The ID Arts Blog

We are pleased to introduce artist Tim McMahan and his ID Art print entitled “Placed with Purpose”. We are also pleased to offer those that sign up for the ID Arts mailing list a free high-resolution edition of this image suitable for framing or use as your computer desktop wallpaper. Here is Tim’s commentary on the image: “I created it in Adobe Photoshop with the use of two stock photos (the moon and the eye). I created it after hearing a lecture by Jay Richards on The Privileged Planet in March 2005. Dr. Richards mentioned in that lecture that many of the things we find most beautiful in nature also happen to be results of things that are necessary for our survival. I was inspired by the idea that a solar eclipse is not only an expression of beauty but also evidence of purposeful design. While looking at an eclipse, we can see the designer looking back at us.” 

Tim is a freelance graphic designer based in Orange, CA. He graduated from Biola University in 1996 with a B.S. in Art.

With a motor structure of drive shaft, rotor, bushings, propeller, and a rotational speed of about 20,000 rpm, the bacterial flagellum of the E. coli bacteria has become the veritable mascot of intelligent design. This molecular machine has been called “irreducibly complex” by Michael Behe and other biologists, meaning that the flagellum poses an obstacle to step-by-step Darwinian evolutionary processes. At the same time, this nano-motor structure has the type of intricate, precise, and efficient molecular arrangements that are exemplary in showing the striking similarities between technological structures known to be caused by intelligence, and the type of complexity found in living cells.

This three dimensional image of one of the quickest and most efficient machines in the known universe was created using Sketchup3D, based on the structural descriptions of Howard C. Berg and other biologists. Rendering a three-dimensional image can be tedious, this particular work taking about thirteen hours. The result of this rendering process is a unique visual expression of one of the most amazing examples of molecular motors to be found in the biological world.

To view the 3D model in three dimensions, you will need to download SketchUp. Click here to download the 3D bacterial flagellum.

For more information, and a version with protein labels, visit ResearchID.org.

“…Only from the deep coal tunnels
White diamonds come.
But only by the light
They are recognized…”

Akiane’s Co-Creating is featured elsewhere in this blog as an example of artists who feel their talent is somehow a reflection of the creative nature of the universe. Divine Knowledge is another of Akiane’s works that speaks to the design of the universe and our yearning to understand it. If we use our chisel to follow the evidence where ever it leads, will we find the diamond? Perhaps we have already found the diamond (DNA) and just don’t fully realize it, or are still discovering its implications. Here are Akiane’s comments about this painting (keep in mind she was age 11 when she wrote this):

“This painting was particularly hard for me, because I have changed it so many times and ended up using two models and two completely different backgrounds. It took me a few months to paint its full meaning and another five months of prayer to fully understand it.

This is the painting about search for divine knowledge.

The young sculptor represents our civilization mostly ruled by the male. His youth shows that our civilization is still immature. The sculptor is chiseling a huge heap of coal in order to find the diamond representing divine knowledge.

The sculptor ignores the pain, strain, hardship and temptation of everything surrounding him. All he focuses on is on finding this particular diamond, and he knows that if he chisels long enough through the black coal layers, representing human knowledge, he will finally see the diamond of divine knowledge.

In the background of a cave the contrast of ice and hot rocks represent the world of contrasts we live in.

The melted ice that formed a narrow stream flowing through, symbolizes humanity’s thirst for knowledge that can be quenched only by God’s light.”

Visit Akiane’s website and click on the image for a more detailed view of the painting.

We look to film for entertainment, escape, and occasionally to explore the deeper issues of life. But can film be an effective medium to explore the material/non-material boundary?

Damah is a non-profit organization that encourages an emerging generation of filmmakers from diverse perspectives to voice the spiritual aspect of the human experience through film and provides a forum for these artists to develop, discuss and display their vision.

In January, 2001, a group of individuals met to brainstorm about how they could support artists who desired to explore spirituality. They had a desire to create an event where people from a wide spectrum of spiritual backgrounds could come together to form a community where ideas, thoughts and perspectives on the spiritual aspect of life could be explored through the art of the short film.

