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Evolution Professor: Every Year I Give My Students “The Talk”

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Well it’s fall again and the beginning of a new school year. That means evolution professors will be warming up their religious indoctrination messages for their unsuspecting students. A cynical and unfair criticism? No, actually, metaphysical and value-laden messages, sometimes explicit and sometimes implicit, are rampant in the life sciences. In fact evolutionists are certain they area right and so make no attempt to hide their absurdities. Consider David Barash, evolution professor paid by your tax dollars at the University of Washington. Barash gives a special lecture each fall to indoctrinate his young charges. He calls it “The Talk” (yes, evolutionists really are that pompous and condescending) and he happily tells the world about it today in the New York Times.  Read more

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CLAVDIVS: I don't like that statement because it is a lie. I don't want to gag any university professor telling lies, it is a very common event, and lies after all are part of life. But it is perfectly correct, and I would say dutiful, to call a lie a lie, and to call the professor who tells it a liar. A professor liar, but a liar just the same.gpuccio
September 29, 2014
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Claudius, the statement is demonstrably false.
I don’t like this statement any more than I bet you do, but I don’t want to gag any university professors. Do you?
Biology professors are not on the doorstep of being gagged, so we can do away with the histrionics.Upright BiPed
September 29, 2014
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DavidD @ 21
Funny, if this were a conventional religious Professor as others have already suggested, you’d be one of the first in line at the Court House filing a Gag Order Wouldn’t you?
Nope.CLAVDIVS
September 29, 2014
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Clavdivs " . . . but I don’t want to gag any university professors. Do you?" Funny, if this were a conventional religious Professor as others have already suggested, you'd be one of the first in line at the Court House filing a Gag Order Wouldn't you?DavidD
September 29, 2014
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LOL Querius posted "CLAVDIVS @ 13 wrote: This is a university class, and the students are adults. Sorta like porn, right? A UNESCO quote on “academic freedom” followed. LOL More like the "We're all consenting adults here" which is the default answer for excusing any questionable behavior they may be called on the carpet for.DavidD
September 29, 2014
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Querius @ 18 Would there be a problem with a professor making a political statement in class? No Or how about a sociological one concerning the professor’s views of homosexuality and Darwinism? No How about a professor who makes a statement about his views on Islam and science? No I suppose you'd prefer a system where university professors are banned from saying something unless they're 'qualified'. No thank you .... we've seen where that kind of system leads.CLAVDIVS
September 28, 2014
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CLAVDIVS @ 13 wrote:
This is a university class, and the students are adults.
Sorta like porn, right? A UNESCO quote on "academic freedom" followed. LOL But you didn't answer my questions, did you? Here they are again: Would there be a problem with a professor making a political statement in class? How about something like, “I believe that the presidency of Barack Obama has done more to harm scientific progress than any president before him. Let me tell you why . . .” Or how about a sociological one concerning the professor’s views of homosexuality and Darwinism? How about a professor who makes a statement about his views on Islam and science? Would there potentially be any problem with that? A professor has a position of authority over the class. If the professor is not teaching a philosophy class, then the professor is not qualified to make such statements in class. And a UNESCO statement won't magically make them qualified, nor will it stop protestors from disrupting the class, nor will it stop a dissenting university professor from being removed under a pretext. -QQuerius
September 28, 2014
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Upright BiPed @ 16 Actually, UB, I missed that comment:
... an entirely natural and undirected process, namely random variation plus natural selection, contains all that is needed to generate extraordinary levels of non-randomness.
-- Maybe true
Living things are indeed wonderfully complex, but altogether within the range of a statistically powerful, entirely mechanical phenomenon.
Contradicts his own website; not demonstrably true or false, because its really a philosophical statement. I don't like this statement any more than I bet you do, but I don't want to gag any university professors. Do you?CLAVDIVS
September 28, 2014
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What’s the problem with a professor making a philosophical statement?
