Darwinists are afraid of an open dialogue with ID and YEC scientists
One example given at this blog earlier about David Coppedge included his being harassed and demoted, but he will wind up winning his lawsuit against the space labs and part of his suit rests on the fact that atheism is considered a religion legally!
There is also the case of Walt Brown,, who Darwinists refuse to debate because he stipulates that no religion or religious references be used at all. Brown wants to debate strictly on the issues and not allow a Darwinist to try to make an end run metaphysically around the obvious scientific problems of evolution. Darwinists are too afraid to try. Just as they avoid the life science prize and the genome emergence project life prize. In a fair fight they know they will be knocked out!
Anyway, in Israel they just fired a top scientist for not toeing the Darwinist line:
Israeli educator fired after pushing creationism
Tuesday, October 05, 2010 Ryan Jones
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Dr. Gabi Avital, the chief scientist of Israel’s Education Ministry, was fired on Monday after reiterating his position that evolution is just a theory, and that it should be taught alongside creationism as the two most widely held beliefs regarding how our world originated.
In an interview with Israel’s Ma’ariv newspaper last month, Avital insisted that “the conditions [for life on earth] were not accidental. [Charles] Darwin was a great scientist, but he took his theory in dangerous directions, and we need to teach the flaws of that theory, too.”
Speaking to Israel National News a day after being fired, Avital insisted the education of Israel’s young people is incomplete because it does not take into account the “numerous studies that refute the science of evolution” and show that a human being is not just a “substance without a soul.”
Shortly after being appointed to the post of chief scientist in December 2009, Avital advocated for adding creationism to the school curriculum.
The office of Education Minister Gideon Saar (Likud) issued a statement on Monday claiming that Avital had been hired on a trial basis, and that his trial period had simply expired without a decision to keep him on in the position of chief scientists.
But Avital told Israel National News that there was no question that Saar decided not to keep him because of the Ma’ariv interview. “Apparently, he did not like it.”
Being a scientist who also believes strongly in the Bible, Avital was regularly attacked by the liberal Israeli media from the moment he was hired by the Education Ministry.
The most vicious attacks came from the radical left-wing newspaper Ha’aretz, which in addition to his views on evolution, faulted Avital for saying global warming is a farce used by liberal environmentalists to advance their political agendas.
Avital has maintained that industry and technology have had only a very minor effect on the global temperatures and the climate in general, and that the “green” agenda is more about economic interests.
Avital noted the ludicrous message that his firing sends - that a chief scientist, a recognized expert, cannot and should not be heard if his findings and views oppose those of the established mainstream.
Now it is not hard to spot the problems with this next story. The Darwinists either charge these Intelligent Design scientists with being Creationists (And you are Darwinists, so what, lets look at the EVIDENCE) and at the end they totally just flat lie. See if you spot it...
Would you Adam and Eve it? Top scientists tell Scottish pupils: the Bible is true
- Dr Alastair Noble is the director of the Centre for Intelligent Design
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0 comments 10 Oct 2010
They are among Scotland’s most eminent scientists, they believe the world was created in six days and women were made from Adam’s rib ...and they’re coming to a school near you.
A new creationist group that preaches the “scientific” theory of intelligent design has set up in Glasgow with the stated aim of promoting its beliefs to schools and colleges.
The Centre for Intelligent Design, headed by a Northern Irish professor of genetics, a vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians and a former school inspector, has already prepared the ground for a clash with authorities.
The group’s director, Dr Alastair Noble, told the Sunday Herald it was “inevitable” the debate would make its way into schools – even though the Scottish Government says teachers should not regard intelligent design as science.
“We are definitely not targeting schools, but that doesn’t mean to say we may not produce resources that go to schools,” Dr Noble said, adding that he had already been asked to speak in Scottish schools, and agreed to do so.
The C4ID, as it calls itself online, insists its views are purely scientific, but critics have pointed to the leaders’ fundamentalist Christian backgrounds and the leaps of faith inherent in their logic.
