Thoughts in a Haystack

Dr. Georgia Purdom of Answers in Genesis comes this close, but can't quite see the creator for the trees. In an article, "Is the intelligent design movement Christian?," she manages to see the energetic handwaving from the IDers but fails to get the message. First of all, Purdom provides a helpful quote from William Dembski to once again demonstrate that ID has nothing whatsoever to do with religion, no sirree Bob!:

ID is three things: a scientific research program that investigates the effects of intelligent causes; an intellectual movement that challenges Darwinism and its naturalistic legacy; and a way of understanding divine action.

The ID movement also claims not to be religiously motivated. It focuses not on the whom but on the what. This may sound very appealing at first glance. Some biblical creationists believe that the ID movement's tolerance and acceptance of a wide range of beliefs about the supernatural could be useful in reaching a larger audience. Since the movement is very careful not to associate itself with Christianity or any formal religion, some think it will stand a better chance of gaining acceptance as an alternative to Darwinism in the schools, because it does not violate the so-called "separation of church and state."

[T]he central problem with the ID movement is a divorce of the Creator from creation. The Creator and His creation cannot be separated; they reflect on each other. All other problems within the movement stem from this one.

Those within the ID movement claim their science is neutral. However, science is not neutral because it works with hypotheses based on beliefs or presuppositions. It is ironic that they refuse to see this about their own science, considering that they claim the problem with Darwinism is the presupposition that nothing supernatural exists. All scientists approach their work with presuppositions. The question is whether those beliefs are rooted in man's fallible ideas about the past or rooted in the infallible Word of God, the Bible. ...

Without the framework of the Bible and the understanding that evil entered the world through man's actions (Genesis 3), God appears sloppy and incompetent, if not downright vicious. People ask why God is unable to prevent evil from thwarting His plans, resulting in such poor design, instead of understanding that because of the Fall there is now a "cursed" design.

Labels: Designer As God, ID Not Religious

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 12:32 PM 9 comments

Labels: Poems

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 10:54 AM 2 comments

Okay, I promise I won't bring up "cuddling" ever again:

Now let us admit that in one respect, he's right. Science isn't everything. We don't use science to appreciate a piece of art (although, fundamentally, it is a material object and our brains are similarly natural); we don't break out beakers and bunsen burners to determine if we've fallen in love; calculators have limited utility in writing poetry. That's fine, but it doesn't mean that religion fills in all the spaces! I don't consult a priest to find out what I think of a painting, prayer has bugger-all to do with love, and there is better poetry in the world than what we find in holy books. You don't get to simply assume that if science does something poorly, religion must do it well, and that the universe has to be neatly divvied up into these two mutually exclusive domains.

So is [Francisco] Ayala claiming that evolution is not a product of god's actions? Or is he just a goddamned dimwitted airhead?

Labels: Accommodationism Incompatiblism

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 12:01 AM 3 comments

The second study is, in some ways, even more disturbing than the first, because it strikes right at the heart of skeptical activism. Researchers find that when people are confronted with scientific information that directly challenges a cherished belief, their typical response is to argue for the impotence of science – science is unable to prove or disprove my belief. That much is predictable, and any skeptic can tell you that this is a common response. However, the study takes it one step further – they found that people also, after being confronted, shift their belief toward thinking that science in general is impotent. This probably is a mechanism to reduce cognitive dissonance, but in any case confronting people with disconfirming scientific evidence tends to reduce their confidence in science in general.

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 8:47 PM 46 comments

From The Athens (Georgia) Banner-Herald comes this about Charles Gordon, a Texas neurosurgeon who had a "crisis of faith" because of the death of a friend at a young age from cancer:

God is manifest in all creation, so says Romans 1:20 in the Bible. Gordon found God in the similarities and beauty that is all around the world.

"The harder I looked, the more it occurred to me that these striking similarities I was seeing had to be more than just coincidence," Gordon said. "They suggested there was a super-intelligence behind it all."

Similarities like the blood vessels in the eye's retina looks just like lightning striking in the night sky. Or the spiral, which is found in something as grand as a galaxy, as small as a grain of sand or sea shell, or inside our bodies like the cochlea.

