Tag Archives: creationism

An Analogy for Comprehending Why Population Geneticists Say Adam and Eve Never Existed

Imagine an island off the coast of a continent. Two birds from the continent–a male and a female–get swept up by a storm and find themselves stranded on this island. They go on to mate and a new species of … Continue reading

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Genocide Without Reflection: The Noah Movie Is Horrible

I saw the Noah movie. It’s bad. Really, really bad. It’s such a comedown from director Darren Aronovsky’s previous film, The Black Swan, which was really, really good. Where to start with Noah? How about with the gender stereotyping and racism? The … Continue reading

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Creationists Win Another Pyrrhic Victory Over Evolution

When I learned that, in South Carolina, two Republican young earth creationists recently blocked the adoption of the woolly mammoth as the state’s official fossil (all but seven states have one) because they don’t want people reminded of evolution, I thought … Continue reading

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Bill Nye on the Age of the Earth

Speaking at Iowa State University recently, Bill Nye was asked about the theory of evolution vs. the theory of special creation. Here’s how The New York Times this week reported his response (and the response he received from the audience): During … Continue reading

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Are Scientists Part of a Grand Conspiracy to Deny God’s Existence?

As part of a conspiracy series for British television, the BBC took five young earth creationists on a road trip to meet some prominent American scientists, including biologist Jerry Coyne of the University of Chicago and anthropologist Tim White of Berkeley. Were the … Continue reading

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Paul Broun: Big Bang and Evolution Come From The Pit Of Hell

Paul Broun is a medical doctor. He’s also a Republican Congressman from Georgia who serves as the chair of a science committee in the House of Representatives. The chair. Of a science. Committee. Here’s what he says about the Big … Continue reading

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Bill Nye Frets Over Evolution Denial

___________ Why is the above video so compelling? I’d say it has primarily to do with his manner of speaking about evolution: Bill Nye the Science Guy, a man beloved by children and parents alike, is pained, bewildered, and disappointed–and … Continue reading

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Ted Haggard Links Sexual Behavior to Belief in Evolution

He appears to have fingered the wrong culprit.  

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NYC Seeks Ban on “Dinosaur” and “Evolution” in Standardized Tests. Sam Wineburg Has a Wonderful Retort.

When CNN reported last week on the fifty words that the New York City Department of Education seeks to ban from its standardized tests, the list was discovered to include “dinosaur” and “evolution.” Fundamentalist Christian, Orthodox Jewish, Mormon, Jehovah Witness, … Continue reading

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Evolution for Evangelicals: Biologos Recently Held a Conference in NYC

Here’s a bit of what Christianity Today reported about it: The most sobering moment for attendees of the Biologos “Theology of Celebration” conference in New York City, March 20–22 [2012], came when David Kinnaman of Barna Research presented findings on … Continue reading

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On Evolution, Women Scientists Weigh In

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Naturalism, Supernaturalism, and Motivated Reasoning

At the ID website, Uncommon Descent, a person who goes by the name of “Mirrortothesun” makes the following thread comment: Here’s the problem with every single post on this site, including this one. They are all examples of motivated reasoning. … Continue reading

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Jonathan Wells on Whale Evolution

Some thought-provoking observations on whale evolution by biochemist Jonathan Wells (a Berkeley graduate and vocal skeptic of strict philosophical naturalism): In the case of the Durrett and Schmidt (2008) paper, evolutionary biologist Richard von Sternberg has applied the equations employed in that … Continue reading

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Evolution vs. Creation Rhetoric Watch: Cornelius Hunter Notices an Interesting Rhetorical Move That Charles Darwin Made in the Origin of Species

At his blog recently, Cornelius Hunter called attention to this statement of Charles Darwin’s from the Origin of Species: If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, … Continue reading

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Critical Thinking Tip #3: Discover What Experts Say

Experts know more about their subject of expertise than you do. So, if you discover that you possess a view that contradicts the vast majority of experts, it’s more likely than not that they’re right and you’re wrong. In determining … Continue reading

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The Book of Nature and the Book of God: Peter Enns v. Albert Mohler on Young Earth Creationism

Albert Mohler is President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and I think that the following is a brilliant take down of his preposterous hypothesis that the earth is not old, but young. It’s offered by Peter Enns at BioLogos: Dr. … Continue reading

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No Women or Secular Rationalists Need Apply: A Little Introduction to the Greek Peninsula of Athos

The internet magazine, Religion Dispatches, has an interesting article on the peninsula of Athos in Greece, a haven for Greek and Russian Orthodox believers to cultivate a closer walk with God. Or maybe not. If God, after all, turns out to be a woman … Continue reading

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Christine O’Donnell Says That Young Earth Biblical Creationism Has as Much Evidence Supporting It as Evolution Has

The GOP’s Delaware Senate nominee, Christine O’Donnell, has a history of saying rather ridiculous things about matters of science. Here, for example, is something that she said on CNN about the merits of reading Genesis chapter 1 literally, and how … Continue reading

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Evolution v. Creation Watch: The Cambrian Explosion (545 Million Years Ago), the Cambridge Explosion (1869), and Natural Selection Replaced by the Eschaton?

Here is a depiction of the HMS Cambridge firing a torpedo (Illustrated London News, 1869): And here’s a fossil from the Cambrian explosion (image source: Wikipedia).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     . And here’s my question: does the Cambrian explosion (the relatively sudden appearance of … Continue reading

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Jerry Coyne on Natural Selection and What Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini Get Wrong

University of Chicago evolutionary geneticist, Jerry Coyne, reviewing, for The Nation, Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini’s book, What Darwin Got Wrong (2010), gives as clear a definition of natural selection as you’re ever likely to find: In principle, natural selection is simple. It … Continue reading

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