Its president, Professor Norman Nevin OBE – a geneticist at Queen’s University in Belfast – told a meeting in the city earlier this year he believed Adam was “a real historical person”. He also said: “Genesis chapter 1-11, which indeed many Darwinists and evolutionists say is myth or legend, I believe is historical, and it is cited 107 times in the New Testament, and Jesus refers himself to the early chapters of Genesis at least 25 times.” In these books of the Bible, the universe is created in six days, God makes Eve out of Adam’s rib, and Noah saves the Earth by building an ark.
Dr Alastair Noble is a Glasgow University graduate who became a teacher and later HM inspector of schools. He is currently education officer for CARE, a Christian charity which campaigns for more faith teaching in schools.
Dr David Galloway, C4ID’s vice- president, is also vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a member of the Lennox Evangelical Church in Dumbarton.
C4ID has now set up a base in Glasgow and runs a website. The group is financially based in Guernsey, and apparently funded solely by backers in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.
Dr Noble denied the theory of intelligent design – that a universal engineer, or god, created the initial spark of life then used physical laws and natural selection to develop it – was religious.
“I think people are afraid of this debate because they sense it’s religion from the back door. They see it as an invasion of science with religion, but it most certainly is not that,” he said.
However, critics dismissed intelligent design as “a front for creationism”.
Paul Braterman, an emeritus professor of chemistry, now at Glasgow University, and a founder of the British Centre for Science Education, a campaign to keep religion out of science classes, said intelligent design was simply using God to plug the gaps that science has yet to answer.
Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, called on the Government to “keep a close eye on this organisation to ensure it doesn’t manage to wheedle its way into schools”.
James Gray, of the British Humanist Association, said the C4ID had a right to say what it liked, but guidelines were needed to “ensure this pseudoscience never finds its way into science classes”.
In 2007 the BHA successfully lobbied the UK Government to publish guidance on how teachers should deal with creationism south of the Border, but no such policy exists in Scotland.
Ann Ballinger, of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, urged ministers here to clarify the situation, while the EIS union said authorities should ensure teachers knew their position regarding intelligent design in the classroom.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said ministers would be against any moves to teach intelligent design in science classes, stating “we do not recognise the teaching of intelligent design in a scientific context”.
However, teaching unions and councils said they were aware of no formal guidance on the subject.
Generally, proponents of intelligent design think a god created living matter and established the rules of the universe to guide its development.
Mainstream science, on the other hand, states these biological structures can – and did – arise without intelligence behind them. Supporters have produced a wealth of evidence showing the individual stages of development in supposedly irreducably complex structures, such as the eye.
A new creationist group that preaches the “scientific” theory of intelligent design has set up in Glasgow with the stated aim of promoting its beliefs to schools and colleges.
The Centre for Intelligent Design, headed by a Northern Irish professor of genetics, a vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians and a former school inspector, has already prepared the ground for a clash with authorities.
The group’s director, Dr Alastair Noble, told the Sunday Herald it was “inevitable” the debate would make its way into schools – even though the Scottish Government says teachers should not regard intelligent design as science.
“We are definitely not targeting schools, but that doesn’t mean to say we may not produce resources that go to schools,” Dr Noble said, adding that he had already been asked to speak in Scottish schools, and agreed to do so.
I think people are afraid of this debate because they sense it’s religion from the back door.Dr Alastair Noble
Its president, Professor Norman Nevin OBE – a geneticist at Queen’s University in Belfast – told a meeting in the city earlier this year he believed Adam was “a real historical person”. He also said: “Genesis chapter 1-11, which indeed many Darwinists and evolutionists say is myth or legend, I believe is historical, and it is cited 107 times in the New Testament, and Jesus refers himself to the early chapters of Genesis at least 25 times.” In these books of the Bible, the universe is created in six days, God makes Eve out of Adam’s rib, and Noah saves the Earth by building an ark.
Dr Alastair Noble is a Glasgow University graduate who became a teacher and later HM inspector of schools. He is currently education officer for CARE, a Christian charity which campaigns for more faith teaching in schools.
