(This is my most recently published ChristianWeek column, focusing on stuff that religious people supposedly used to believe that no one ever believed (except maybe some gullible materialists). ) The ignorance and opposition to science of religious folk has been staple of antireligious tracts for centuries. Often, the tales remind me of bogus miracle stories – so good they can’t be false. Two recent examples are worth noting: Religious folk, we have been told, opposed anesthesia in childbirth because women should suffer the Biblical curse of Eve (Gen 3:16). Medical historian A. D. Farr actually went to the trouble of methodically searching the literature from Britain in the 1840s and 1850s, when modern anesthesia during childbirth was first introduced. He Read More ›

In “Global Warming Propaganda Factory” American Thinker, (Aug. 03, 2007) Christopher J. Alleva describes how the “Society for Environmental Journalists” provides Climate change: A guide to the information and disinformation. Alleva observes: “Except for the seventh chapter titled with the freighted descriptive: “Deniers, Dissenters and Skeptics“, the guide is a one sided presentation that resoundingly affirms global warming and puts down anyone with a different point of view. The site is a virtual digest of the global warming industry. If you’re looking for a road map to the special interest groups behind the hysteria, this is the place to go. The journalist members of this association have obviously abandoned all pretense of objectivity.” The Society of Professional Journalists provides a major Read More ›

The Society for Vertebrate Paleontology, be it noted, has denounced the recently opened Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky: Dr. Catherine Badgley, a professor at the University of Michigan and president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, remarked, “according to the Creation Museum, the history of life is short, sin-ridden, and laden with moralizing imperatives. In contrast, the real fossil record shows that this long history is brimming with discoveries of new kinds of animals, plants, and environments, inviting people to use their unusual minds to question, to reason, and to wonder at life’s remarkable variety.” Unusual minds? Interesting choice of words. But what on earth has happened to the Society for Invertebrate Paleontology? Why aren’t they chiming in? Maybe next Read More ›

Here’s an update on the post below, which I wrote on the basis of a report from a friend who attended the meeting. I’ve been having difficulty downloading the file in question, but I wrote to the four debate participants about the apparent omission. Peter Bentley got back to me as follows: Bill, Ths part of the debate was in jest –we all were laughing, and it was not deleted from the audio — you can listen to it yourself a minute or so before the applause right at the end. The only parts removed during the editing process were minor pauses while microphones were taken to questioners. Peter. ================================ I reported on July 19, 2007 here at UD that Read More ›

Medical animator David Bolinsky has worked with Harvard University to produce an incredible animation of the nano-machines in the cell.  You can see part of it here:  http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/147 Note in particular one statement Bolinsky makes:  “No life is possible without these machines.”  One wonders if Bolinsky has stopped to think about the origin of life (abiogensesis) implications of his statement.  If no life is posibble without these nano-machines, where did the nano-machines come from?  Note that when Bolinsky calls these objections “machines” he is not making an analogy to a machine.  These objects are in fact small bio-machines.  Question of the day for the Darwinists who visit our site:  If life on earth is not possible without the existence of these Read More ›

Brown haze from burning biomass in Asia and Africa may contribute regionally as much as greenhouse gas emissions to anthropogenic climate warming according to reports in Nature. Designing efficient cookstoves for the poor could improve their livelihood, improve health, and the environment. How would investing in cookstoves compare to carbon sequestration? The heat is on – Nature, Editor’s Summary 2 August 2007 “By 2001, it was realized that the thick brown haze discovered over the Arabian Sea during the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX: 1997-1999) was a persistent dry-season feature above Southern Asia. A UNEP report in 2002 raised concerns of major climate disruption if the sources of the haze, including biomass burning, were not controlled. . . . Atmospheric solar Read More ›

“Many Paste Babies are being born with advanced maturity, well developed personalities, and mature physical features,” said Casey Skinlu, a spokesman for the FDA who is now cracking down on Mutation Paste in America. More details are at TheBRITES.org