The cream-of-the-crop from the first six Damah Film Festivals are available on DVD, and a few of these short films can be viewed for free online. For an example of one that drifts into the ID space check out Gabrielle. This 15 minute film tells the story of an unborn soul who has to make the decision whether or not to be born. The materialist worldview proclaims that we are born, we pay taxes, and we die. Is there more to life then that? Where do souls come from? Where do souls go? Are we more than a collection of chemicals that decompose when we die? These are all worthy questions raised by Gabrielle.

Those of you who can’t make the trip to L.A. for the next Damah Film Festival in May 2007, might want to check out the Altarnet Film Society which is setting up chapters around the country to watch and discuss the Damah short films.

In this groundbreaking book, Wiker and Witt show that nature offers all of the challenges and surprises, all of the mystery and elegance, we associate with design and, further, with artistic genius. They begin in Shakespeare and range through the fine-tuning of the laws of physics, the Periodic Table of Elements, the artistry of ordinary substances like carbon and water, the intricacy of biological organisms, and the drama of scientific exploration itself. In contrast to contemporary claims that the world is ultimately meaningless, Wiker and Witt reveal a cosmos charged with both meaning and purpose.

The book expands the intelligent design argument from the evidence of design to evidence for ingenious design. The authors argue that nature is a work of genius, like a Shakespearian play is a work of genius–both are rich, deep, and complex, full of meaning at every level.

Reductionism tears down human genius as unreal, as reducible to mere chemistry or biology. Wiker and Witt argue that our experience of genius is real. The genius of Shakespeare or Euclid or the chemist Lavoisier is something that should be explained–not explained away. And the same applies to the evidence of genius we find in nature.

This timely book reveals a universe of variety, artistry and meaning by taking an integrated look at both the arts and sciences-an amazing liberal-arts education in one volume. This is required reading for those interested in ARN’s ID Arts Initiative.

A Meaningful World is available from ARN.

Jody Sjogren has an entire metamorphosis series she has developed depicting man-made designs that draw their inspiration from designs in nature. Several of her prints in this series have already sold out, but she still has a small supply of Blackbird prints left that she has agreed to make available for the launch of our ID Arts Project.

The similarities between machines and living systems inspired artist Jody Sjogren to create “Blackbird,” a visual metamorphosis between the Raven and the SR-71 Blackbird. These two black avian knights share many attributes and functional capabilities. But the elegance and complexity of the bird’s features rival those of this Mach 3+ spyplane. With variable-geometry wings; on-board maintenance, repair, and refueling systems; and even the ability to reproduce itself, the Raven compels us to consider that intelligent design is as logical an explanation for the origin of living systems as it is for man-made machines. (Maybe not politically correct, but definitely logical!)

The Blackbird art print is available from ARN.

This beautiful watercolor image was painted in a canyon in Colorado. Some might wander upon this scene and only see random patterns of nature. As an artist operating in an intelligently designed world, Chris Woolley finds purpose:

“When you hike up North Cheyenne Canyon, you eventually step through the trees to find looming above you this rock of monumental proportions. It is set on the side of a hill with the path brushing past it on the right. It is large enough to provide shelter in a time of storm or a solid foundation if one chooses to spend time there. When I first found Split Rock I felt compelled to draw and paint it and have since grown quite fond of my time spent there. It has become for me a metaphor for life. The rock that was broken, but through that brokenness I create art.”

– Chris Woolley

The Split Rock art print is available from ARN.

Many mindful artists realize (and have realized) that they are the instrument, not the source of art. It is often remarked in music circles that Mozart appeared to be a conduit for his work since his original manuscripts show no signs of correction or rewriting; it was as if he was taking dictation. Many artists report occasionally having a taste of this experience, where the art flows effortlessly, while at other times it is an incredible struggle. Does the fact that music and art can occasionally flow through us as instruments point to a grand design of the universe? Do the sights and sounds of the world around us, as captured by the artist, reflect a design that is not a proof, but a shadow or reflection of the deeper design of the universe?

This question is intensified when we encounter child prodigies such as self-taught artist Akiane Kramarik, who first started drawing at age 4 and was doing solo art exhibits by age 9. Watch this CNN video interview with Akiane for a glimpse of her amazing artistic talent.