Dr David Galloway, C4ID’s vice- president, is also vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a member of the Lennox Evangelical Church in Dumbarton.
C4ID has now set up a base in Glasgow and runs a website. The group is financially based in Guernsey, and apparently funded solely by backers in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland.
Dr Noble denied the theory of intelligent design – that a universal engineer, or god, created the initial spark of life then used physical laws and natural selection to develop it – was religious.
“I think people are afraid of this debate because they sense it’s religion from the back door. They see it as an invasion of science with religion, but it most certainly is not that,” he said.
However, critics dismissed intelligent design as “a front for creationism”.
Paul Braterman, an emeritus professor of chemistry, now at Glasgow University, and a founder of the British Centre for Science Education, a campaign to keep religion out of science classes, said intelligent design was simply using God to plug the gaps that science has yet to answer.
Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, called on the Government to “keep a close eye on this organisation to ensure it doesn’t manage to wheedle its way into schools”.
James Gray, of the British Humanist Association, said the C4ID had a right to say what it liked, but guidelines were needed to “ensure this pseudoscience never finds its way into science classes”.
In 2007 the BHA successfully lobbied the UK Government to publish guidance on how teachers should deal with creationism south of the Border, but no such policy exists in Scotland.
Ann Ballinger, of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, urged ministers here to clarify the situation, while the EIS union said authorities should ensure teachers knew their position regarding intelligent design in the classroom.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said ministers would be against any moves to teach intelligent design in science classes, stating “we do not recognise the teaching of intelligent design in a scientific context”.
However, teaching unions and councils said they were aware of no formal guidance on the subject.
What is intelligent design?
Intelligent design came to prominence in the early 1990s after a law in America forbade the teaching of creationism in school science classes. Its proponents argue that while natural selection does play a part in shaping life on earth, the origins of life betray signs of a conscious creator – in Dr Noble’s words: “The problem is not, as Darwin saw it, the survival of the fittest; the problem is the arrival of the fittest.”Generally, proponents of intelligent design think a god created living matter and established the rules of the universe to guide its development.
Mainstream science, on the other hand, states these biological structures can – and did – arise without intelligence behind them. Supporters have produced a wealth of evidence showing the individual stages of development in supposedly irreducably complex structures, such as the eye.
Uhm, no, there have been no researches who have demonstrated individual stages in the development of the eye nor have we any evidence of such things. Many of the so-called Cambrian life forms had quite sophisticated eyes and there is no trace of eye development amongst trilobites. That last statement was a big fat ridiculous lie, like so many other Darwinist assertions.
The remarkable stupidity and/o hypocrisy of people who point at ID folks and shout, "religion" when they are simply protecting their own religious viewpoint is astounding in its arrogance or idiocy as the case may be.
But as Creation-Evolution headlines tell us, the lefties and the atheists will not go down without a nasty and completely asinine fight:
Institutional Science as a Leftist Cabal 10/14/2010
Oct 14, 2010 — Something strange happens in scientific journals and reports. Whenever they talk politics, it is almost always from a leftist point of view. Why is that? Did they arrive at that position by the scientific method? Is there something about the need for government funding that drives institutions to a leftist position? Whatever the reason, it’s not hard to find evidence that the secular science media have a pronounced blue streak.
Nature is a prime example. It’s latest Editorial decries “hyper-partisan fighting” but worries about what a Republican victory in Congress will mean for science.1 The editorial advocates the president’s health-care bill, cap and trade, and embryonic stem cell research – all leftist agenda items unpopular with the majority – and blames Republicans for obstruction of progress: e.g., “The current Congress has failed to pass cap-and-trade legislation designed to limit US greenhouse-gas emissions, thanks chiefly to strong Republican opposition.” No Democrats were blamed for the political “poison.” Democrats were not even named, while Republicans were mentioned three times, always in a negative light.
