Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Templeton Foundation Enlists Journalists into Its Science-Religion Discussion

Looking for 10 Fine Journalists
Setting Up the Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowships in Science and Religion
By Julia Vitullo-Martin

“It’s a pleasure to meet a man who’s got an asteroid named after him,” said Cathy Lynn Grossman, the religion correspondent for USA Today, extending her hand to Owen Gingerich, research professor of astronomy at Harvard and a member of our advisory committee. We were interviewing semi-finalists for the Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowships in New York. “Oh, that’s nothing,” replied Gingerich. “I have dozens of friends who have asteroids named after them. Mine is small, just about the size of Manhattan. But it has a mind of its own and follows an eccentric orbit, of which I’m very proud.” With that rather wonderful summary of one scientist’s outlook on asteroids and life, the fellowship interviews proceeded. Read More ›

Kauffman, Roszak, Dobbs — Opening Up The Discussion

I gave the entire Washington Post article on Phil Johnson here two days ago (go here). I want to draw your attention to two quotes in that article, one by Stuart Kauffman, the other by Theo Roszak. Kauffman is a well known self-organizational theorist. Roszak was a popular countercultural figure two and three decades ago (I remember him especially in the 80s for his critique of strong AI). Finally I want to draw your attention to a closing comment by Lou Dobbs in an interview of Michael Ruse, Jonathan Wells, and John Morris a few days ago on CNN. Read More ›

This Has Got to Be Disheartening to Darwinists

Which statements reflect your views on the origin of human beings? 1. We evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years, and God did not directly guide this process. 2. We evolved from less advanced life forms over millions of years, but God guided this process. 3. God created us in our present form. …………………………… DEMOCRATS…………….REPUBLICANS ……………….ALL Evolved w/o God…………16% …………………………9%………………………….13% Guided by God…………… 28% ………………………..23%…………………………27% Created by God……………51% ……………………….66%…………………………55% Unsure………….. ……………5%…………………………..2% ………………………….5% Source: CBS News/New York Times poll, Nov. 18-21, 2004

The Vise Strategy II: Essence of the Strategy

Over a decade ago, Phillip Johnson, in his public lectures, used to describe his critique of evolutionary naturalism as encapsulated in an analysis of three words: science, evolution, and creation. According to Johnson, by suitably equivocating about the meaning of these words, Darwinists were able to confuse the public and themselves into consenting to a theory that ordinary standards of evidence rendered completely insupportable. Read More ›

Honda’s Cog Commercial

Many of you have probably seen this, but here’s a high-res, full screen video of the Honda ad: GO-LINK. It’s one of the best examples I know of the coordination of natural forces by intelligence.

About This Blog

It seems that some of my readers are disgruntled because their comments are not appearing on this blog and, in some cases, because I’m removing them as users. Please have a look at my Comments about Comments from last month. One of the things I stressed there is don’t bore me. Darwinists tend to think that simply by telling an evolutionary story about some phenomenon that they have achieved remarkable insight. I don’t. There are plenty of other forums where I mix it up with Darwinists. Think of this blog as my playground. If you have to take a whiz, do it elsewhere.

The Extravagant Design of Nature

Have a look at the following image and consider what your gut is telling you: (1) that nature is full of extravagant design that we should not expect on materialistic principles; (2) that nature has programmed us through evolution (e.g., sexual selection) to appreciate beauty in nature so that we can be good little robots and spread our genes. Here’s the image.

Design Inferences and the Suspicion of Fraud

“Powerball lottery officials suspected fraud: how could 110 players in the March 30 drawing get five of the six numbers right? That made them all second-prize winners, and considering the number of tickets sold in the 29 states where the game is played, there should have been only four or five.” MORE.