"It's a very elegant, beautiful pattern, and no one can explain why," he said. "Our spirits are immediately attracted to things of beauty, things that have nothing to do with procreation or extending our lives.

"It's a universal response, and I think it's because God created it and said it was good, and we have in our spirits that attraction to beauty."

"A girl in Nashville sent in similar pictures of a mushroom and a jellyfish, and how they look similar," Gordon said. "A fifth-grader pointed out brain coral and how it looks just like a human brain. ... We've found some really cool stuff."

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 9:45 PM 4 comments

The estimable Lauri Lebo has again documented the utter intellectual vacuity of the Righteous Right cultural warriors ... in this case, the premier example of between-the-ears emptiness, Don McLeroy of the Texas State Board of Diseducation.

It seems that McLeroy wanted Texas history classes to quote Jean Pierre Godet to the effect that "I love America for giving so many of us the right to dream a new dream" as a counterbalance to "the immigrant experience presented by muckrakers and reform leaders such as Upton Sinclair, Susan B. Anthony, Ida B. Wells, and W. E. B. DuBois on American society."

The only problem? Jean Pierre Godet is a fictional character in a novel by a living (though bad) artist, Thomas Kinkade.

Someone apparently was able to beat McLeroy with a clue stick that actually worked for once and the amendment, though circulated among his fellow gits, was never actually offered for a vote.

As Lebo amusingly sums up:

It's interesting that McLeroy chose Kinkade's work to represent his vision of what children should learn. I was perusing through the painter's online catalog and ran across Kinkade's own description of one of his productions:

The nostalgic vision of life is often described as seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. This celebration of community, set in simpler times, near the start of the 20th century, is perhaps best viewed through such tinted lenses!

Or as Tinker Bell says, if you wish hard enough, it will come true.

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 8:59 PM 3 comments

Jerry Coyne and Karl Giberson are having at each other, which all but guarantees that there will be a lot of talking past each other.

Coyne opens with this interpretation of Giberson:

Science and faith are compatible because there are lots of religious scientists. Some of them have even won Nobel Prizes!

... Coyne raked Brown University cell biologist Ken Miller and me over the coals in The New Republic for our claims that Christians can unapologetically embrace science.

Giberson and Miller are thoughtful men of good will. Reading them, you get a sense of conviction and sincerity absent from the writings of many creationists, who blatantly deny the most obvious facts about nature in the cause of their faith. Both of their books are worth reading: Giberson for the history of the creation/ evolution debate, and Miller for his lucid arguments against intelligent design. Yet in the end they fail to achieve their longed-for union between faith and evolution. And they fail for the same reason that people always fail: a true harmony between science and religion requires either doing away with most people's religion and replacing it with a watered-down deism, or polluting science with unnecessary, untestable, and unreasonable spiritual claims.

For the sake of argument, let us set aside questions about the truth of religion vs. the truth of science. Suppose there is no such thing as religious truth, as Richard Dawkins argued in The God Delusion. Allow that the "New Atheist Noise Machine," as American University communications professor Matt Nisbet calls it, has a privileged grasp of the truth. Even with these concessions, it still appears that the New Atheists are behaving like a boorish bunch of intellectual bullies.

There is something profoundly un-American about demanding that people give up cherished, or even uncherished, beliefs just because they don't comport with science. And the demand seems even more peculiar when it is applied so indiscriminately as to include religious believers with Nobel Prizes. What sort of atheist complains that a fellow citizen doing world-class science must abandon his or her religion to be a good scientist?

Our commitment to pluralism and individual freedom should motivate generosity in such matters and allow people "the right to be wrong," especially when the beliefs in question do not interfere with us. Nothing is gained by loud, self-promoting and mean-spirited assaults on the beliefs of fellow citizens.

The New Atheists need to learn how to play in the sandbox.

Labels: Accommodationism Incompatiblism

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 11:14 AM 0 comments

Toni Morrison, a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor, wrote a book, Song of Solomon, that won the National Books Critics Award and was specifically cited by the Swedish Academy in awarding Morrison the 1993 Nobel Prize in literature.

But is that good enough reason for 11th graders (about a year shy of college) in Advanced Placement English classes at Franklin (Indiana) Central High School to be reading it? Not according to a couple of local school board members:

"I was about as appalled as I've ever been in my life," said board member Scott Veerkamp. "I wouldn't want to expose my children to that garbage."