Nature also publishes letters to the editor designed to make conservatives look bad. In the latest issue, Richard Kool [Royal Roads U, British Columbia] claimed that science is a “threat to the far-right fringe.”2 He said, “The scorn of the US far-right ‘Tea Party’ fringe for science, particularly relating to sustainability, climate change and biodiversity, stems from a perceived threat to its idealized views of how the world should be.” By implication, leftists have no idealized views of how the world should be. He mentioned Climategate only to smear the conservatives who pointed it out, claiming they used the scandal to “discredit science as a method for understanding the world.” Compare this with a BBC News story about reforms taking place at the IPCC in the wake of the scandal.
A news story in Nature evaluated the effect the Tea Party movement may have on science funding. Ivan Semenjuk mentioned “It is difficult to predict how all this will affect scientists and the government agencies that fund them,” and worried about conservative candidates coming to Washington who “are less committed to funding science research and education, and who lack ‘the general science and technology savvy’ to make informed decisions.” By implication, only leftists and Democrats have scientific savvy and are informed. Note the contrast: “In the current Democrat-controlled Congress, science was given plenty of attention in spite of the economic crisis.”
Three other news articles in the same issue of Nature depicted Republicans as obstructionists. Jeff Tollefson, for instance, ended his article with quotes from Paul Bledsoe, whom he called a centrist: “Climate-science denial is a by-product of extreme partisanship and a kind of reactionary mode among conservatives, and I expect that this will wane," he said. “But if large parts of the Republican Party begin to deny consensus science, then the climate community will have to confront them about it.”4. Similarly, Heidi Ledford portrayed Republicans as attackers of health-care research,5 standing in the way of the president’s health-care bill, which was actually strongly opposed by almost two thirds of American voters, and succeeded only with back-room deals and presidential arm-twisting last March even though Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. And Emily Waltz reported about unhappy scientists who are upset that Barack Obama, ranked the farthest-to-the-left Senator before he was elected President, who “promised a new era of integrity and openness for American science” after the election, has not worked faster to undo former President George W. Bush’s policies.6
In each of these articles, “science” was presented as a unilateral consensus in favor of policies that many Americans, particularly conservatives, consider leftist, costly, of doubtful scientific credibility, or even immoral (in the case of embryonic stem cell research; see 01/31/2009, 09/26/2010). But that’s just Nature. Do other science publications follow this leftist political line? New Scientist gave unrestrained print space to Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science. Mooney now claims that the “Tea Party [is] luring US into adventures in irrationality” (cf. 02/27/2010 commentary). And why is that? Because many of them doubt the consensus about man-made global warming (cf. 05/25/2010). This was enough for Mooney to launch into tirades about “patriotic extremism,” disdain for science, anti-intellectualism, paranoia, and “conspiratorial fantasy” among conservatives, even though the Tea Party includes Democrats and independents fed up with big government. The BBC News reported that scientists are calling for “defence cuts” in order to fund scientific research.
It would be hard to find any pro-Republican, pro-conservative science article in the secular news media. Pro-conservative views tend to be aired only on sites that question Darwinian evolution, such as the intelligent design blog Evolution News & Views. This clear lopsidedness in reporting indicates that there is something fundamental about world views which either embrace or criticize evolution that bleeds over into other subjects, like political philosophy, economics, and morality (07/23/2010). Another factor may be whether the spokesperson is on the giving or receiving end of the public dole (05/18/2009).
A prominent fellow of the American Physical Society, Harold Lewis, illustrates something of the tension between the individual scientist and the scientific institutions. Lewis wrote an indignant letter explaining why he was resigning after 67 years (see IPCC). He felt that fund-grubbing had corrupted the society and its scientific practice so thoroughly that the APS no longer represented him or its original values. Describing the society’s response to the Climategate affair, “the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist” Lewis deplored the pompous airs of the leadership, “as if the APS were master of the universe,” he complained. “It is not, and I am embarrassed that our leaders seem to think it is. This is not fun and games, these are serious matters involving vast fractions of our national substance, and the reputation of the Society as a scientific society is at stake.” The APS responded denying the allegations; however, Lewis’s long tenure with the APS and impressive list of credentials cannot be easily dismissed. Long-time TV meteorologist Anthony Watts dissected the APS response and documented contradictions with a number of its claims to openness, integrity, and scientific rigor.