Click on the thumbnail above for a larger view of Akiane’s self portrait entitled “Co-creating”. Here is her commentary on this work: “Right after my eleventh birthday I visualized my self portrait through the view of a canvas and through the eyes of the spirit. I hoped to express the joy of co-creating, and the awe of feeling God’s love and wisdom.”

The discovery of the helix-shaped DNA by Crick and Watson was viewed by artist Salvador Dali as evidence of the intelligent design of life and one of the inspirations for his 1963 painting Galacidalacidesoxyribonucleicacid shown here (click on image for larger view). For more background and interpretation on this complex work see the commentary by Jonathan Ashar.

22″ x 29″ giclee prints of this image can be ordered on-line.

Chuck’s Bad Day by Matt Voss, is a fictional graphic story suggesting that there may have been many factors that influenced Darwin to develop his theory. It is featured in the 2006 SCAD Science Anthology and Slam Bang Anthology #1 Vol. 3 by Fantastic Press. Matt Voss (a.k.a. “Vosshogg”) is a comic book creator, freelance illustrator, and storyboard artist with a B.F.A in Sequential Art form Savannah College of Art and Design. He currently lives in the Bay Area, CA.

Click to view or download

William Steig

Farrer, Straus, and Giroux, (Hardcover), 28 pp., 1984

Sometimes we make the origins debate more complex than it needs to be, and it takes a children’s book to boil it down to the basic issues. Such is the case with Yellow & Pink by William Steig. This delightful book about two wooden dolls, who suddenly become self-aware and wonder about their origins, is a delight to read with any 3 to 8 year old and provides a great launching pad for addressing that age-old question “Mommy, where did I come from?” Although you won’t find the words “Intelligent Design” or “Evolution” in this book, you will quickly recognize the underlying philosophical arguments for both, boiled down to their essence.

Recommendations
In Yellow & Pink …Steig has created a pair of characters who seem the embodiments of his bright esthetic. Named for the colors of their freshly painted costumes, Pink and Yellow are wooden dolls left out to dry in the sun. They are odd fellows, bumpkins, incorrigables, clowns, countrymen of Beckett’s Vladimir and Estragon, Laurel and Hardy. Philosophers both, they no sooner “awaken,” come to life, than they begin to ponder by what means they might have arrived in this world. “How,” Yellow demands …”could anyone make something like me, so intricate, so perfect? Or, for that matter, like you.” … One marvels at the expressiveness, the nearness to animation, of Steig’s vibrant drawings.

- Leonard Marcus, The Washington Post Book World

Steig is incomparable. Bravo! A yellow and a pink puppet lie in the sun, waiting for their paint to dry. Theyponder their origin. They speculate. They debate. As soon as they’ve settled on a solution, a mysterious man unsettles their theory. Who is this man? The reader must decide.

- Los Angeles Times Book Review

Original, witty, provocative.

- Zena Sutherland, Chicago Tribune

A comic fable that has more clout than the most fervent homily.

- Publishers Weekly

Yellow & Pink is currently out of print

by James Scott Bell

Christy Award-winning author Bell tackles the issue of Darwin vs. Design in this fictional work that masterfully integrates Darwin’s history with Bell’s mystery writer imagination. Sir Max Busby is a researcher who encourages Darwin and his theory of natural selection, but later has a change of heart. After Darwin’s death, his housekeeper follows his instructions to give attorney Bell a manuscript correcting his mistake big mistake.

Here is one reader’s assessment:

“On the back cover of the book is a quote from Phillip Johnson, the man who almost single handedly has caused Darwinists serious head burn–they are clearly on the run now. He says of this book, ‘Darwinists will be outraged,’ and he’s right about that. That’s because the book is so doggone smart and funny. Darwinists, in my experience, can’t stand being made sport of. This novel is a mix of history and fancy (though the line is sometimes obscured), but the really important point is that it is about what really is the heart of hard core evolutionary thinking, and that’s a fear of being wrong. Because that might mean God really does exist! I recommend this novel to all who are interested in the origins controversy, at the very least because it’s different from the normal, dry, academic tones. I think high school students would especially like it.”

