Bad religion causes lost faith

Up to his death Darwin insisted that the Christian faith and evolution were compatible. It was bad religion that caused Darwin to lose his faith says Rev. Martin Thielen, a United Methodist writing in The Tennessean newspaper.

And, says Thielen, there's a lot of bad religion causing people today to lose their faith.

"... closed-minded religion, arrogant religion, intolerant religion and judgmental religion. You can add to that list religion that tells women they are inferior to men and religion that says science is the enemy of faith."

• Read the full article

The Language of God

America's top genetic scientist, Francis Collins, is also a devout Christian. His book, "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief", is generating some buzz. He defends evolution as well as stem cell research and finds harmony between science and religion.

"...the point of Scripture was not to teach science"

Collins believes that most of the people who strongly oppose evolution do so not because of politics but because they have unfortunately been taught that evolution and faith are not compatible.

"If we've done a poor job of explaining science to the public, is it any wonder that it has political consequences?"

Other Intelligent Design theories

"Intelligent Design (ID) is only one of many 'alternatives' to Darwinian evolution", says author David Brin. His article, "The Other Intelligent Design Theories" appears in the online "Skeptic" magazine. Brin says that ID proponents claim that they must be heard in the classroom if educators were to play fair and be complete about evolution theories.

This pitch may backfire says Brin. After all, to be complete, there are several ID theories. Surely the ID proponents could not object to teaching all the alternatives:

• Guided evolution. (A lot of scientists hold to this one.)
• Intelligent Design of Intelligent Designers (IDOID - a Mormon view?)
• Evolution of Intelligent Designers. (This one involves Black Holes!)
• Cycles of Creation (let's not forget Hindu and Mayan concepts)
• Panspermia (spaceships, anyone?)

Other possibles:

• The Universe as a simulation
• We have been resurrected at the Omega Point
• ... perhaps you have a favorite?

UPDATE (7/21/06): I just had to check the original article date when I came across the Locusts and Honey blog's link to "Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity with 'Intelligent Falling' Theory". I was so sure it had to have been April 1st. But no ...

Pope John Paul called evolution "sound"

During a recent conference, physicist Stephen Hawking reminded the audience that Pope John Paul in 1996 said that Darwin's theory of evolution was "sound" and that it was more than a hypothesis.

So ... creationists disagree with Pope John Paul, it seems.

Evolution on speed?

Some researchers aren't happy with the current view of evolution. They picture it as being faster than many think and capable of genetic changes being even faster. One case they cite is the ability of adult humans to digest cow milk. It appears that the sudden increase in people who had the gene needed to do that mushroomed in the last 50 centuries -- a lot faster than traditional Darwinists would have predicted.

Academic radicals and futurists try to make a case for human intervention to speed up desired genetic changes. That's a scary thought unless morals and ethics are the guiding light in any such decisions. Could we leave such decisions up to companies who might profit from genetic changes or from causing the changes to happen? Whose morals do we use? Who gets to decide and for whom?

• Read the full Wired magazine article

Evolutionary errors

Evolution is the most-supported theory we know. Yet science itself is harmed by the casual use of poorly worded, inaccurate phrasings that many scientists, teachers, and reporters seem to prefer when discussing evolution. Take the article, " Global warming fuels speedy evolution", for example.

"Some species are attempting to adapt", the article says. Oh really? Not! The phrasing implies that a species can choose its genetic changes. That's not what evolution is all about. Evolution is about genetic variations occurring naturally in a species, with a few of those variations giving the individual members of the species a better chance of survival. It's "in the genes"; neither the individual members nor the species as a whole directs this in any fashion.

The article goes on, "... human-induced changes to climate and landscapes give species few other options". Arrgh! The use of the word "options" makes it sound, again, like the members of a species have some sort of control over their genes. Wrong. Because of human-induced changes to the environment, some of the variations in a species may be better suited to the new environment (let's not get into a Malthusian birth rate discussion here).

Adaptation in a species (not "by" a species) is really the end result -- what we see as a trend. It's not a being-induced or being-controlled process. Yet a University of Sydney professor says that species can "do three things ... go extinct, move, or adapt". This poorly phrased comment seems to imply that a species has a conscious choice in deciding to adapt somehow. If you pressed the prof, he'd probably agree that a species cannot by natural means choose to adapt nor choose what that adaptation might be. Neither do they choose to go extinct. Genetic manipulation by humans is not "by natural means".

This type of loose, inaccurate phrasing is all too common by scientists and teachers. Evolution is for real, but let's remember that evolution happens due to natural genetic variations, some of which benefit the "different" member of that species. More importantly, remember that those changes are not "chosen" by any species. It would really help if scientists, teachers, and reporters would clean up their act and stop implying otherwise.

Darwin was right - again!

[Christian Science Monitor] Two separate research studies clear up some questions about Darwin's Theory of Evolution -- one of the best-supported theories around.

Read the article »

How evolution really works

[Live Science] "... last week a [Catholic] Cardinal told the faithful to pay attention to scientific reason or risk returning to fundamentalism. ... The story of the origin of whales is one of evolution's most fascinating tales and one of the best examples scientists have of natural selection."

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