Free Republic

Affirming the reality of an intelligent design for the creation and development of the universe is not a scientific theory, but a statement of faith, said the preacher of the papal household. Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, offering a Lenten meditation to Pope Benedict XVI and top Vatican officials March 13, said the controversy that has arisen between scientists supporting evolution and religious believers promoting creationism or intelligent design is due mainly to a confusion between scientific theory and the truths of faith. The intelligent-design theory asserts that the development and evolution of life is such a hugely complex process that...

March 9, 2009 — The Permian extinction – one of the most dramatic events in the history of life on Earth, in which some 90% of species went extinct...is now being interpreted as a “nonevent” by four geologists. ... Robert Gastaldo and two geology colleagues from Colby College in Maine, and geologist Johann Neveling from Pretoria, studied the Permian-Triassic boundary in the Karoo Basin of South Africa and published a paper in Geology this month,1 titled, “The terrestrial Permian-Triassic boundary event bed is a nonevent.” ... Well, isn’t this an upset.  How much lag time will it take to change...

Terrible lizards trapped by terrible Flood Tas Walker A trail of fossilized claw marks found in northern Spain reveals the desperation of animals struggling to escape drowning in the Genesis Flood. ... That the footprints were preserved at all indicates the dinosaurs were engulfed by abnormal conditions. Today footprints are quickly obliterated, especially on a beach or in a strong current. But in the sandstone in Spain even the delicate features of the scratches were preserved, which means that sediment covered the tracks (and the ripple marks) soon after the dinosaur struggled past...

In his first full-length American radio interview, Adnan Oktar, pen name Harun Yahya, a Muslim, Turkish intellectual posit the theory that the source of terrorism, including Islamic terrorism, is Darwinism.

CBNNews.com - CROSSROADS BIBLE COLLEGE, Ind. - Darwin's book on human evolution, The Descent of Man, revealed him as what John West calls "a virulent racist." "He did write extensively about how evolution by natural selection creates unequal races, and that in the evolutionary scheme of things, blacks are the closest to apes," he explained. West is the author of Darwin Day in America. "It's not just residual racism," he added. "He's using his scientific theory as a justification for racism and countless scientists after Darwin latched on to that." Hosea Baxter directs reconciliation ministries at Crossroads Bible College. He...

... The tree-of-life concept was absolutely central to Darwin's thinking, equal in importance to natural selection...Without it the theory of evolution would never have happened. The tree also helped carry the day for evolution. ... For much of the past 150 years, biology has largely concerned itself with filling in the details of the tree. "For a long time the holy grail was to build a tree of life," says Eric Bapteste, an evolutionary biologist at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, France. A few years ago it looked as though the grail was within reach. But today...

Crack Luftwaffe fighter pilots were scrambled in a UFO drama over German airspace, it emerged today (Thursday). The mystery object was tracked moving across the entire country at high speed after being spotted by Germany's air traffic controllers on January 19. Now an official report into the UFO sighting is being compiled by the country's air traffic safety office, the DFS.

CHINESE ASTROLOGY. Presented in Honor of the Lunar New Year by Nergal-Sharezer the Rabmag. WESTERN ASTROLOGY IS based on the idea that the date of one’s birth, which comes about once a year in an unending cycle, determines one’s destiny. Chinese astrology, on the other hand, postulates that the year of one’s birth is the determining element. Nergal-Sharezer the Rabmag has great respect for the ancient wisdom of the Celestial Empire, and believes that the mere fact that these two systems are mutually exclusive should not be taken as evidence that they are not both true. The twelve years of...

CHAMA, NM - Several meandering V-shaped UFOs near a mountain slope here turned up on a woman's digital photos. Three photos shot with a 21 megapixel camera caught multiple crafts approaching in the first frame, one craft in frame two moving close to the ground while the others take positions in the sky, and then frame three shows all of the crafts moving out of the area.

Throughout history, it has conjured up images of witchcraft and magic. In the Middle Ages, it was burned alive for its supposedly supernatural powers. In North America, it is considered unlucky to cross paths with it. Many shelters during the month of October ban its adoption out of concern it may be abused as a result of the image it portrays on Halloween. The black cat has come a long way since the 15th century. And though its supernatural image in the 21st century has largely been relegated to folklore and mythology, many in society still consider it a social...