It’s interesting that you remove all the context from the question in order to ask it. You mean to ask “What’s the problem with a biology professor making a philosophical statement at the start of a new class of students to inform them that - quote - ”Since Darwin, however, we have come to understand that an entirely natural and undirected process, namely random variation plus natural selection, contains all that is needed to generate extraordinary levels of non-randomness. Living things are indeed wonderfully complex, but altogether within the range of a statistically powerful, entirely mechanical phenomenon.” The problem is that this statement is demonstrable false. A demonstrably false statement is made each year to each new class of students in the empirical sciences. That’s the problem.Upright BiPed
September 28, 2014
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Food find! I wrote this for the professor: DAVID P. BARASH I read your article about “The Talk”. I was raised in a very devout Christian and creationist family like the ones you challenge. Interestingly, my dad warned me about "a professor with a grey beard who would talk about how we came from apes". When I got into my first paleo class at USC, there he was. Exactly as my dad had predicted. A professor with a grey beard that looked just like you! And who gave the same exact lecture, just like you did in your “The Talk”. Amazing how my experience so many years ago parallels exactly what your MO is now. My bearded professor asked those students who believed that Adam and Eve were the first two humans on Earth to raise their hands. I did, even though I wasn’t convinced. I had become pretty much a doubter and good actor for my family by this time. He told us he would ask again in a week. He confidently knew he would convince us all that evolution was the way things happened. After he gave The Talk, he unrolled that huge poster with that famous series of drawings showing how we went from primate to hominid to man. And he thoroughly convinced me. I was completely sold. Finally something made sense. When he took his next poll, I didn’t raise my hand, nor did any other student. We were all sold. I became an avid fan of Darwin and evolution. (I have always loved science.) I read books on the subject, watched TV documentaries, and loved my new science. I lightly argued with non-believers and creationists. Then came a reversal. My son was in med school in Chicago. While visiting him there in 2001, I went to the Field Museum because they have one of the best fossil collections in the world.  I was dying to see all of the new fossil finds that would certainly prove evolution even more than I ever could imagine. I was excited. I walked into the main room where Sue, the famous T. rex was displayed. The placard said T. rex’s roamed North America for 3 million years. The thought struck me, why didn’t T. rex’s tiny forearms evolve into larger and more useful models? Wouldn’t the best grapplers be the winners? Ergo, the ones with longer arms should be selected for. But T. rex had no evolution to show. Then I went into the other fossil rooms, where I saw zero evolution. Trilobites over 300 million years with nary a change. Nautilus over 500 MY with none. Frogs for 250 MY with none. You know the list. There is no evolution. That “Talk” you give in your classrooms is pure fantasy. A fantasy that I fell for when my bearded professor gave the same Talk.  You say: "Just as many Americans don’t grasp the fact that evolution is not merely a “theory,” but the underpinning of all biological science, a substantial minority of my students are troubled to discover that their beliefs conflict with the course material.” Reality is, that evolution is a religion just like any. It has its own trinity - RM, NS, and TIME, just like Christianity. Jesus walked on water - NS, RM, and TIME turned bacteria into humans. Which miracle is more astounding? Your trinity can’t do any more than the Bible’s trinity. There is no more evidence for evolution than there is evidence for a 6 day creation. Reality is, mankind has absolutely no idea how life came to be, what it is, how the first cells formed, how protein synthesis came to be, or the Krebs cycle, or sexual procreation, or human consciousness, or.... Evolution can’t even account for a “simple” tube like a blood vessel or duct. Can you concoct even an imaginary stepwise  process for the evolution of blood vessels, of which there are 65,000 miles worth is a human baby? If you really are a valid professor, and not fooled by this fable yourself, you would give that lecture as evidence if you are so certain that you are right. You cannot. No person can. Your “Talk” is composed of demeaning religious beliefs, which is your MO for “proving” evolution and its validity. Reality is that both are fables. Disproving one doesn’t prove the other. They should both be tossed out and the real “theory” taught: That humanity has absolutely