The Scubaredneck

From Evolution News and Views: More than 50 years ago two playwrights penned a fictionalized account of the 1920s Scopes Trial called “Inherit the Wind” that is now universally regarded by historians as inaccurate propaganda. Last night PBS aired its “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design” documentary, which similarly promotes propaganda about the 2005 Kitzmiller trial and intelligent design (ID). Most of the misinformation in “Judgment Day” was corrected by ID proponents long ago. To help readers sift the fact from the fiction, here are links to articles rebutting some of PBS’s most blatant misrepresentations:

Kudos to whoever is responsible for the new look of Uncommon Descent! I know that you guys put a lot of work into maintaining this site and I’m sure that this new look will make the site even easier to navigate. The Scubaredneck

Here’s an interesting but off-topic story. A newspaper in Kuala Lumpur ran a newspaper article showing a picture of Jesus smoking (a cigar or cigarette or something). The Malay Indians have expressed outrage and asked for apologies (which the newspaper has extended). The Malay Indian Congress has threatened to have the newspaper shut down but, thus far, there has been no hint of rioting in the streets, burning cars, etc. Hmmm… Read more…

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any sillier, now Sam Harris, author of “Letter to a Christian Nation” publishes a letter in Nature calling all good scientists to oppose religion at every turn. Unfortunately for Sam, the letter is frought with inaccuracies and mischaracterizations that would make PiZza Myers proud. He even goes so far as to scold Nature for not taking a hard enough line against this pernicious evil.

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Here is ad hoc, paradigm-driven, rationalistic science at its best: (paraphrase follows) “We know that humans and gorillas had a common ancestor. This finding of an extremely early but largely modern gorilla means that the ancestor must have been much earlier than we thought.” This, along with the Egyptian footprints, ought to be telling a different story, it seems to me. But, in order to see that story you have to adopt an empericalist view of science and be willing to run with the data rather than forcing the data into your paradigm. Read More

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian archaeologists have found what they said could be the oldest human footprint in history in the country’s western desert, the Arab country’s antiquities’ chief said on Monday. “This could go back about two million years,” said Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. “It could be the most important discovery in Egypt,” he told Reuters. Archaeologists found the footprint, imprinted on mud and then hardened into rock, while exploring a prehistoric site in Siwa, a desert oasis. Scientists are using carbon tests on plants found in the rock to determine its exact age, Hawass said. Khaled Saad, the director of prehistory at the council, said that based on the age of Read More ›

What I Think About Evolution

Did anyone happen to notice Time’s cover story for April 2? It seems there is a small movement to teach the Bible in public high schools as literature. Why, you ask would someone attempt to do something so silly? Isn’t this unconstitutional?

” “One can hardly respect the system of education that would leave the student wholly ignorant of the currents of religious thought that move the world society for … which he is being prepared,” Jackson wrote, and warned that putting all references to God off limits would leave public education “in shreds.” ” – Justice Robert Jackson, McCollum v. Board of Education, 1948

” “Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment…” ” – Justice Tom C. Clark, Abington Township School District v. Schempp, 1963 Read More ›