Free Republic

We've been told conservatives don't believe in science and that there's a "Republican war on science." But John Tierney, who's written about science for The New York Times for 25 years and now writes for the Manhattan Institute's City Journal, told me in my latest online video, "The real war on science is the one from the left." Really? Conservatives are more likely to be creationists -- denying evolution. "Right," says Tierney. "But creationism doesn't affect the way science is done." What about President George W. Bush banning government funding of stem cell research? "He didn't stop stem cell research,"...

The other storyline is simply fantastical. Congressional Republicans have uniformly run away from Trump's Obama-wiretap accusation. Clapper denies it. FBI Director James Comey denies it. Not a single member of Trump's own administration is willing to say it's true. Loopier still is to demand that Congress find the truth when the president could just pick up the phone and instruct the FBI, CIA and DNI to declare on the record whether this ever occurred. And if there really was an October 2016 FISA court order to wiretap Trump, the president could unilaterally declassify the information yesterday. The bugging story is...

Religion is not hostile to learning; Christianity has been the greatest patron learning has ever had. But Christians know that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" now just as it has been in the past, and they therefore oppose the teaching of guesses that encourage godlessness among the students. Do bad doctrines corrupt the morals of students? We have a case, Mr. Darrow, one of the most distinguished criminal lawyers in our land, was engaged about a year ago in defending two rich men's sons who were on trial for as dastardly a murder as was...

The 2001 discovery of the seven million-year-old Sahelanthropus, the first known upright ape-like creatures, was yet more proof of humanity’s place among the great apes. And yet Mike Pence, then a representative and now US vice president, argues for the opposite conclusion.For him, our ideas about our ancestors have changed, proving once more that evolution was a theory, and therefore we should be free to teach other theories alongside evolution in our classrooms. How to respond? The usual answer is that we should teach students the meaning of the word “theory” as used in science – that is, a hypothesis...

Creationists don’t like The Clergy Letter Project, a strong, pro-evolution statement signed by over 13,000 Christian clergymen. Here’s the Wikipedia article on it: Clergy Letter Project. The Project is exceedingly troublesome for creationists because it flatly contradicts their claim that one can’t be a good Christian and also accept evolution. When we say the Clergy Letter is a strong statement, we’re not exaggerating. Part of it says: We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this...

Young-Earth Creationist Wins Lawsuit Oct. 4, 2016 More than three years ago, I wrote about the sad story of Mark Armitage, a gifted scientist who has become an expert in microscopy. In addition to running his own microscope company, he also worked as the Manager for the Electron and Confocal Microscopy Suite in the Biology Department at California State University Northridge. While on a fossil dig in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, he discovered a 48-inch Triceratops horn. When he and his colleague soaked it in weak acid to remove the mineral components, they recovered soft, brown tissue.

Colossians 1:16 "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:" Not long ago, I was talking with another creationist about the impossibility of the first living cell coming into being through natural causes from non-living chemicals. I asked him, "Even if such a thing were possible, what would the first living cell eat?" Without missing a beat, my friend said: "Cellery?" The two of us shared a good laugh together,...

The Ark Encounter, a full-scale, 510-foot long model of Noah's Ark, has opened to the public in Grant County, Kentucky.  It is the largest timber frame structure in the United States and the largest free-standing timber frame structure in the world. I find this fascinating in light of biblical prophecy, specifically 2 Peter 3:3-10: Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But...

A 230-foot long replica of Noah’s Ark collided with a Norwegian Coast Guard vessel as it arrived in Oslo, Norway on Friday, causing damage to both ships. Media says the wooden replica, built by a Dutch carpenter Johan Huibers after he dreamed of a flood in his home town, was being towed into Oslo harbor when it somehow lost control and crashed into the moored patrol vessel Nornen.

A faithful reproduction of Noah's ark, using the dimensions in The Bible, has just opened to the public in The Netherlands. It was constructed by the Dutch creationist and millionaire building contractor Johan Huibers, after he dreamt that Holland would be flooded once again. He used the ancient measurement of the cubit - the length of a man's arm from the elbow to the fingertips - to build the craft according to Biblical proportions. In Genesis the ark is described as being 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high so the mammoth effort took him and his...

