Free Republic

A high school science teacher vowed yesterday to continue telling his Inuit students about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, despite complaints from parents in the northern Quebec community of Salluit. Science teacher Alexandre April was given a written reprimand last month by his principal at Ikusik High School for discussing evolution in class. Parents in the village 1,860 kilometres north of Montreal complained their children had been told they came from apes. "I am a biologist. ... This is what I'm passionate about," said April, who teaches Grades 7 and 8. "It interests the students. It gets them asking questions....

As a fossil find, it really is nothing new; yet many media outlets are picking up an Associated Press (AP) article—based on a soon-to-be-released article in the journal Nature—about a snake fossil that supposedly features hind legs. The AP article states that a “new fossil discovery has revealed the most primitive snake known, a crawling creature with two legs, and it provides new evidence that snakes evolved on land rather than in the sea.” Aside from the questions that would pop up with such a discovery in the context of the raging creation/evolution debate (which we will address in a...

A new article in PLoS Biology (April 18, 2006) discusses the state of scientific literacy in the United States, with especial attention to the survey research of Jon D. Miller, who directs the Center for Biomedical Communications at Northwestern University Medical School. To measure public acceptance of the concept of evolution, Miller has been asking adults if "human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals" since 1985. He and his colleagues purposefully avoid using the now politically charged word "evolution" in order to determine whether people accept the basics of evolutionary theory. Over the past 20...

Researchers develop new tool to find gene control regions Researchers at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins have invented a cost-effective and highly efficient way of analyzing what many have termed "junk" DNA and identified regions critical for controlling gene function. And they have found that these control regions from different species don't have to look alike to work alike. The study will be published online at Science Express March 23. The researchers developed a new system that uses zebrafish to test mammalian DNA and identify DNA sequences, known as enhancers, involved in turning on a gene....

Sometimes you have to wonder about the New York Times. It printed a long, breathtakingly written, scientific-sounding piece that just had one problem: It wasn’t news. Now, why would it do that? The article, titled “Still Evolving, Human Genes Tell New Story,” was run prominently on the front page of the New York Times last week. The reporter excitedly announced that scientists had found “the strongest evidence yet that humans are still evolving.” That’s big news. What was the evidence? “Researchers have detected,” the story says, “some 700 regions of the human genome where genes appear to have been reshaped...

One of biggest paradigm shifts in origins in recent years is when genetics and morphological studies began to show that Neanderthals and humans weren’t related. Sure, a lot of Darwin Fundies around here don’t know that because they get all of their science from the talking point lists of their Fundamentalist Leaders. So this is probably a big shock too, science is also showing that man is not related to any hominids including apes. In the groundbreaking book, Who was Adam?, biochemist Fazale Rana examines the scientific research that is overturning Darwinian Fundamentalism. Here, using peer-reviewed research that the Darwin...

Simon Schama appears to have little understanding of biology (Opinion, September 4). With an ostrich mindset that tries to ignore reality, pseudo-scientists continue in the vain hope that if they shout loud and long enough they can perpetuate the fairy story and bad science that is evolution. You don't have to be a religious fundamentalist to question evolution theory - you just have to have an open and enquiring mind and not be afraid of challenging dogma. But you must be able to discern and dodge the effusion of evolutionary landmines that are bluster and non sequiturs. No one denies...

In 1920, Winston Churchill spoke of a group of Enlightenment conspirators who had produced a system of morals and philosophy "as malevolent as Christianity was benevolent, which, if not arrested would shatter irretrievably all that Christianity has rendered possible." He observed that this malignant worldview "has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the 19th century. This worldwide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilization and the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality has been steadily growing." (Zionism versus Bolshevism) This malevolent system of warped morals and anti-human philosophy entered into...

CBN.com – SEATTLE, Washington - The Dover, Pennsylvania school board is on trial in the state capitol. Their crime? They wanted to tell high school students once a year that evolution is only a theory. They also wanted to mention an alternate theory: Intelligent Design, or ID. That was too much for some parents. They sued, claiming ID is religious and therefore illegal in school. The judge will decide the case in the next few weeks.So is ID really just religion in disguise? Do both biology and astronomy support ID? And who are these people promoting ID?To answer those questions,...

