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Intelligent Design

ID and Catholic theology

Father Michal Heller, 72, a Polish priest-cosmologist and a onetime associate of Archbishop Karol Wojtyla, the future pope, was named March 12 as the winner of the Templeton Prize.

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0801398.htm

In this recent interview came a critique of the intelligent design position as bad theology, akin to the Manichean heresy. Fr. Heller puts forth this rather strange argument as follows:

“They implicitly revive the old manicheistic error postulating the existence of two forces acting against each other: God and an inert matter; in this case, chance and intelligent design.”

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Proteins essential to species differentiation- evolved or designed?

Researchers have discovered two proteins essential for reproductive cells to latch onto each other and then to fuse. Changing at least one of these proteins appears to prevent species from interbreeding. This appears to open up a way to stop malaria. A new species would appear to require at least two changed genes, one for the protein change and the other for the matching protein docking change. What is the probability of these simultaneous changes occurring by random mutation & natural selection – versus – this being a key/lock design with complex specified information? Such simultaneous changes appear to be pushing Behe’s limits of Darwinism. See Edge of Evolution
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Gene blocking could help quash malaria
April 1, 2008

International investigations of an organism that one Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center researcher calls a “silly little green scum” have led to key insights into the basic mechanisms of reproduction.

The findings may help explain why species can almost never interbreed, and also point to a possible way to thwart the spread of malaria, a disease that kills about 1 million people each year, primarily children in sub-Saharan Africa. Read More ›

Dinesh D’Souza speaks out against ID

In reading Dinesh D’Souza’s WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT CHRISTIANITY, I was surprised at how uncritical and historically uninformed is his view of evolution. For instance, he lumped C. S. Lewis with other notable 20th century Christian intellectuals as accepting evolutionary theory, but in fact toward the end of his life, Lewis regretted his earlier support for evolution (go here). With even less apparent knowledge of his subject, D’Souza is now weighing in against intelligent design: The Failure of “Intelligent Design” Posted Mar 31st 2008 9:38AM by Dinesh D’Souza Filed under: Science, Christianity, Atheism . . . Today some Christians may be heading down the same path with their embrace of “intelligent design” or ID. This movement is based on the Read More ›

Baylor … going gently into that good night?

I’ve written before about Baylor tenure controversies.

A Christian research university would be a great contribution. But the temptation to sell out to tax-funded materialism is everywhere.

Who is surprised when yet another institution is pitching headfirst? Read The Dying of the Light for a scholar’s take on the subject.

Now some really ominous news has turned up re Baylor. Read More ›

Jonathan Wells reviews Francis Collins

Here’s the conclusion of Jonathan Wells’s review of Francis Collins’s THE LANGUAGE OF GOD: Darwin of the gaps Recall Collins’s principal objection to ID: “ID is a ‘God of the gaps’ theory, inserting a supposition of the need for supernatural intervention in places that its proponents claim science cannot explain… But those theories have a dismal history. Advances in science ultimately fill in those gaps, to the dismay of those who had attached their faith to them. Ultimately a ‘God of the gaps’ religion runs a huge risk of simply discrediting faith. We must not repeat this mistake in the current era. Intelligent design fits into this discouraging tradition, and faces the same ultimate demise.” Except for the “supernatural” part, Read More ›

Science Bloggers: Hook, line, and sinker

I’ve spent several hours reading all the reactions to the Age of the Machine video (see my previous post) and checking out where it’s been posted. Except for Uncommon Descent it’s all on Science Blogger websites and the reaction is fascinating.

Almost without exception it’s being called brilliant in artistic execution. There’s just about an even split on who it disses more, scientists or creationists. But not on Uncommon Descent where everyone thought it was dissing scientists.

Here’s my take. There are two messages in it aimed at two different audiences.

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Fritz your wits about your gender with … the Gender Genie!