Veerkamp said he and fellow board member Randall Bland received complaints about the book. Veerkamp then asked district administrators to pull it, which triggered a formal review.

"I couldn't even sleep last night when I read some of the excerpts," he said, adding that descriptive sex scenes, profanity, demeaning language and suicide were some of the material he found offensive.

Franklin Central Principal Kevin Koers said he had read about half the book Wednesday and wanted to be sure to have a complete understanding of it.

"There is a lesson in the book," he said.

Veerkamp, the Franklin Township School Board member, still contends it isn't appropriate for students.

"I don't care who said that it's worthy, that it's classical literature," he said.

"I'm embarrassed that we're even having to address this. . . . These are still children."

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 12:10 AM 2 comments

One of the more disconcerting penchants of some "New Atheists" is their willingness to throw over the scientific method when it is convenient to their arguments. We've already seen the fairly harmless example of PZ Myearshertz claiming that cuddling is science when he wants to avoid admitting that he does not apply the scientific method to everything in his life.

The latest example is Jerry Coyne and his discussion of Michael Zimmerman's Clergy Letter Project.

Coyne revives his list of things "supernatural" that have supposedly been tested by science and found wanting, which I've already addressed, though not in depth.

But this is what interests me in his latest:

Zimmerman isn't describing the real world, but the world of left-wing theologians. ...

If you turn on your television on Sunday morning, as I did today, you'll see that real world. You'll see oodles of preachers testifying to the literal truth of God's creation, the Fall of Man, and the power of prayer. What's more, some of these preachers promise salvation, wealth, happiness, or health if you'll just forward a few bucks to their ministries. Aren't those empirical claims? ...

Maybe Dr. Zimmerman should get out more.

Labels: Accommodationism Incompatiblism

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 10:27 PM 10 comments

Labels: Poems

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 10:11 PM 1 comments

Josh Rosenau points to a post at the Ministry of Misinformation by Jay Richards that, once again, belies the claim that ID has nothing to do with religion. Of course, Richards is still waiving around the fig leaf that ID doesn't claim that the "Designer" is God but there is an interesting amount of slip peeping out of Richard's skirts:

ID proponents have explained over and over and over again that ID per se isn't committed to a specific mode of divine causality.

Labels: Designer As God, ID Not Religious, Matheson on ID

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 10:43 PM 2 comments

Michael Behe is in the Oregon Salem-News whining at how the mean ol' "Darwinists" abuse the poor Intelligent Design Creationists. Of course, Behe then promptly repeats the Discoveryoid defamatory claim that Judge Jones "plagiarized" his decision from the plaintiffs' "proposed findings of fact":

I don't think the judge understood any of the academic arguments that were presented in his courtroom, whether science, philosophy or theology, or whether presented by the plaintiffs or defendants. If you examine the court records, you see that when the judge's ruling discusses the nature of science, the judge's opinion was essentially copied from a document given to him by the plaintiffs lawyers. There is no evidence he himself understood what he was copying. But when the leading scientific societies are strongly arrayed on one side against a local community school board on the other, the judge went with those who have cultural power in our society.

I regret the judge's decision, but nonetheless I think the school board elections in which the old board lost and a new board was installed is a reasonable example of democratic action. The big issue for many local residents was not what was taught in biology class in the local high school. Rather, it was the expense of the trial itself, which was over a million dollars. Residents who had no children in the school, or who knew little of the issues, would still have their taxes increased to pay the legal costs of the trial. That made many of them angry, so they voted against the old school board.

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 11:09 PM 6 comments

S.E. Cupp apparently humped her ridiculous book on Bill Maher's Real Time show and the NewsBusters blog of the Media Research Center, a right-wing spin organization, unwittingly reveals the emptiness of the claim that the "liberal media" is biased against religion (by which Cupp and the Media Research Center mean conservative Christianity).

Maher, not known as a particularly logical person, mounts a vigorous, if unfocused, defense of the media. In the course of this the subject turns to Joy Behar's defense of science on The View.