1. Editorial, “Politics without the poison,” Nature 467, p. 751, 14 October 2010, doi:10.1038/467751a.
2. Richard Kool, “Science as a threat to far-right fringe,” Letters to the Editor, Nature 467, p. 788, 14 October 2010, doi:10.1038/467788d.
3. Ivan Semenjuk, “News: US midterm elections: Volatile forces shape US vote,” Nature 467, 759-760 (published online 13 October 2010), doi:10.1038/467759a.
4. Jeff Tollefson, “News: US midterm elections: A chilly season for climate crusaders,” Nature 467, p. 762 (published online 13 October 2010), doi:10.1038/467762a.
5. Heidi Ledford, “News: US midterm elections: Opponents battle health-care research,” Nature 467, p. 763, (published online 13 October 2010), doi:10.1038/467763b.
6. Emily Waltz, “News Feature: Science & politics: Speaking out about science,” Nature 467, pp. 768-770 (published online 13 October 2010), doi:10.1038/467768a.
Readers are encouraged to find examples that contradict the claim that pro-Darwin, secular science writers in the mainstream media and scientific institutions are predominantly leftist. There are sure to be some, but the leftist slant is, in our experience, so predictable that exceptions prove the rule (see 05/13/2010).
So is the left really “pro-science” and the right “anti-science”? Hopefully our graduates of Baloney Detecting University are more skilled than to accept such false dichotomies, and our graduates of the history of science know better. Define science. Separate science as a concept from scientific institutions (06/25/2010). The latter often have soiled hands, being dependent either directly or indirectly on the public dole. Any institution that must fight for its survival on keeping government money flowing will necessarily promote big government and higher taxes – hallmarks of the left. Consequently they will try to portray science in terms of consensus, a monolithic entity composed of all those who stand to gain from public funding of their pet projects (cf. 09/15/2010). We speak here of the leadership, publicity and lobbying arms of such institutions; at any given institution there is undoubtedly a mix of liberals and conservatives at work.
The arrogance of some of these people is astounding. They act like they own public money, that they are entitled to it. How would they like it if other citizens of this country – say Tea Party members – walked into their houses and demanded tribute, claiming it was owed to them? Public money is a limited commodity. It needs to be collected and spent wisely by a representative government according to well thought out priorities. The case needs to be made every year for why certain projects deserve funding, and these projects must have an understandable link to public interest. Numerous commentators write about wasteful spending on science (example at Wall Street Journal). Do we want $100,000 of taxpayer money going to UC Irvine scientists to study how US and Chinese students play World of Warcraft? (see Orange County Register). Some will remember former Senator Proxmire’s “Golden Fleece Awards” for wasteful spending. SETI was a winner back in the 1980s. Its proponents have had to survive on private funds ever since, though NASA pulled in millions for Astrobiology with the Martian Meteorite “useful lie” back in the 1990s (see 01/07/2005 commentary).
Many worthwhile science projects, such as space exploration and cancer research, cannot be done by citizen scientists or private enterprise. Large research labs and universities will of necessity need foundation grants or government funds (but look how entrepreneurs are making inroads into space flight). Those paying the bill, whether the US government or foundations, have the right to decide what projects are in their interest. Oversight and scrutiny over spending should be valued, because hubris leads to fraud and abuse, which ultimately damages the reputations of scientific institutions. What if whistleblowers had not found the errors in Climategate? Contrary to what Chris Mooney thinks, he should welcome the input of conservatives as a necessary check on power. Scientists, after all, are only human (02/17/2010).
Next headline on: Politics and Ethics • Philosophy of Science • Media
Any evolutionary smart aleck told us how not to teach evolution: see the 10/21/2008 entry and commentary. Teachers and parents beware.