Note: this book is not to be confused with the 2006 book (by John Darnton) or the 1999 TV movie, both with a similar title. The original Darwin Conspiracy subtitled “The Confessions of Sir Max Busby” was released in 1995 and updated in 2002 by James Scott Bell and a much more entertaining faire than the two namesakes.

You can order this title from Amazon.com

Calculating God is the first science fiction book we are aware of to engage ID theory head on. Young earth creationists will no doubt be up in arms that they are cast as the villians (although the extreme YECs protrayed in the novel don’t depict any YECs we know…and hey everyone gets their turn as the villian in the scifi world), but we think you will be pleasantly surprised to find out who is cast as the ID supporters. Its obvious author Robert Sawyer has done his homework in both ID Theory and paleontology and you will find arguments from Stehpen J. Gould and Michael Behe bantied around like a pro.
Calculating God is the new near-future SF thriller from the popular and award-winning Robert J. Sawyer. An alien shuttle craft lands outside the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. A six-legged, two-armed alien emerges, who says, in perfect English, “Take me to a paleontologist.” It seems that Earth, and the alien’s home planet, and the home planet of another alien species traveling on the alien mother ship, all experienced the same five cataclysmic events at about the same time (one example of these “cataclysmic events” would be the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs). Both alien races believe this proves the existence of God: i.e. he’s obviously been playing with the evolution of life on each of these planets.

From this provocative launch point, Sawyer tells a fast-paced, and morally and intellectually challenging, SF story that just grows larger and larger in scope. The evidence of God’s universal existence is not universally well received on Earth, nor even immediately believed. And it reveals nothing of God’s nature. In fact. it poses more questions than it answers.

When a supernova explodes out in the galaxy but close enough to wipe out life on all three home-worlds, the big question is, Will God intervene or is this the sixth cataclysm?

Calculating God is SF on the grand scale. If you have an avid scifi friend you want to introduce to ID theory. This book is the best place to start. Just be prepared to deal with tar-baby it may birth.
Calculating God is available from Amazon.com

The ID Arts Initiative provides us a great forum to announce the publication of the first ARN fictional book: The Cave Painting: A Parable of Science by Roddy Bullock. Our ID Literature focus will include many literary works that engage ID on some level including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, and children’s books.

Four hundred fifty pages of serious fun, The Cave Painting is an allegorical novel exploring the Design versus Naturalism debate in a fictional story format. The novel, together with comprehensive end notes which tie the allegorical arguments to real facts and arguments, highlights the key shortcomings of current Darwinian theories in explaining the origin of specified complex things, whether they be cave paintings, or, by analogy, human beings. This parable pits a bright young student against the academic establishment that tries to convince her and fellow students that a recently discovered local cave painting can be explained by purely naturalistic processes. She�s not buying it, and you are likely to stay up all night to find out how the parable ends.

The Darwin vs. Design debate is often a “left-brain” activity focused on the scientific data in biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics. Roddy Bullock shows us we can use both sides of our brain in approaching this issue with a beautiful and engaging parable that may find a new audience that would shudder at the thought of wading through a book full of data. However, those who enjoy the scientific details of the debate will not be disappointed, as the second half of the book consists of footnotes to real-world examples to support the points being made in the parable. Both the artist and the scientist will find something of value in this book that gives us a fresh new way to look at the issues and will likely keep you up all night to find out how the parable ends.
–Dennis Wagner, Executive Director, Access Research Network

The Cave Painting: A Parable of Science is available from ARN

Fast Falls the Eventide is the first recording by the Small-Clemente Duo, which features two classical guitarists Peter Clemente and Mark Small.

The guitarists present a wide-ranging program that includes solo performances, duets, ensemble pieces, as well as collaboration with members of the Utah Symphony Orchestra. The instrumental performances include folk songs, hymns, classical pieces, movie themes, and original pieces. They open with an amazing rendition of “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief,” one of the best-loved hymns of the Restoration. Arranged for oboe, cello and two guitars, the piece sets the tone for the rest of the project, which maintains a study in excellence throughout. For a sampling of what the duo sounds like in performance, check out “Prelude No. 2” and “Fugue No. 2,” two pieces from J.S. Bach taken from Book 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier.