The actual clip from May 5, 2009 (video on The Huffington Post) is Behar badgering Sherri Shepherd into making sure her son Jeffrey hears the scientific proof, that she teaches both, not that the school does:

JOY BEHAR: Sherri, you're going to teach your son science, aren't you? I mean Darwinism is a proven – pretty much --

SHERRI SHEPHERD: I would like Jeffrey to know about other things.

BEHAR: You have to teach both.

SHEPHERD: He will learn about both, but he's going to learn what I'm teaching about my faith.

ELISABETH HASSELBECK: How come some people want to learn about both only when it's what they want to be taught?

BEHAR: Because Darwinism is not some kind of a religious fervor thing. There's proof, scientific proof. And you want your children to go into the world being ignorant of that? That's child abuse, in my opinion.

So doesn't that disprove Maher's "never" boast? Isn't mocking the biblical story of the world's creation as "ignorance" proof of an attack on Christianity?

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 9:37 PM 2 comments

Joe Carter is over at First Things demonstrating a truly tin ear.

For the record, the reason that I claim that atheism fails is because it cannot stand on its own as an internally consistent worldview: Epistemologically it can't account for reliable cognitive functioning; ethically it can't build a system of morality that isn't based on anything other than personal preference; metaphysically it can't really account for anything.

... I tend to spend time scrutinizing other worldviews because it's much easier to point out where they err than to show how Christianity does not suffer from the same errors.

[H]ow would I go about testing the truth of my own worldview? I believe the most fruitful approach is one outlined by the philosopher and apologist Norman Geisler who proposes that unaffirmability is the test for the falsity of a worldview and undeniability the test for the truth of a worldview.

Q. Do you believe that Satan exists?

A. Yes. Yes.

Q. What is the basis for that?

A. The basis for that belief is that the Bible is the word of God, and the Bible teaches it. And my basis or belief in the Bible as the word of God, I have already indicated earlier.

Q. That's true.

A. And I might add that it is confirmed by experience, as well.

Q. What experiences have confirmed it to you, sir, as an expert, the existence of Satan?

A. Uh, dealing with demon possessed people, exorcisms, the study of the UFO phenomena, the study of the occult.

Q. Could I have that answer read back?

(Thereupon the Reporter-read back the immediate previous answer).

Q. What study have you made of the occult, sir?

A. Uh, I have, uh, read books on the occult, and then also an encounter with people who have had occult experiences. And uh —

Q. Has this been done in a systematic way?

A. Uh, well so far as all of my work is systematic — done in a systematic way. I have, uh, looked at the phenomena, looked at the theories, looked at the evidence pro and con, come to conclusions based on the facts that I have, available — the hypothesis —

Q. How much have you — how much have you — time, would you say in the last twenty years, has been spent studying the occult?

A. I would say less than 1/10th.

Q. Less than ten percent of your time?

A. Uh-huh.

Q. And what sort —and how many books have you read on the occult?

A. Uh, probably a couple dozen books that either are on it or related to it. Uh —

Q. How many people have you interviewed?

A. Oh, I would say probably, if you count as interviewed all those people who have shared with me in experiences and counseling, and discussing about it — probably fifty to one hundred.

MR. CAMPBELL: For the record, I object to these questions on the occult, as to their relevance.

MR. SIANO: Your objection is noted.

BY MR. SIANO:

Q. Now about — you discussed UFO's — I take it those are initials?

A. UFO's? Yea.

Q. What do those initials stand for?

A. Unidentified flying objects.

MR. CAMPBELL: I make my similar objection to UFO's.

Q. What is the basis for your — have you studied UFO's in a systematic way?

A. I have read books on UFO's, seen films on UFO's. And analyzed various theories that have been presented on the basis of the evidence.

Q. Did — interviewed people?

A. Not systematically. No, I have not systematically interviewed anybody. I have talked to people, who have had experiences and who have related what they had. But I have depended mainly on the evidence, as provided; by the — Dr. Heinich (sic) from Northwestern University who has done systematic —

Q. How do you spell that?

A. H-Y-N-E-K, I think.

Q. Have you read his book or talked to him?

A. I have just read his material, I haven't talked to him.

Q. What is your experience with demon possessed people?

MR. CAMPBELL: I make my same objection to the relevance on this point.

WITNESS: My personal experience with demon possessed people is limited to probably about a half a dozen or so cases of people, that in my opinion, on the basis of the evidence I had, probably were influenced by demons.

