

Most people do not have a good understanding of real science, and can therefore be taken in if a claim is presented in ‘science-y’ language. Thus purveyors of medical pseudoscience will freely use terms like energy, vibrations, frequencies, resonance and so on in describing their interventions but none of these terms are being used in the precise way that a physicist would use them. Many pseudoscientists will also refer to the latest ideas in real science to imply that their claims are derived from the latest cutting-edge theories. One example would be claiming that homeopathy is consistent with quantum mechanics...

The notion of “intelligent design” arose after opponents of evolution repeatedly failed on First Amendment grounds to get Bible-based creationism taught in the public schools. Their solution: Take God out of the mix and replace him with an unspecified “intelligent designer.” They added some irrelevant mathematics and fancy biochemical jargon, and lo: intelligent design, which scientists have dubbed “creationism in a cheap tuxedo.” But the tuxedo is fraying, for intelligent design has been rejected not just by biologists but also by judges who recognize it as poorly disguised religion. Nevertheless, its advocates persist. Among the most vocal is Michael J....

The Three Supernovas By Philip Cottraux Atheists used to believe the universe was eternally pre-existing and static. By rejecting the biblical creation account, they couldn’t accept the idea of a universe that had a beginning. Bertrand Russell, Charles Darwin, and at one time even Einstein labored under this philosophy. The idea of the whole universe condensed to a small state whose expansion was triggered by a colossal explosion was first proposed by a Catholic priest, Georges LeMaitres. The idea seemed so preposterous that astronomer Fred Hoyle first coined the phrase “big bang” as a term of ridicule. But two years...

It's been nearly a century since scientists first theorized that the Universe was expanding, and that the farther away a galaxy was from us, the faster it appears to recede. This isn't because galaxies are physically moving away from us, but rather because the Universe is full of gravitationally-bound objects, and the fabric of space that those objects reside in is expanding. But this picture, which held sway from the 1920s onward, has been recently revised. It's been only 20 years since we first realized that this expansion was speeding up, and that as time goes on, individual galaxies will...

PETERSBURG, KY – As part of a fundraiser for his Creation Museum and Ark Encounter theme park, Answers in Genesis CEO Ken Ham is auctioning an original photograph of his great-great-grandfather riding atop a live dinosaur, sources confirmed.

We've been told conservatives don't believe in science and that there's a "Republican war on science." But John Tierney, who's written about science for The New York Times for 25 years and now writes for the Manhattan Institute's City Journal, told me in my latest online video, "The real war on science is the one from the left." Really? Conservatives are more likely to be creationists -- denying evolution. "Right," says Tierney. "But creationism doesn't affect the way science is done." What about President George W. Bush banning government funding of stem cell research? "He didn't stop stem cell research,"...

The other storyline is simply fantastical. Congressional Republicans have uniformly run away from Trump's Obama-wiretap accusation. Clapper denies it. FBI Director James Comey denies it. Not a single member of Trump's own administration is willing to say it's true. Loopier still is to demand that Congress find the truth when the president could just pick up the phone and instruct the FBI, CIA and DNI to declare on the record whether this ever occurred. And if there really was an October 2016 FISA court order to wiretap Trump, the president could unilaterally declassify the information yesterday. The bugging story is...

Religion is not hostile to learning; Christianity has been the greatest patron learning has ever had. But Christians know that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" now just as it has been in the past, and they therefore oppose the teaching of guesses that encourage godlessness among the students. Do bad doctrines corrupt the morals of students? We have a case, Mr. Darrow, one of the most distinguished criminal lawyers in our land, was engaged about a year ago in defending two rich men's sons who were on trial for as dastardly a murder as was...

The 2001 discovery of the seven million-year-old Sahelanthropus, the first known upright ape-like creatures, was yet more proof of humanity’s place among the great apes. And yet Mike Pence, then a representative and now US vice president, argues for the opposite conclusion.For him, our ideas about our ancestors have changed, proving once more that evolution was a theory, and therefore we should be free to teach other theories alongside evolution in our classrooms. How to respond? The usual answer is that we should teach students the meaning of the word “theory” as used in science – that is, a hypothesis...

Creationists don’t like The Clergy Letter Project, a strong, pro-evolution statement signed by over 13,000 Christian clergymen. Here’s the Wikipedia article on it: Clergy Letter Project. The Project is exceedingly troublesome for creationists because it flatly contradicts their claim that one can’t be a good Christian and also accept evolution. When we say the Clergy Letter is a strong statement, we’re not exaggerating. Part of it says: We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this...

Young-Earth Creationist Wins Lawsuit Oct. 4, 2016 More than three years ago, I wrote about the sad story of Mark Armitage, a gifted scientist who has become an expert in microscopy. In addition to running his own microscope company, he also worked as the Manager for the Electron and Confocal Microscopy Suite in the Biology Department at California State University Northridge. While on a fossil dig in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, he discovered a 48-inch Triceratops horn. When he and his colleague soaked it in weak acid to remove the mineral components, they recovered soft, brown tissue.

Colossians 1:16 "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:" Not long ago, I was talking with another creationist about the impossibility of the first living cell coming into being through natural causes from non-living chemicals. I asked him, "Even if such a thing were possible, what would the first living cell eat?" Without missing a beat, my friend said: "Cellery?" The two of us shared a good laugh together,...