no idea how living nature formed. You are what I call an evo-illusionist, just as my grey bearded professor was. You perform illusions to fool your students into believing that you “know”, when in reality you have no idea. The truth of the matter is, the more science has advanced, the further  it is from figuring out this daunting Puzzle. Protein synthesis, the Krebs, glycolysis, eukaryotes (from prokaryotes), cell division… have all turned evolution into just another fable that attempts to explain the inexplicable. The more we learn the farther the solution to the puzzle of origins gets. I went on to start a blog on this subject, (www.evoillusion.org) , made some YouTube videos on the subject with challenges for evolution, and wrote a book: “Evo-Illusion” which sells on Amazon. All expose what a scientific fable evolution really is. I know you wouldn’t read my book, so this isn’t a sales pitch. But I would love a classroom of biology students to give it a read and discussion, and try to shred what I have to say. It cannot be done. Again, I know that’s a pipe dream. I wrote you because your paper on “the Talk” , and your appearance, is exactly what happened to me. Reading your “ The Talk” paper was like a form of deja vu for me. The first chapter of my book describes “The Talk” that I received, describes my grey bearded professor, and my experience leaving religion behind for evolution. Now I am in a sort of neverland. Not religious, and not gullible enough to believe small “foxes” evolved into 400,000 lb. whales, and little T. rex’s evolved into woodpeckers and hummingbirds. I wonder how you can believe that, with all of the education and intelligence you certainly have. You know cell biology too well to think it could have been constructed by NS, RM and TIME.  Regards Stephen T. Blume DDS  ?melvinvines
September 28, 2014
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InVivoVeritas @ 12 Now you're just spreading unsourced, unjustified smears against Barash. Give a citation for anywhere he claimed that life is solely the creation of matter. And read my post to Querius @ 13, and ponder it.CLAVDIVS
September 28, 2014
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Querius @ 10 This is a university class, and the students are adults. What are you suggesting - professors should be banned from making any comments in class outside a pre-defined curriculum? Ridiculous.
“Higher-education teaching personnel are entitled to the maintaining of academic freedom, that is to say, the right without constriction by prescribed doctrine, to freedom of teaching and discussion, freedom in carrying out research and disseminating and publishing the results thereof, freedom to express freely their opinion about the institution or system in which they work, freedom from institutional censorship and freedom to participate in professional or representative academic bodies. All higher-education teaching personnel should have the right to fulfill their functions without discrimination of any kind and without fear of repression by the state or any other source." UNESCO, Recommendation Concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel, 1997
CLAVDIVS
September 28, 2014
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CLAVDIVS at #6
What’s the problem with a professor making a philosophical statement?
In this particular case the philosophical statement is an attempt to induce some untrained and naïve minds into the cult of Darwin. Indoctrinating the young minds with superstitions that life was created by matter (dirt), that errors named random mutations and natural selection can create new organisms goes clearly against real science. An honest biology professor should get busy with presenting the young minds with the incredible marvelous landscape of unimaginable complex mechanisms of biological life, the exquisite complexity of living organisms. A complexity that surpasses significantly on many dimensions and design know how the most advanced achievements of the human engineers. A complexity whose layers are unaccounted and perplexes any healthy human mind that gets acquainted with its manifestations. To preach to the students in the 21st century that life (even if you constrain yourself to biological life) is the creation of the matter is just an ugly superstition, a myth and a lie on a lower level of credibility than the belief of an African shaman that spirits need to be persuaded with animal sacrifice to bring rain on the fields. Trying to induce some of the college students into the cult of Darwin is a shameful activism that promote scientific and cultural obscurantism. Obscurantism is an effort to take out the light of truth and knowledge from human understanding. And both professor (e.m.) Barash and New Your Times are just plain promoters of obscurantism.InVivoVeritas
September 28, 2014
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RodW @4:
How and when do you think it will come to an end?