Q. And do you have any professional opinion, as to the existence of demons?

A. Yea. Yea. I believe that demons exist.

Q. Do you have any professional opinion, as to the existence of UFO's

A. Yes. I believe that UFO's exist.

Q. And how are they connected with Satan?

A. I believe that they are part of a mass deception attempt, that they are means by which Satan deceives because he is a deceiver and he is trying to deceive people. He did it from the beginning in the Garden of Eden, and he has been doing it now through the years. And this is one of the ways that he is deceiving people.

How would we narrow them down in order to choose the one that best corresponds to reality? I believe the best method is to judge the systematic consistency of a worldview. While it only leads to probabilistic certainty rather than undeniability, systematic consistency appears to be the most reasonable way to judge a worldview from within. We should adopt the worldview that is most internally consistent and comprehensive, the one that most corresponds to reality. In other words, we should adopt the worldview that is most true.

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 11:53 AM 5 comments

Labels: Poems

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 1:42 AM 6 comments

Labels: Poems

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 1:11 AM 2 comments

Well, we all knew that Intelligent Design isn't at all religious but now I guess we're going to have to start repeating that anti-science is not political ... despite the best efforts of The Disco 'Tute to prove it so.

The ever ridiculous David Klinghoffer, who not long ago was telling us that one important thing recommending religion is its similarity to playing Dungeons and Dragons, is now at the Ministry of Misinformation apparently arguing that, to be a good conservative, you have to be a "Darwin doubter." Having seen Klinghoffer's "ideas have consequences" drivel before, it will run the gamut of A to B of Irving Kristol's infamous sneering at democracy:

There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people. There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy.

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 8:10 PM 0 comments

A thought:

The national organizations that once championed a revolution have spent the past year busily backpedaling, trying to convince supporters that Jones's decision is irrelevant. As they correctly have pointed out, the verdict doesn't have precedent beyond Dover. But its impact, nonetheless, has been far-reaching. States and school districts across the country watched and paid heed. In Ohio, the state's Board of Education struck down ID-friendly lesson plans. Later, Kansas voters, in the wake of their own contentious battles, ousted anti-evolution members from their Department of Education. On the anniversary of Jones's decision -- a day greeted with wishes of "Merry Kitzmas" by plaintiffs and their attorneys -- the school district of Cobb County, Georgia, reached a settlement in its lengthy court battle. Following Dover's victory, Rothschild and Americans United's Richard Katskee signed on to the Cobb County case. Katskee, as lead attorney, convinced the Georgia school district to remove warning stickers from biology textbooks that alerted students that evolution "was a theory, not a fact."

But anti-evolution factions continue the fight. The Foundation for Thought and Ethics is releasing its Pandas sequel, The Design of Life.

A draft of the textbook had been previewed during Dover''s trial. Just as FTE substituted the word creationism" with "intelligent design" throughout versions of Pandas, this edition substituted "sudden emergence" for "intelligent design."

Which prompted Rothschild to ask Michael Behe during cross-examination, "Will we be back in a couple of years for the 'sudden emergence' trial?"

To which Judge Jones responded "Not on my docket."

- Lauri Lebo, The Devil in Dover

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 11:22 PM 2 comments

This is weird:

The latest batch of curriculum revisions out of Texas will be "current" for 10 years.

They include teaching only creationism as an explanation of humans on Earth, raising Phyllis Schlafly of the Moral Majority to the historical equal of Thomas Jefferson, and ridding textbooks of the terms "capitalism" and "democracy" in favor of "free enterprise" and "republic." ...

Terrorists celebrate 'til the early hours when our schools succumb to pressures to teach a singular theory.

When school districts modify their curriculum to allow just creationism or just evolution to be taught, there is dancing in the terrorist streets.

They don't even care which one is taught as long as the other point of view is totally ignored.

That is their way and the path they want followed worldwide.

They survive solely because they preach that there is one cause, one religion, one way and only one way to embrace each and every issue.

Tolerance is not in their vocabulary.

If terrorists can point to American students learning from curricula touting singular versions of human life, editorialized American history, and revised economics, much of our strongest weapon ...

We must vigorously teach school kids to value all sides of issues before making up their minds.