Johan Huibers just finished a building a new ark that is even bigger than his original one, pictured here.It turns out somebody actually knows what a cubit is. Because one man converted the Biblical measurements to create a scale model of Noah's ark. And it's big. Really big. Johan Huibers of the Netherlands had a dream in 1991 that Holland was flooding. Three years and $1.6 million later, Huibers has a shiny new tourist attraction. The boat, which is as long as football field and four stories high, will be opened to the public as a tourist attraction with a...

While Noah will likely always remain the first name in arks, tourists are chomping at the bit to climb aboard “Johan’s Ark,” an ambitious re-creation of the biblical boat that’s attracting gawkers galore along a waterfront shipyard in Dordrecht, a city in the western Netherlands. Dutch builder Johan Huibers is expected to complete work on the massive vessel sometime next month in what has been a staggeringly ambitious project to bring one of the best-known stories of the Bible to life. It’s taken three years of his life and $1.6 million out of his pocket, but Huibers, owner of a...

If you had infinite time and endless religious zeal, what are the chances you'd spend your days building a life-size replica of Noah's Ark? After dreaming of the Netherlands disappearing in water almost 20 years ago, Johan Huibers set out to recreate an ark like Noah's in the Book of Genisis. Practically speaking, it's not a ridiculous aspiration, as nearly one-quarter of the Netherlands lies below sea level. Almost 2,000 people in his home province were killed by a flood in 1953. Between 2005 and 2007 he built his first ark, spending six days a week constructing a half-size replica...

This is amazing. The wood alone would have cost him a fortune.     Man builds working replica of Noah's Ark (exact scale given in Bible) In Schagen , NetherlandsThe massive central door in the side of Noah's Ark was opened to the first crowd of curious townsfolk to behold the wonder. Of course, it's only a replica of the biblical Ark , built by Dutch creationist, Johan Huibers, as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.The ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high an d 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds the length of a...

One man and a vision Frans Gunnink chats with Johan Huibers, Dutch ‘Ark’-builder Johan Huibers is now well-known as the self-employed Dutch carpenter who has built a working ‘Ark’ nearly half as long as Noah’s original. Since opening for public viewing in mid-2007 in the Netherlands, many thousands of visitors have ‘flooded’ into the ‘Ark’...

Enlarge ImageClimate recorder. Chemical changes over time in the fossils of microscopic sea creatures called planktonic foraminifera can help scientists track ancient sea levels. Credit: Howard Spero, UC Davis/NSF When the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its latest report on global warming last summer, one of its most dramatic predictions was that sea levels would rise as much as 0.58 meters during the next century--enough to threaten coastal cities in Southeast Asia and North America. That's nothing, however, compared to what happened about 124,000 years ago. At a certain point during the warm "interglacial" between...

SCHAGEN, Netherlands (AP) -- The massive central door in the side of Noah's Ark was thrown open Saturday -- you could say it was the first time in 4,000 years -- drawing a crowd of curious pilgrims and townsfolk to behold the wonder. Of course, it's only a replica of the biblical Ark, built by Dutch creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible. Reckoning by the old biblical measurements, Johan's fully functional ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds the length of a football...

SCHAGEN, Netherlands (AP) – Some people think he's crazy. His wife's not exactly thrilled either. But like the biblical Noah, Dutchman Johan Huibers is steadfast in his mission: he's building an enormous working replica of Noah's Ark as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible

Dutchman Johan Huibers is building a working replica of Noah's Ark as a testament to his Christian faith. The 47-year-old from Schagen, 45km (30 miles) north of Amsterdam, plans to set sail in September through the interior waters of the Netherlands. Johan's Ark is a fifth of the size of Noah's and will carry farmyard animals. Mr Huibers, who plans to open the vessel as a religious monument and zoo, hopes the project will renew interest in Christianity in the Netherlands. Although Mr Huibers has tried to remain true to the ark described in the Bible, Johan's Ark is constructed...

Atheists are embracing Gods and creationism Elon Musk, the billionaire inventor and entrepreneur, the twenty-first century’s answer to Howard Hughes, believes we are living in a computer simulation. The chances that we exist in ‘base reality’ are billions to one, he says.Last week he told an audience of Silicon Valley tech evangelists: ‘Forty years ago we had Pong. Like, two rectangles and a dot. That was what games were.’‘Now, 40 years later, we have photorealistic, 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously, and it’s getting better every year. Soon we’ll have virtual reality, augmented reality.’‘If you assume any rate...