I don't know exactly when it will happen but I know it's almost here. As far as the how is concerned, suffice it to say that I happen to be privy to certain secrets that I cannot divulge at this time. I would be wrong to say that it will come as a big surprise. That would not do it justice. The word 'upheaval' comes to mind. Wait for it.Mapou
September 28, 2014
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CLAVDIVS,
What’s the problem with a professor making a philosophical statement?
Would there be a problem with a professor making a political statement in class? How about something like, "I believe that the presidency of Barack Obama has done more to harm scientific progress than any president before him. Let me tell you why . . ." Or how about a sociological one concerning the professor's views of homosexuality and Darwinism? How about a professor who makes a statement about his views on Islam and science? Would there potentially be any problem with that? A professor has a position of authority over the class. If the professor is not teaching a philosophy class, then the professor is not qualified to make such statements in class. -QQuerius
September 28, 2014
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RodW at #4:
How and when do you think it will come to an end?
Please have a pick: * Because the truth have a nasty habit to get to be known sooner or later * Because - using Mapou's famous phrase - it is going to become evident sooner or later that evolutionsts are "dirt worshipers" and the evolution is just a "dirt worshipping" cheap religion that has nothing to do with real science and in particular with biology.InVivoVeritas
September 28, 2014
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tjguy @ 7 With a trivial bit of research you would not have made a statement that so obviously misrepresents Prof Barash, who states:
Q. Do you believe that human behaviour is determined by our evolution and our genes? No. It seems clear that humans beings are the most flexible and adaptable creatures on earth, capable of choosing their own destiny.
CLAVDIVS
September 28, 2014
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JDH asks:
If people are just bags of chemicals, why does it matter whether students get the talk or not? What purpose does it serve?
Exactly. If they were just bags of chemicals, they would have no say in what they actually believe. It would all be determined for them. But, the good professor is betrayed by his actions. No matter what he says, he really doesn't believe this part of his own worldview because he is treating these students as if they can make up their own mind about what they believe - as if they have free will and as if the chemical reactions in their brain that causes their thoughts can be influenced by the thoughts produced by the chemical reactions in his brain. He is a hypocrite.tjguy
September 28, 2014
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mortiz @ 3 What's the problem with a professor making a philosophical statement?CLAVDIVS
September 28, 2014
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If people are just bags of chemicals, why does it matter whether students get the talk or not? What purpose does it serve? These are questions that Dr.Barash can not answer.JDH
September 28, 2014
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Mapou said
It will come to an end much sooner than they suspect.
How and when do you think it will come to an end?RodW
September 28, 2014
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I sent this to the professor today: Dear Prof. Barash: You do a fine job of advancing what is known as "scientism", which has nothing to do with the noble profession of science that seeks to understand how the world works and how that working can help us in various ways. I ask: 1. Have you read anything of Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Etienne Gilson, Jacques Maritain, or Benedict XVI? 2. How can you use the scientific method to prove your following statement: "The more we know of evolution, the more unavoidable is the conclusion that living things, including human beings, are produced by a natural, totally amoral process, with no indication of a benevolent, controlling creator" ? Indeed, such a "conclusion" no scientific method in the world could ever vinidicate. Why? Because it is a philosophical statement. 3. Do you know the difference between philosophy and science? 4. Do you love those closest to you? Parents? Children? If so, can you prove it? If not, is it, after all, illusion? Respectfully,mortiz
September 28, 2014
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At least they get to talk about Religion in Bio classes. Many schools don't allow that.ppolish
September 28, 2014
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Barash is just your typical butt-kissing Darwinist/atheist in the grand tradition of the likes of Neil deGrasse Tyson, Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne. IOW, he's an accomplished weaver of lies and deception. I hope they enjoy their time in the limelight. It will come to an end much sooner than they suspect.Mapou
September 28, 2014
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