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[update: I just added the original text of Casey Luskin’s letter in addition to mine ]

In my post, UVa faculty alarmed by ID’s presence on their campus, I wrote about my concerns that another witch hunt was in the making.

I would like to thank the University of Virginia Magazine for publishing an abbreviated version of the letters to the editor which Casey and I wrote. The ID debate has dominated the last two issues in that section of the magazine.

The published version of the letters (including several by highly articulate pro-ID UVa alumni) can be found at: Origins of Life Revisited.
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TelicThoughts has a wonderful exchange going on with Nick Matzke: Eugenie Scott, director of NCSE, spreading false information. I will let the readers at UD comment and decide for themselves about the issues. However I thought the dialogue at that website was too juicy to pass up. I invite the readers to visit that exchange.

It was pointed out (HT Analyysi) that Nick Matzke, Public Information Project Director said:

Sternberg happens to be a creationist

Compare with the truth from Dr. Sternberg, PhD PhD himself:

The staff investigation has uncovered compelling evidence that Dr. Sternberg’s civil and constitutional rights were violated by Smithsonian officials. See Rob Crowther’s links: here

Lauren Sandler in her book Righteous (p. 204-205) offered the following:

intelligent design proponents keep quiet about the idea that [Judge] Jones’s decision opens new legal support to teach thier views in philosophy and religion classes. “We do not question that many of the leading advocates of ID have bona fide and deeply held beliefs which drive their scholarly endeavors. Nor do we controvert that ID should continue to be studied, debated, and discussed….” Jones wrote, suggesting that intelligent design is a legitimate field of study outside biology class. This is a victory to an intellignt design movement…
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Back in 1985 Denton wrote of the Molecular Clock Hypothesis which was concocted by Schlemiel Zuckerkandl:

…the idea of uniform rates of evolution [molecular clocks] is presented in the literature as if it were an empirical discovery. The hold of every evolutionary paradigm is so powerful that an idea [molecular clocks] which is more like a principle of medieval astrology than a serious twentieth-century scientific theory has become a reality for evolutionary biologists…the biological community seems content to offer explanations which are no more than apologetic tautologies.

Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1985)

Well this principle of “medieval astrology” used by evolutionary biologists continues to come apart.
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The latest edition of New Scientist has some juicy articles including one on the new ID-friendly scientific reseach organization, Biologic Insitute. See TelicThoughts: Trojan Horses. The other surprise is the case of ID-friendly creationist John Baumgardner who has been published in prestigious scientific journals like Science and Nature. He was presented along side 2 Nobel Laureates as a maverick thinker. See: Opinion special: Lone voices in science.

The Intelligent Design movement begins with the publication of The Mystery of Life’s Origin by Charles Thaxton, Walter Bradley, and Roger Olsen (Philosophical Library, 1984) and Evolution: A Theory in Crisis by Michael Denton (Alder & Adler, 1986). These two books presented a powerful scientific critique of evolutionary theory. Moreover, they set the tone for subsequent publications by refusing to mix the scientific evidence for design with theological views about creation.

-Bill Dembski in The Intelligent Design Movement

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From Anti-evolutionists raise their profile in Europe in the November 23, 2006 issue of the prestigious scientific journal Nature.
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Professor Larry Moran demanded pro-ID and pro-Creation students at universities be flunked. See Larry Moran — Will the real idiot please stand up?

Would Moran destroy the careers of aspiring scientists who make positive contributions to society — all this in the name of Moran’s dogmatism? It turns out one of the PhD alumni in biology from Moran’s school (University of Toronto), a respected scientist and pro-ID creationist recently had his letter published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature. This is news in itself that creationists and ID proponents are getting airtime now in scientific journals:
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I posted earlier the fact that 40% of freshman in UCSD’s sixth college reject Darwinism, and that this so alarmed administrators, drastic steps were taken to indoctrinate more students. UCSD is also the school where IDEA was born, and apparently wherever there are hotspots of interest in the topic of ID, money will be invested by some universities to try to extinguish it. See this post by Casey Luskin at evolutionnews.org, University of California, San Diego Forces All Freshmen To Attend Anti-ID Lecture.
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Another pro-ID book rolled out: Tom Woodward’s Darwin Strikes Back with foreword by William Dembski. And don’t forget, Illustra Media debuts its DvD, Case for a Creator this Friday, November 17, 2006.

In information science, it is empirically and theoretically shown that noise destroys specified complexity, but cannot create it. Natural selection acting on noise cannot create specified complexity. Thus, information science refutes Darwinian evolution. The following is a great article that illustrates the insufficiency of natural selection to create design.

Key to zebrafish heart regeneration uncovered

“Interestingly, some species have the ability to regenerate appendages, while even fairly closely related species do not,” Poss added. “This leads us to believe that during the course of evolution, regeneration is something that has been lost by some species, rather than an ability that has been gained by other species. The key is to find a way to ‘turn on’ this regenerative ability.”

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Praying for an ‘A’ might not impress your prof About 30 percent of community college professors considered intelligent design as a serious scientific alternative. Fewer than 6 percent of professors at elite universities took that position. (HT: my friends at the Discovery Institute for alerting me to the article)

Yesterday I reported statements by Professor Tim McGrew, Chair of the Philosophy of Science Department at Western Michigan University. Here are some updates as more information has rolled in.
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You be the judge. I welcome commentary and contrary accounts as the comment by McGrew has not been independently confirmed. Here is what professor Tim McGrew had to say:

Let me put that more bluntly: Myers is lying through his teeth. Literally. He is actually that dishonest.
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