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Professor of Atheism Richard Dawkins grows increasingly shrill. His outbursts include the following, not very recent, but typical: __________________________________ It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that). __________________________________ You can, of course, make any point you like providing you don't care about first premises. One thing which evidently fails to enter Professor Dawkins' mental universe is the idea -- accepted by many scientists -- that the theory of evolution is broadly correct, but as an...

A new study suggests that Homo erectus, a precursor to modern humans, was using advanced toolmaking methods in East Africa 1.8 million years ago, at least 300,000 years earlier than previously thought. The study, recently published in Nature, raises new questions about where these tall and slender early humans originated and how they developed sophisticated tool-making technology. Homo erectus appeared about 2 million years ago, and ranged across Asia and Africa before hitting a possible evolutionary dead-end, about 70,000 years ago. Some researchers think Homo erectus evolved in East Africa, where many of the oldest fossils have been found, but...

Their deaths two million years ago have breathed new life into our understanding of the way human beings evolved. Two primitive ape-like creatures, believed to be a mother and her young son, plunged through the roof of a cave and suffered a slow death from starvation. Now scientists believe their fossilised skeletons show they could be our direct ancestors, the long-sought ‘missing link’ between apes and humans.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry said that evolution was “just a theory” and that it had “some gaps in it.” Paul Krugman thinks that Republicans are dumb, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals. In the not-too-distant future he sees a Republican half-wit delivering his acceptance speech as presidential nominee at the convention in grunts, beating his chest, and bopping his wife over the head with the a club as he drags her on to the stage by her hair. Writing in The New York Times, Krugman says, “One of these years the world’s greatest nation will find itself ruled by a party that is...

'Creationism' is a confusing term.  In science, militant atheists will intentionally call all religious people 'creationists' and then complain creationists are anti-science, even about the religious people who are not anti-science at all.   'Young Earth' creationists think we were created in whole form 6,000 or so years ago and believe paleontology and biology are some test of faith but commingling the terms is intellectually dishonest.   Politics makes even otherwise smart scientists do bad things. It's the same scam progressive militants pulled regarding 'stem cell research'.   No Republican had objected to 40 years of 'stem cell research' but...

By the U-Bomber’s concept of justice, one he shares with millions of jihadists around the world, an aggressive act is a permissible “defensive” act when waged against anyone defaming Muhammad. So fundamental a truth is this in the U-Bomber’s mind that he sees no need to include in his motion any details, real or invented, of any wrongdoing or provcative behavior on the part of the officers that could explain his outbrust of violence. He never says the officers flushed his Koran, or called him an Islamophobic name, or tried to read to him from the polytheist Bible. What he...

National Public Radio recently interviewed Trinity Western University biologist Dennis Venema, who stated his belief that humans did not descend from Adam and Eve.1 Venema, an evangelical evolutionist, claimed that genetics studies show "there is no way we can be traced back to a single couple."2 Do the data really contradict the biblical account of human history? "Given the genetic variation of people today, [Venema] says scientists can't get that [starting] population size below 10,000 people at any time in our evolutionary history," NPR reported.2 But this claim fails for three reasons. First, it relies on the presumption of "evolutionary...

Q. Texas governor and GOP candidate Rick Perry, at a campaign event this week, told a boy that evolution is ”just a theory” with “gaps” and that in Texas they teach “both creationism and evolution.” Perry later added “God is how we got here.” According to a 2009 Gallup study , only 38 percent of Americans say they believe in evolution. If a majority of Americans are skeptical or unsure about evolution, should schools teach it as a mere “theory”? Why is evolution so threatening to religion? A. There is nothing unusual about Governor Rick Perry. Uneducated fools can be...

A public high school teacher in California may not be sued for making hostile remarks about religion in his classroom, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. The decision stems from a lawsuit filed by a student charging that the teacher's hostile remarks about creationism and religious faith violated a First Amendment mandate that the government remain neutral in matters of religion. A three-judge panel of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that the lawsuit against an advanced placement history teacher at Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo must be thrown out of court because the...

