Further to our hat tip to Reb Moshe on Jerry Coyne: “Should Darwin’s defender Jerry Coyne get silver medal for “sheer crudeness”?:
Reb Moshe’s The Confused, Illusory World of the Atheist, which addresses the outrageous claims made for origin of life research, is a great gift choice for friends who wonder why the field is always supposed to be revealing something but never quite does.
It’s not long, it’s well written, and any religious content is Jewish, not Christian, so in many circles it won’t be a major irritant to agnostics.*
He is laudably careful not to quote pro-ID authors – indeed, that’s what gives the book much of its impact. People convict themselves out of their own mouths.
Reading his dissection of OOL follies puts one in mind of an old-fashioned burlesque entertainment known as the fan dance. Girls clad only in two very large fans would manipulate them to music. They were always apparently about to reveal all, but stayed just concealed. Fear of criminal charges prevented the much-desired further revelations.
The big difference between that and origin of life studies is that in the latter case, the further revelations do not exist. It’s fans, more fans, all the way in.
This clip gives some sense of the fan dance in a few seconds:
* A Jewish guy might think, “He’s just trying to get me to be observant!” Well sure, Schmoe, he’s a Reb. Did you think he would teach you the fan dance? Now, what about this origin of life thing? It’s pretty hard not to agree with the Reb on that one, surely.