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Religion

Is a materialistic approach to teaching the origin of life inherently atheistic and therefore religious?

[There’s] a new 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that approaches the issue of teaching origin-of-life theories in public schools from a new angle . . . Few are aware that the courts have ruled atheism is a religion for the purposes of the First Amendment in 2005 and thought about its implications on the teaching of origin-of-life theories in public schools. In brief, evolution becomes both a religious and scientifc theory (using the court’s definition of scientific theory), and abiogenesis becomes purely a religious theory. That being the case, these atheist origin-of-life theories should be treated the same as any other origin-of-life theory. Anything less is unconstitutional. Visit the website at http://originoflifefairness.org for much more information and the links/facts to back it Read More ›

Steve Fuller reviews Francis Collins

God and science: You just can’t please everyone
A Review of Francis Collins’s The Language of God

By Steve Fuller
From NewScientist 26 August 2006, p. 48.

Denying the real conflict between religion and science is a sure formula for confusion, finds STEVE FULLER.
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Let me start by declaring an interest: I am that Steve Fuller who gave evidence for the defence in the trial over whether intelligent design should be taught alongside evolution in school in Dover, Pennsylvania, last year. And books like this persuade me that I did the right thing.

*The Language of God* is by Francis S. Collins, director of the Human Genome Project for the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He became a born-again Christian after reading C. S. Lewis’s *Mere Christianity* as a biochemistry graduate student. Collins is now part of the American ScientificAffiliation, a group of 3000 Christians which aims to render science consistent with its beliefs.

Collins’s mission is to deny any real conflict between God and Darwin. He wants to square things for scientists who don’t want intelligent design on their doorstep but who also don’t want to examine their own beliefs too closely. Read More ›

Pope Benedict XVI has replaced an evangelizing Darwinist, Dr. George Coyne

Vatican Astronomer Replaced by Bruce Chapman

Chapman writes:

Pope Benedict XVI has replaced an evangelizing Darwinist, Dr. George Coyne, as director the Vatican Observatory, according to Zenit News. A Jesuit with a doctorate in astronomy, Dr. Coyne in recent years made himself the public scourge of Darwin critics and scientific proponents of intelligent design. Increasingly his theology resembled that of “process theologians” who believe that God is still learning and could not have known what his world was becoming.
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Crocker, Sisson, Cordova, Chenette: TV special on ID in Higher Education

Caroline Crocker

Feature: The Intelligent Design Controversy in Higher Education
This week on The Coral Ridge Hour we look at Intelligent Design, a movement which is gaining adherents at colleges and universities around the world. But what about professors who dare to challenge evolution by presenting alternatives to students? As you are about to see, the consequences can be severe.

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“Evangelical Atheism”: Are Dawkins and Dennett shooting themselves in the foot?

Here’s a recent exchange between me and a well-known journalist: Dear Mr. Dembski: I got your email from [snip]. I’m a science writer who has written for the usual suspects: New York Times (book review, op-ed, magazine, week in review), The Atlantic, Discover, Omni, Wall Street Journal, many others. You can google me, but the NY Times and WSJ block search engines, and that’s where most of my journalistic stuff is. . . . I am not sympathetic to ID or creationism, but I’m thinking of writing a piece–not yet sure for whom–about how silly the neo-Darwinists have become, Dawkins and Dennett come to mind. It seems to me the evolutionists have fielded the wrong team, and despite the recent Read More ›

Creation and evolution back on the Pontiff’s agenda

Professor Ratzinger goes back to school. After Islam last year, Darwin topic this year Evolution will be the focus of the upcoming seminar between the pope and his former students in Castel Gandolfo. Meanwhile, Jesuit scholar Christian W. Troll has updated his analysis of progressive Muslim thinkers by Sandro Magister ROMA, August 2, 2006 – This year’s Ratzinger-Schülerkreis seminar will focus on “Schöpfung und Evolution”, creation and evolution. The private meeting is set for Saturday, September 2, and Sunday, September 3, at the Pontifical Villa in the pope’s summer residence of Castel Gandolfo (see photo). The Ratzinger-Schülerkreis, that is the ‘Ratzinger Students’ Circle’, brings together once a year the old theology professor, now pope Benedict XVI, and his former students Read More ›

Granville Sewell on theodicy

Is God Really Good? Granville Sewell Mathematics Dept. University of Texas El Paso                                                                                            .   In debates over the theory of intelligent design, the “problem of evil” is frequently brought up by opponents of design: if we are the products of intelligent design, why is there so much evil and misery in the world? From a purely logical, or scientific, perspective, this problem is easy to deal with: Nature offers evidence of design–the question of what the designer is like is a separate, more philosophical, issue. But for most of us humans, this is a very unsatisfactory answer. In two other articles on my web page (here and here, both highlighted by Discovery.com in the last few months) I have outlined Read More ›