Men and women communicate differently, an irritated commenter informed me over at Mindful Hack. Science has settled the issue! Well, I am not sure that the matter is simple enough to be “settled” by science. And, as it happens, the Gender Genie has just popped out of its lamp or castaway bottle or whatever today’s genies use, to provide me with a handy tool. Using an algorithm developed by Moshe Koppel, Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and Shlomo Argamon, Illinois Institute of Technology, you can find out whether the genie thinks you are a man or a woman by submitting a sample of your writing. Given that the genie works best on texts of more than 500 words, I decided to Read More ›

Paul Myers the Serial Gatecrasher

Well, if anyone still had any doubts about Myers this should eliminate them. He admits his aim is “misbehavior”. If it weren’t for misbehavior like that locks and keys would never have been invented. Go to Myers’ blog to read more: I always aim to misbehave

PZ Myers sneaks into press teleconference … !

I was in a press conference this afternoon for the Expelled documentary (about scientists who are persecuted for questioning Darwinism and other materialist evolution theories). Ben Stein, the film’s lead, producer Mark Mathis, and others were there. Mathis confirmed that he kicked PZ Myers out of the film to make a point (Myers endorses the destruction of the careers of those who question Darwinism, yet he was really upset about getting booted from a film). And … Myers apparently somehow got into the press conference itself! – “under false pretences” according to the moderator. He was told to be quiet, and he rung off (to the best of my knowledge). He told the media to phone HIM instead. Greg, at Hollywood Read More ›

Tuatara, the fastest (and perhaps slowest) evolving animal

Yet another missed prediction made by the chance & necessity theory of evolution. The Tuatara is one of the slowest evolving animals we know of – stable in form for tens of millions of years after it separated from early dinosaurs. The neo-Darwinian theory of evolution predicted that its rate of molecular (DNA) evolution would likewise be very slow. Many things about the Tuatara are slow. It grows very slowly, its metabolism is very slow, it thrives in cold (for a reptile) temperatures, it reproduces only once every 2 to 5 years, and doesn’t reach sexual maturity until 10 to 15 years of age. Yet when research was conducted into the rate its DNA changes it was found to be the among the fastest known among all vertebrates.

Tuatara, the fastest evolving animal

New DNA research has questioned previous notions about the evolution of the tuatara

In a study of New Zealand’s “living dinosaur” the tuatara, evolutionary biologist, and ancient DNA expert, Professor David Lambert and his team from the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution recovered DNA sequences from the bones of ancient tuatara, which are up to 8000 years old. They found that, although tuatara have remained largely physically unchanged over very long periods of evolution, they are evolving – at a DNA level – faster than any other animal yet examined. The research will be published in the March issue of Trends in Genetics.

“What we found is that the tuatara has the highest molecular evolutionary rate that anyone has measured,” Professor Lambert says. Read More ›

Fitna vs Expelled – Is Islamofascism similar to Darwinian fascism?

Are there parallels between the effects of “Big Science” Darwinism severe job discrimination against non-Darwinists as shown in Expelled, and recent terrorism by Jihadists?

The very controversial film Fitna offers a view on radical Islam and the Qur’an by by Dutch politician Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV). It was just released today March 27th on the Internet, and already has over one million downloads each in English and Dutch. Wilders alternates verses from the Qur’an with terrorist events and statements by radical jihadists. Blogpulse of Fitna already lists 2110 messages or 0.1% of messages, compared to 1618 for Blogpulse Expelled Stein.

Compare prominent Darwinist PZ Myers Insisting:

“Don’t tell me to be dispassionate or less unreasonable about it all because because 65% of the American population think creationism should be taught alongside evolution,. . .
I say, screw the polite words and careful rhetoric. It’s time for scientists to break out the steel-toed boots and brass knuckles, and get out there and hammer on the lunatics and idiots. If you don’t care enough for the truth to fight for it, then get out of the way.”

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PZ Myers is really a nice guy?

Someone whose comment I rejected wrote to tell me that PZ Myers is really a nice guy in person. I don’t care, okay. I am entitled to take him at his word as provided in his posts … And I intend to – unless he informs me personally that it is all hogwash, in which case, …. Also, a friend asks, given Myers’s well-advertised views, Would a known Christian, especially one with a known ID persuasion, be able to take a course under Myers without fear of intimidation, ridicule, belittling and threats found on his web site? Well, here is his university’s policy on the subject: The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons shall have Read More ›