The fossilised remains of microbes that lived beside the sea in the earliest chapter of life on Earth have been discovered in a slab of rock in Western Australia. Researchers found the tiny fossils in rock formations that date to 3.4bn years ago, making them strong candidates to be the oldest microbes found. Some clung to grains of sand that had gathered on one of the first known stretches of beach. The findings paint a vivid picture of life arising when the first landmasses began to emerge in fragmentary fashion from the oceans. At the time, volcanic eruptions spewed gas...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman on Thursday turned to Twitter to attack a rival, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, for his positions on evolution and climate change. "To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy," Huntsman tweeted.

Huntsman on Twitter: ‘Call me crazy,’ I believe in evolution, warmingBy Justin Sink - 08/18/11 02:59 PM ET Republican presidential candidate and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman on Thursday took to Twitter to offer his support for the theory of evolution. Huntsman made the tweet shortly after Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) offered comments that cast doubt on evolution, and his comments could be seen as a criticism of Perry. “To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy,” Huntsman, also a former ambassador to China, tweeted. Perry also has raised questions about...

Among the protestors at this morning's meet and greet in Portsmouth, N.H., a mother used her child as a prop to confront Rick Perry about his beliefs on evolution and science. The mother pushed her son towards Perry and insisted he ask the governor about the age of the earth. "How old do I think the earth is? You know what, I don't have any idea," Perry said. "I know it's pretty old so it goes back a long long way. I'm not sure anybody actually knows completely and absolutely how long, how old the earth is." While Perry was...

Governor Rick Perry on evolution, in an interview with the Associated Press: "There are clear indications from our people who have amazing intellectual capability that this didn't happen by accident and a creator put this in place. Now, what was his time frame and how did he create the earth that we know? I'm not going to tell you that I've got the answers to that. I believe that we were created by this all-powerful supreme being and how we got to today versus what we look like thousands of years ago, I think there's enough holes in the theory...

Testimonies of Scientists Who Believe the Bible Aug/08/11 20:55 Filed in: Evolution | Evidences August 9, 2011 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -High Schools, colleges, and universities typically teach only one theory of origins, that being evolution, and the students are not presented with a creationist or even an Intelligent Design viewpoint. In fact, they are often given the idea that no true scientist today is a creationist. When the National Academy...

Stephen Hawking is squaring off with God, saying that God did not have a hand in creating the universe and that the "laws of science" can explain how the universe created itself from nothing. In the premiere episode of The Discovery Channel’s latest series "Curiosity," set for Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, Hawking takes on the question: "Is There a Creator?" Hawking, who has done extensive research on several contentious topics such as time travel, parallel universes and black holes, says that God was not necessary for the creation of the universe. He proposes that it is possible that the...

What's your opinion about teaching the theory of evolution in public schools? Thank you for participating in our poll. Here are the results so far: Evolution should be taught in public schools. 39% Evolution should be taught along with creationism. 33% Creationism should be taught, not evolution. 24% I don't know.

A fossil touted since the time of Charles Darwin as the "missing link" between dinosaurs and birds is likely just a dinosaur, scientists have admitted in a new report in the journal Nature.. The proposal to reclassify the specimen Archaeopteryx, which has been presented since its discovery in 1861 as a key transitional link, highlights the shifting sands on which much of evolutionary theory is based, according to one expert in the field. David Menton of Answers in Genesis has a Ph.D. in cell biology from Brown University, taught anatomy at Washington University School of Medicine, lectured in anatomy, was...

Next time you're about to slam somebody for carrying on like a Neanderthal, think twice: You might be hitting close to home. A new study published in the Molecular Biology and Evolution reports that people of non-African heritage carry a chromosome which originates from Neanderthals, offering evidence that the two populations interbred at a certain point in history.

The debate among evangelical Christians over Darwin's theory of evolution has returned to front stage this summer with the publication of two separate cover stories on the issue by leading Christian magazines. In its June cover story, Christianity Today reported on how Christian proponents of Darwin are challenging historic beliefs about Adam and Eve. Now Christian news magazine World has announced that it will name two books critiquing "theistic evolution" as its "Books of the Year" in its upcoming July 2 issue. World called the evolution debate in churches and religious colleges "the biggest current battle both among Christians and...