Howard Van Till’s journey from Calvinism into freethought

Questions: (1) Leaving aside Calvinism, is Howard Van Till a Christian at all? Would he even accept that designation? (2) Given that he has veered so far from Calvin College’s statement of faith, is it legitimate for him to maintain his formal affiliation with the school as “professor emeritus”? Are professors emeritus held to the same standards as nonretired faculty?  FROM CALVINISM TO FREETHOUGHT: The Road Less Traveled by Howard J. Van Till Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Emeritus Calvin College Presented 5/24/2006 for the Freethought Association of West Michigan Lightly edited 5/26/2006 Precis: Born into a Calvinist family, shaped by a Calvinist catechism training, educated in the Calvinist private school system, and nurtured by a community that prized its Calvinist Read More ›

Looking for work? NCSE is hiring.

Faith Project Director The National Center for Science Education, a non-profit organization that defends the teaching of evolution in the public schools, seeks candidates for the post of Faith Project Director. The FPD’s duties will include: **developing materials pertaining to evolution and religion for print and web; **representing NCSE to the faith community, in print and in person; **serving as liaison between NCSE and professional theological societies and religious organizations; **speaking to the press about issues involving evolution education and challenges to it; **counseling teachers, administrators, parents, and others facing challenges to evolution education. Candidates should have either formal academic training in or extensive informal knowledge of theology, particularly as it relates to science. A record of involvement in or Read More ›

New Counter-Culture ID-Friendly Magazine

Check out SALVO: http://www.salvomag.com. It’s hard-hitting and in-your-face without being ponderous. I love the “fake” ads, like The Center for Human Enhancement’s ad that features a stylized human head with the caption “be perfect” and the recommendation to “visit upgrademe.com.” Denyse O’Leary as well as other allies have pieces in the premier issue (autumn 2006), which is now out. The first issue focuses on the materialist reduction of soul.

Dean of Harvard Medical School endorses pro-ID book, medical professors revolt against Darwin

In addition to the engineers, physicists, chemists, and mathematicians who dissent from Darwin, anywhere from 33% to 60% of medical doctors dissent from Darwin (see Nearly Two-Thirds of Doctors Skeptical of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, HCD Research Poll, also check out PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS WHO DISSENT FROM DARWINISM).

Pro-ID sympathies are reflected by the fact a moderately pro-ID book received an endorsement by the Dean of Harvard’s medical school, Dr. Joseph Martin.

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Thank God for Steven Weinberg

Weinberg has a knack for seeing through pretensions. His reference to Sontag’s “piety without content” reminds me of Martin Gardner’s “loyal liars” in his delightful and depressing theological novel The Flight of Peter Fromm (available from Prometheus — I’m going to be using it in my apologetics course this fall). MR. WEINBERG: In my experience most physicists are not particularly religious. A few are – no question about it. But most are not. In fact, I would say they’re not so much irreligious as simply uninterested in this subject. They don’t know enough or think enough about religion to qualify as atheists. And but I think that’s not so limited to physicists. In my experience many Americans think of religion Read More ›

Fired for Being Irrelevant

In shocking news this morning, johnnyb was fired from his job for being irrelevant. When asked about why he was fired, ABC Co. gave the following response — “We looked at the operation of the company, and, while there were many programs attributed to him, and some people claimed that the network worked because of him, we ultimately decided that philosophically, these were all johnnyb-of-the-gaps arguments. In each case, someone from management was able to conceive of a way that these systems would be functional without a johnnyb.”

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[off topic] From a Dear Friend of Mine

I received this today from a dear friend that I’ve known and loved since kindergarten. We’re only a month apart in birthdays, were in every grade together through high school, and served together in the Marine Corps in the 1970’s. Just last year summer while I was on vacation in upstate New York and staying at his home for a couple days after our 30th high school reunion, we were struck by lightning at the same time as he was changing the front disc brakes on his wife’s SUV. The lightning hit a power line near the house, travelled into the garage and to the vehicle through the cord on a trouble light, and knocked the crap out of both of us as we were in contact with the vehicle. It might have made him a bit more religious all of a sudden as he had both hands on bare metal whereas I was just touching a painted surface with one hand.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Figure 1

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“Evolution Sunday” — Can 10,000 clergymen be wrong? — It’s happened before

Movement hopes to bridge the gap between evolution and creationism
By Steve Eighinger

Herald-Whig Staff Writer
January 21, 2006

More than 10,000 pastors nationwide have signed “The Clergy Letter” of support for Evolution Sunday Feb. 12, a day designed to bring attention to a movement that believes there is a way to bridge the gap between the theory of evolution and creation theology. Read More ›