Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Decline in giving is linked to decline in religious belief

If you believe that we evolved randomly and that the world has always been governed by Darwinian survival after that, you would only give if you felt like it. The “giving gene”? The “evolutionary psychology of giving?” Sure. That'll work. Read More ›

Chance vs. Randomness: Another theological dance in Darwin’s defense?

Pardon the suspicion but some of us remember sneery “science-splains” at theistic evolution sites as to how there is a huge difference between chance and randomness—which sounded exactly like some scuzz claiming that there is a huge difference between taking money to keep quiet about wrongdoing and a bribe. Read More ›

Ethan Siegel’s claim at Forbes: Why we’ll never exactly solve general relativity. Rob Sheldon responds

Not only is Ethan's profession about to get a major readjustment, but his attitude needs a readjustment as well. No longer can he and his colleagues hide in their ivory tower telling the world that we must leave the hard thinking to them. As many have already commented, the woke mobs are already at the gates. Read More ›

Climate Change: How to Lie without appearing to Lie

Here’s almost 40 years of climate models, starting in 1971–when “Global Cooling” was feared, to the Hansen models in the 1980’s, the first in 1981 and the second in 1988, and the last ones by the IPCC, Assessment Reports (AR) from the 1990’s to about 2010. Notice that the decadal rate of temperature increase remains almost the SAME for the entire 40 year period! And notice how the early models–mostly in the 1970’s when ‘cooling’ was in vogue, are very close to actuals. It’s only when super-duper “climate change models” were devised in the 90’s and later on that the sizable deviations occur. So, here’s the ‘lie’: these authors claim that climate change models actually stack up quite well to Read More ›

Miracles: Can They Happen?

A few days ago we had a post on Science, Miracles, and Benny Hinn, highlighting portions of Bill Dembski’s new online book The Faces of Miracles.  It seems appropriate this time of year to consider miracles.  After all, in the Christian world, this month we’re celebrating an event that can only be described as a miracle: the virgin birth of Christ.  So what exactly do we mean by the term “miracle”?  In the book, In Defense of Miracles: A Comprehensive Case for God’s Action in History, Richard Purtill provides this definition: A miracle is an event that is brought about by the power of God that is a temporary exception to the ordinary course of nature for the purpose of Read More ›