(CBS) Most Americans do not accept the theory of evolution. Instead, 51 percent of Americans say God created humans in their present form, and another three in 10 say that while humans evolved, God guided the process. Just 15 percent say humans evolved, and that God was not involved. These views are similar to what they were in November 2004 shortly after the presidential election. VIEWS ON EVOLUTION/CREATIONISM Now God created humans in present form 51% Humans evolved, God guided the process 30% Humans evolved, God did not guide process 15% Nov. 2004 God created humans in present form 55%...

Kenneth Miller, acclaimed author and outspoken opponent of efforts to introduce intelligent design into America’s science classrooms, delivered the message his enthusiastic Lehigh audience expected on Wednesday, and concluded with a caveat that distinguishes him from some staunch defenders of evolution—that one can embrace Darwin’s theory while believing in a God who plays an active role in the universe and in the lives of people. In a two-hour address and slideshow before more than 600 people, Miller critiqued intelligent design as a pseudo-science that builds up a questionable religious idea while undermining the scientific process. Miller, professor of cell biology...

ITHACA, N.Y. - Lenore Durkee, a retired biology professor, was volunteering as a docent at the Museum of the Earth here when she was confronted by a group of seven or eight people, creationists eager to challenge the museum exhibitions on evolution. They peppered Dr. Durkee with questions about everything from techniques for dating fossils to the second law of thermodynamics, their queries coming so thick and fast that she found it hard to reply. After about 45 minutes, "I told them I needed to take a break," she recalled. "My mouth was dry." That encounter and others like it...

Catching up on back news this past few days — I was out of the country for the first two weeks of August — I caught President Bush's endorsement of teaching Intelligent Design in public school science classes. "Both sides ought to be properly taught," President Bush told a reporter August 2, "so people can understand what the debate is all about." This is Bush at his muddle-headed worst, conferring all the authority of the presidency on the teaching of pseudoscience in science classes. Why stop with Intelligent Design (the theory that life on earth has developed by a series...

TOPEKA, Kan. - A discussion about how evolution should be taught in public schools degenerated Wednesday into personal attacks among State Board of Education members. The board is reviewing proposed standards drafted by three conservative members designed to expose students to more criticism of evolution in the classroom. During the discussion, four board members who want the standards to maintain their existing evolution-friendly tone assailed the proposal. Bill Wagnon told the three conservative board members they were the "dupes" of intelligent design advocates, who presented what Wagnon said was bad science during public hearings in May. "It is all based...

Big Bang - Big Scam, Or Sometimes Evolutionists Need To Be Smacked Upside The Head With A Board From Noah's Ark \In the Great Debate that has the Public Fool System fighting any challenge to the Theory Of Evolution, we must remember that many jobs - especially in Universities - would be at risk for the profs and their underlings - who must defend the THEORY, or find a more honest occupation elsewhere. An Intelligent Designer (why not just say God?) advocate on the college campus is scoffed at as a latter day Ptolemy, who believed that the earth was...

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- The Tulsa Zoo will add a display featuring the biblical account of creation following complaints to a city board about other displays with religious significance, including a Hindu elephant statue. The Tulsa Park and Recreation Board voted 3-1 on Tuesday in favor of a display depicting God's creation of the world in six days and his rest on the seventh, as told in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The vote came after more than two hours of public comment from a standing-room-only crowd. Zoo employees, religious leaders and others spoke in opposition, saying religion...

*snip* The conservatives who attacked evolution because it conflicted with the Genesis account of how the world was created have faded into the background. In their place are professionals such as Harris who support intelligent design, a theory that states some aspects of the universe and living things are best explained by intelligent causes, not chance. Darwin's theory of evolution doesn't always add up, they say, and students should hear more about its shortcomings. “There are only two options,” said Harris, who is leading this year's fight. “Life was either designed or it wasn't.” That's not the point, evolution defenders...

After battling a California school district for more than a year over its teaching of evolution, a parent has filed a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court alleging his constitutional rights to free speech, equal protection and religious freedom were violated. Larry Caldwell's suit against the Roseville Joint Union High School District and school officials in Sacramento centers on his attempt to introduce a curriculum that changes how the theory of evolution is taught, without introducing religious content. His "Quality Science Education Policy" and related instructional materials include presentation of scientific weaknesses of evolution in biology classes. "Currently, only the scientific...

