Religion

The single most important factor in determining future population is the total fertility rate (TFR). The TFR is defined as the average number of babies born to women during their reproductive years. A TFR of 2.1 is considered the replacement rate; once a TFR of a population reaches 2.1 the population will remain stable assuming no immigration or emigration takes place. When the TFR is greater than 2.1 a population will increase and when it is less than 2.1 a population will eventually decrease, although due to the age structure of a population it will take years before a low TFR is translated into lower population. [For the TFRs of all countries, click here and scroll down for the relevant Read More ›

Here is Barbara Forrest’s take on the religious implications of neo-Darwinism and astronomy in her article “The Possibility of Meaning in Human Evolution,” Zygon: Journal of Religion & Science 35.4 (Dec 2000), 861-889. She writes (p. 862, notes omitted): Read More ›

www.themonkeytrial.com distinguishes myth and reality.

This just in from my good friend and colleague on the other side, Michael Ruse: At long last, I have been asked to write for a medium appropriate to my talents – I am doing a piece for Playboy on science and religion – “Heff” feels that the time is right – those of us who take the Enlightenment seriously must stand shoulder to shoulder in these dark days – I am privileged to do my bit for the cause (actually, it was not until I was asked that I realized that Playboy actually carries written material other than dirty jokes). Apparently I get paid somewhat less than a third what the Playmate of the Month gets paid. Michael Ruse Read More ›

Denis Alexander is one of the more prominent theistic evolutionists in the UK. As with many theistic evolutionists there, he is not at all pleased with ID, regarding it as both bad science and bad theology. Some time back he wrote a brief critical review of my book The Design Revolution . He has since expanded his criticisms in a full-length article here. Some ID-friendly colleagues in the UK tell me that they will respond to this piece, and so, since time is limited, I’ll leave it to them to answer Alexander at length. Yet Alexander’s fundamental misconception in that longer paper is readily seen as well in his earlier, shorter critical review of The Design Revolution. For that review Read More ›

Christians may appreciate this; secularists will be sure to dismiss it [to view the slide show, you’ll need to keep clicking your mouse]: www.uncommondescent.com/images/the_center_of_the_bible.pps.

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE on October 12, 2005

Contact: Larry Caldwell
Phone: 916-774-4667
lcaldwell@qsea.org

Lawsuit Alleges that Federally-Funded Evolution Website Violates Separation of Church and State by Using Religion to Promote Evolution

San Francisco, CA— A California parent, Jeanne Caldwell, is filing a federal lawsuit today against officials of the National Science Foundation and the University of California at Berkeley for spending more than $500,000 of federal money on a website that encourages teachers to use religion to promote evolution in violation of the First Amendment. Read More ›

CAN A JEW BE BANNED FOR SUPPORTING EVOLUTION IN THE 21st CENTURY?

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
CONTACT JULIE LEVENTHAL (202-363-6422, marketing@momentmag.com)
OR LISA NEWMAN (202-607-5472, lnewman@momentmag.com)

OCTOBER 6, 2005 — Can a Jew be banned for supporting evolution in the 21st Century?

The answer, shockingly, is yes. Read More ›

CHURCH/STATE AT DARTMOUTH By William F. Buckley Jr.
Tue Sep 27, 8:06 PM ET

The whole business of whether public schools can permit “intelligent design” to be acknowledged as an alternative to Darwinian evolution in explanation of human life will begin democratic exercises in a courtroom in Pennsylvania this week. There are regular flashpoints on this matter of the separation of church and state. Some of them test out constitutional questions, others merely modi vivendi. A week ago Noah Riner, the president of the Dartmouth Student Assembly, ran into the wrath of orthodox hard-liners.

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Societies worse off “when they have God on their side” By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent September 27, 2005 The Times RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today…. [For rest of article, go here.] By the way, Gregory Paul, the researcher in question, is a freelance dinosaur paleongologist. One wonders about his expertise in drawing the conclusion that religion is bad for your health. Could it be that he had his conclusion ready to go and massaged the data to fit it? Say it isn’t so.

From: keagle@acton.org
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 6:55 AM
To: snip
Subject: 2005 Acton Essay Competition

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In the blue corner, God. In the red corner, Evolution. Will they kiss and make up or will they punch each other’s teeth out? Find out at the Pandasthumb: http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/08/julian_sanchez.html http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/08/my_response_to.html

http://www.thegodmovie.com

Jason Rosenhouse has been writing an series of reports on the 2005 Creation Mega Conference that took place last week. I refer readers specifically to his latest report (#5) on the talk of Werner Gitt, who is the author of In the Beginning Was Information. In reading that book, I had many of the same concerns about Gitt’s concept of information that Rosenhouse raised in response to Gitt’s talk. Read More ›

Tom Schneider, “Mr. Biological Information” himself and one of my critics, seems genuinely concerned about the welfare of my soul, though in his case he wants to help me find my way out of my religious faith. Here are two articles that he recently recommended to me: Read More ›