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 10:37 PM 2 comments

PZ Megahertz has a very reasonable and good post on the mini-flap about Roger Ebert's twitter about the five racists-in-training who insisted on wearing American flag T-shirts to their high school on Cinco de Mayo. But this struck me:

Now, if I put my "Arrest the Pope" shirt on and walked down the street to the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and attended Sunday Mass, I would be acting like a jerk, attempting to irritate the church attendees just because I felt like being jerkish. I might have a serious message — the Catholic hierarchy has become an immoral defender of child rape — but that doesn't mean I should hammer every Catholic in my town with that message all the time, especially not when they are engaging in activities that have nothing to do with pedophilia, no matter how silly they are.

Provocateur that I am, I wouldn't do that. It makes the message simply random and made with the sole intent of being rude.

I have an idea. Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? There's no way I can personally get them — my local churches have stakes prepared for me, I'm sure — but if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I'll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won't be tempted to hold it hostage (no, not even if I have a choice between returning the Eucharist and watching Bill Donohue kick the pope in the balls, which would apparently be a more humane act than desecrating a goddamned cracker), but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web. I shall do so joyfully and with laughter in my heart. If you can smuggle some out from under the armed guards and grim nuns hovering over your local communion ceremony, just write to me and I'll send you my home address.

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 8:53 PM 35 comments

Heh! Remember the Christians who are afraid of yoga?

I wonder what they'd think of this:

If you were a cynical 12-year-old boy like I was, then the words Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers will bring to mind bitter thoughts of cheesy dialogue, bright spandex uniforms, and choreographed live-action anime fight scenes, all overdubbed and irritatingly formulaic. ...

[O]ne of the show's stars, Jason David Frank (who played Tommy Oliver, The Green Ranger) is the founder of a Mixed Martial Arts clothing line for the Christian Fighter/MMA enthusiast called Jesus Didn't Tap. ...

In February the New York Times published R.M. Schneiderman's article "Flock Is Now a Fight Team in Some Ministries" about the "growing number of evangelical churches that have embraced mixed martial arts—a sport with a reputation for violence and blood that combines kickboxing, wrestling, and other fighting styles—to reach and convert young men, whose church attendance has been persistently low."

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 6:57 PM 2 comments

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an Op-Ed piece by Mano Singham entitled "The New War Between Science and Religion." Singham, a theoretical physicist and Director of the University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education at Case Western, imagines that the "war" is between "accommodationists" and "New Atheists," instead of between those who deny science and those who support it.

However, Singham doesn't have very much new to say on the subject ... which has attained the status of beating the spot in the grass where a dead horse once peed.

There are the complaints that science organizations, such as the National Academy of Sciences, should be purer than Caesar's wife. Then there is the notion that science can test the supernatural.

And could the hackneyed "But the fact that some scientists are religious is not evidence of the compatibility of science and religion," be far behind? ... especially without any apparent understanding that the salient point is that "science" is a methodology -- not a philosophy -- that can be appropriately, often brilliantly, used by people of very different philosophies? Singham's plaint is only relevant if science is a philosophical system -- i.e., Scientism. You don't have to have much truck with Francis Collins to see that Singham has little, if anything, to support that claim.

But there is always a certain frisson when observing someone -- supposedly intelligent and educated -- who can't keep a thought over a few paragraphs. He says:

Why have organizations like the National Academy of Sciences sided with the accommodationists even though there is no imperative to take a position? After all, it would be perfectly acceptable to simply advocate for good science and stay out of this particular fray. ...

But political considerations should not be used to silence honest critical inquiry.

Heh! He'd like to shut up the NAS but objects to being "silenced" -- which amounts to nothing more than being criticized by those who disagree with him, without any coercion by government. This is made even more ironic by Singham quoting Philip Pullman at his own blog:

Nobody has to read this book. Nobody has to pick it up. Nobody has to open it. And if they open it and read it, they don't have to like it. And if you read it and dislike it, you don't have to remain silent about it. You can write to me. You can complain about it. You can write to the publisher. You can write to the papers. You can write your own book. You can do all those things but there your rights stop. No one has the right to stop me writing this book. No one has the right to stop it being published or sold or bought or read. And that's all I have to say on that subject.