They looked at the belief systems of Christians and non-religious people to determine who’s more rational. The non-religious or those from Liberal Christian sects were more likely to believe in • Palm reading • Astrology • Dreams that foretell the future • The existence of Atlantis • Haunted houses • Communication with the dead • Bigfoot • The Loch Ness Monster "What Americans Really Believe," a comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to the usefulness of astrology. It also shows that the...

"What Americans Really Believe," a comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to the usefulness of astrology. It also shows that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians. The Gallup Organization, under contract to Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion, asked American adults a series of questions to gauge credulity. Do dreams foretell the future? Did ancient...

In a cozy Coconut Grove shop redolent of incense, Sandra Richardson hovers over six colorful tarot cards laid before her on a silk-covered table. She ponders the question: Obama or McCain? The middle-age self-described psychic consultant sweeps her ash blond hair from her shoulders. A crystal dangles around her neck. She points to the ace of cups — one of the three cards she drew for McCain. On it, a royal blue vessel emanates red, white, and gold squiggles. "This is a card with new emotional beginnings," she says. Her hazel eyes examine it before she laughs. "It's hard to...

  Superstitious Catholics? Q. Why do Catholics use “good luck charms” like medals and relics of the saints in order to perfom miracles? Why is that not superstitious? A. It does sound superstitious at first. And perhaps there have been Catholics who used these things in a purely superstitious way. But we would not know for sure unless we questioned them.Of course, the Catholic Church teaches that only God can perform a miracle. However, everyone will agree that He can perform these miracles any way He wants to. So He can act directly or indirectly. We know that He usually likes...

Rising global temperatures could lead to an increase in kidney stones, according to research presented at the 103rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA). Dehydration has been linked to stone disease, particularly in warmer climates, and global warming will exacerbate this effect. As a result, the prevalence of stone disease may increase, along with the costs of treating the condition. Using published data to determine the temperature-dependence of stone disease, researchers applied predictions of temperature increase to determine the impact of global warming on the incidence and cost of stone disease in the United States. The Intergovernmental...

“The earthquake happened on Buddha’s birthday,” a friend somberly explained to me yesterday. “I’m afraid that things in China are going to get worse. I have a bad feeling about our country right now.” She went on to explain that while Buddha has no power to create or stop such disasters, she felt that the occurrence of the earthquake on Buddha’s birthday was an ominous sign. My friend is only 25 years old but she is a follower of what she calls ‘Tibetan Buddhism.’ Her husband, who is also a Buddhist, encouraged her to practice the religion.

Lesson 34: The First Commandment "Come let us praise the Lord with joy:  let us joyfully sing to God our savior.  Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to Him with psalms.  For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.  For in His hand are all the ends of the earth:  and the heights of the mountains are His.  For the sea is His, and He made it:  and His hands formed the dry land.  Come let us adore and fall down:  and weep before the Lord that...

Hitting the wedding date jackpot, 7/7/07 BY TANIA PADGETT tania.padgett@newsday.com July 4, 2007 Last year, when Jeffrey Neale, 28, and Elizabeth Wiener, 26, were planning their wedding, Neale was more than happy to leave the details to his fiancee. That is, except one: He wanted them to be married on July 7, 2007. "We had to get that date," said Neale, an assistant vice president at AIG Financial Products Corp. in Wilton, Conn. "Nobody is going to forget it and triple 7s are lucky." Wiener, a graduate student from Roslyn Harbor, heartily agreed, and the couple rushed to put a...

WASHINGTON -- Even by the standards of the luminaries who sweep through Washington, the little girl in front of Lafayette Elementary School almost six miles north of the White House was special. Politicians, power brokers and the occasional celebrities who come through town hope to be respected and maybe, in a childlike place in their grown-up hearts, genuinely liked. Sajani Shakya, 10, is worshipped. In Nepal, Sajani is a living goddess, one of about a dozen such goddesses in her homeland who are considered earthly manifestations of the Hindu goddess Kali.

It seems that a prof that sees value in intelligent design theory has been barred from tenure. http://www.iastate.edu/~nscentral/news/2007/jun/statement.shtml