Every week, listen live as the latest scientific evidences pointing to God are discussed. Call in with your questions. Every Tuesday, 11:00am-1:00pm PT. Often, the latest in the news topics are covered. Interviews with Christianity's most respected scholars. Past episodes archived.

I. PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS OF THE HUMAN MIND... "...The conscious brain wherein reside reason, judgment, and memory...plus all other parts of brain, occupy the space of a quart container and weigh a total of about three pounds. Though the three pounds represent a mere 2 percent of the body weight.., the quartful of brain is so metabolically active that it uses 20 percent of the oxygen we take in through our lungs...Of the total of about 50,000 to 100,000 genes in Homo sapiens, some 30,000 code for one or another aspect of the brain.''5 "...The brain is different and immeasurably more...

<p>As controversies simmer across the country over teaching evolution, scientists at UC Berkeley are taking the offensive against the modern-day foes of Charles Darwin.</p> <p>Experts at the university's Museum of Paleontology have created a new Web site designed to offer beleaguered classroom teachers support and guidance through the often slippery attacks they can encounter teaching natural selection and other concepts.</p>

ATLANTA - The date and site were chosen seven years ago, long before Georgia considered removing the word "evolution" from the state curriculum. But the recent debate has made Atlanta an interesting setting for a meeting of the nation's science teachers. The role of evolution in state science standards will be part of several panel discussions for the 15,000 science teachers attending the four-day conference that begins Thursday at the Georgia World Congress Center. Gerry Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association, the event sponsor, said there are at least 10 U.S. cities wrestling with the evolution issue,...

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLSOhio board OKs criticism of evolutionDecision called 'victory for common sense' over 'scientific dogmatism' Posted: March 10, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com The Ohio State Board of Education voted 13-5 yesterday to approve a model lesson plan that takes a critical look at Darwinian evolution. The 10th-grade biology lesson plan, called a "Critical Analysis of Evolution," was created to implement a benchmark in the state science standards that requires students to be able to "Describe how scientists continue to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory." "The board's decision is a significant victory for students and their academic...

<p>Engineer Joe White ought to know an intelligent design when he sees one. By day, on the job at Boeing, White has worked on some of the world's best-built airplanes: the F-15, the F-18, and these days, the C-17 cargo jet.</p>

Irreducible Complexity is an Obstacle to Darwinism Even if Parts of a System have other Functions:A Response to Sharon Begley’s Wall Street Journal Column Michael J. BeheDiscovery InstituteFebruary 18, 2004 In a recent column in the Wall Street Journal (February 13, 2004, Science Journal, page B1, “Evolution Critics Come Under Fire for Flaws In 'Intelligent Design'”) science writer Sharon Begley repeated some false claims about the concept of irreducible complexity (IC) that have been made by Darwinists, in particular by Kenneth Miller, a professor of biology at Brown University. After giving a serviceable description in her column of why...

<p>Even before Darwin, critics attacked the idea of biological evolution with one or another version of, "Evolve this!"</p> <p>Whether they invoked a human, an eye, or the whip-like flagella that propel bacteria and sperm, the contention that natural processes of mutation and natural selection cannot explain the complexity of living things has been alive and well for 200 years.</p>

CNN reported, “A new book offering a non-evolutionist view of how the Grand Canyon was formed, featuring essays from 23 scientists (most with PhD's, many having conducted serious geological scientific research at the Canyon), is the object of an intense book-banning effort by leading evolutionists. They have demanded that Grand Canyon National Park remove the book, Grand Canyon: A Different View, from bookstores within the Park. The book, which claims the famous area can be no older than a few thousand years (contrary to the claims of traditional secular science, which contends the canyon is millions of years old), was...

<p>January 31, 2004 -- ATLANTA - Former President Jimmy Carter yesterday blasted a top Georgia education official's bid to strip the word "evolution" from textbooks in some of the state's public schools. Kathy Cox, Georgia's school superintendent, has come under fire for suggesting that science books used in the state's middle and high schools carry the term "biological changes over time" instead of "evolution."</p>