Earth to Singham: Pot. Kettle. Black.
.

Labels: Accommodationism Incompatiblism

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 10:47 PM 3 comments

James McGrath, associate professor of religion at Butler University, has been after Ken Ham of late, including a funny April Fool's post that, naturally, Ham sees no humor in.

James is quite correct, in my heathen opinion, where he accuses YECs of not treating the Bible literally "when it comes to the Bible's teaching about economic and social justice, concern for the poor and oppressed, renunciation of wealth, and most other matters of practice." I'll leave it up to James' expertise as to whether it is also "anti-Christian" and a "false Gospel."

But in Ham's "response" (as James points out, there no real engagement with James' points) there is, to me at least, a stunning admission by Ham:

I have written many times on this blog over the past few years, and we have stated in many articles in our publications and for our website making it very clear (as I do when I speak at conferences) that the gospel is not conditioned upon the age of the earth. In fact, I am beginning to realize more and more it is not that people misunderstand this about us, but it is people like Dr. McGrath and others like him who continually make this false accusation in their attempts to get people to think incorrectly about what we teach.

The Bible makes it clear (e.g., John 3, where Jesus explains to Nicodemus that a person needs to be "born again," and Romans 10:9 that states, "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved") that salvation is conditioned upon faith in Christ and not the age of the earth. Though, We do help people understand that the message of the gospel does come from the Bible; thus, the question as to the authority of the Word of God is a very important one. While believing in millions of years doesn't affect a person's salvation directly, there is no doubt that it does affect how others' (e.g., children, students they teach, etc.) view the authority of Scripture. If a person has to reinterpret the clear teaching of Scripture to fit in millions of years (e.g., reinterpreting the days of creation), this clearly undermines the authority of God's Word. As a result, there are increasing numbers of people who then reject the gospel that is dependent on the Word of God being true and authoritative.

There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people. There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy.

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 9:55 PM 2 comments

Poor Christianity!

It has become such a delicate thing!

Practically anything can destroy the faith handed down by the martyrs who suffered such gruesome fates.

Like sitting in the lotus position ... even if you are saying Christian prayers while doing so:

[A] Florida class combining yoga and Pilates with Christian prayer and meditation steers clear of yoga's Hindu roots and seeks to show that Christian faith is compatible with the ancient form of movement and relaxation.

The class, called Praisemoves, is sponsored by Community of Hope, a non-denominational evangelical church in Loxahatchee, Fla.

It begins with a prayer thanking the Lord for bringing the group together. Participants proceed through a series of Sun Salutations, strength and balance poses, twists and Pilates exercises.

The class ends with meditation on a New Testament passage, such as 2 Corinthians 12:9: "And he said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.'"

"You can't take yoga out of its historical context and neuter it," says Elliot Miller, editor in chief of Christian Research Journal, a publication of the Christian Research Institute in Charlotte, N.C.

"It's a spiritual discipline for an Eastern religion," he says. "It's important for Christians not to put themselves in that world." ...

About half of American yoga students practice the poses to improve their health, according to the Yoga Journal study. They are not practicing true yoga, which is an all-consuming spiritual path, says Robert Bowman, director of research for the Institute for Religious Research, a Christian organization that studies religious claims.

"The concern I have as a Christian is for many people this is Hinduism-lite, an entree into alternative spiritualities that are packaged in a way that is not overtly religious," he says.

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 9:24 AM 6 comments

Sen. John McCain and Rep. Peter King are trying to set terrorists free.

Sen. Joe Lieberman has completely abandoned his oath to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States.

And Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is being ... well, Rick Perry:

At a US Chamber of Commerce sponsored conference on Monday aptly named "Free Enterprise," Texas Governor Rick Perry was willing to speculate that the recent spate of safety failures at coal mines and on oil rigs may be due to "…acts of God that cannot be prevented."

Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 10:17 PM 1 comments

We're about to observe a national celebration that will result in many people falling to their knees.

While some people find this day controversial, there is no question that the rites performed at this time can bring people closer together, help them to share their hopes and fears and encourage warm feelings across social, political and cultural divides.

Such rites cannot be all bad.

Therefore, break out the salt and lime!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!
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Link - Posted by John Pieret @ 10:29 AM 3 comments