Arranged for two guitars, Small and Clemente give each piece such elegant and simpatico readings. The CD also features original compositions by Small, the work of Granados, Dvorak, traditional and spiritual pieces, and a take of “A Map of the World,” the theme song of the 1999 film of the same name by Pat Metheny. The showpiece however, is “Waterscapes,” a set of variations on the folk song “The Water Is Wide”, arranged by Small, who dedicated the piece to his father, who was “always drawn to oceans, lakes and rivers.” Fast Falls the Eventide is as complete a record as any artist could wish to make. Put it on and wade into its beauty.

While the majority of the CD is instrumental, it is the one song with vocals that drew us to consider the work for our project. The song is titled “When It’s Time” and was co-written by Mark Small’s daughter Meegan. Meegan sings the lyrics on this folk song in a style that seems to magically transport you to some Irish countryside to ponder the design of the universe:

When It’s Time
Words and Music by Mark and Meegan Small

When it’s time we arrive,
For a while we can stay,
When it’s time for leavin’ we’ll go.
There’s an order to all and a master design,
This we’ll each in our own time know.

Feel the warmth of the breeze,
See the grain in the field,
Hear the geese fly over the trees.
The creator above has an eye on it all,
It’s not hard for me to believe.

Would it make sense if all our lives,
Result from random chance?
Evil and good, a happenstance,
Or is there really a plan?

Full moon in the sky,
Brings the rise of the tide,
And the frost brings red to the leaf.
The creator above has his hand in it all,
That’s not hard for me to believe.

Show me a sign the doubter says,
I must see with my eyes.
Just look around is my reply,
For the proof is in earth, sea, and sky.

When it’s time we arrive,
For a while we can stay,
When it’s time for leavin’ we’ll go.
The creator above has been guiding our ways,
This we’ll each in our own time know.
The creator above has been guiding our ways,
This we’ll each in our own day know.

When Its Time (Listen to mp3 file)

Go here to order the CD from ARN:

Inspired by the majestic power of the Bald Eagle and the technological wonders of the F-22 Raptor, artist Jody F. Sjogren captures the association between these two “dominant raptors” of the skies. Who has not marveled at this great American bird of prey on the wing, or pondered the fierce force of its curved talons and hooked beak? Wherever it flies, Haliaeetus leucocephalus dominates its territory. Above all other raptors (eagles, hawks, falcons, and owls), it reigns as America’s symbol of national pride and strength. In military parallel, Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor guarantees “air dominance” in aerial warfare. As the first of the United States Air Force’s fifth generation fighter aircraft, the F-22 prevents hostile aircraft and missiles from denying U.S. operations worldwide, day or night. The Raptor’s combination of maneuverability, speed, stealth, integrated avionics, and supportability multiplies its advantages in both air-to-air and air-to-ground environments. In any airspace and any situation, the F-22 gives its pilot unsurpassed control of the engagement. By the genius of its designers, it has become — like its living counterpart — the dominant raptor of the skies.

The Dominate Raptor art print is available from ARN.

Some art comes with a more direct message. Such is the case with our next work from political cartoonist Chuck Asay. A recent book attacking intelligent design (Intelligent Thought: Science vs. the Intelligent Design Movement, ed. John Brockman, Vintage Press, May 2006), has chapters by most of the big names in evolutionary thought: Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Jerry Coyne, Steven Pinker, Lee Smolin, Stuart A. Kauffman and others. In the introduction Brockman summarizes the situation from his perspective: materialistic Darwinism is the only scientific approach to origins, and the “bizarre” claims of “fundamentalists” with “beliefs consistent with those of the Middle Ages” must be opposed. “The Visigoths are at the gates” of science, chanting that schools must teach the controversy, “when in actuality there is no debate, no controversy.”

While Brockman intended the “Visigoths” reference as an insult equating those who do not embrace materialistic Darwinism to uneducated barbarians, he has actually created an interesting analogy of the situation, and perhaps a prophetic look at the future. For it was the Visigoths of the 3rd and 4th centuries that were waiting at the gates of the Roman Empire when it collapsed under its own weight. For years the Darwinists in power have pretended all is well in the land of random mutation and natural selection and that intelligent design should be ignored. With this book (and several others like it), they are attempting to both laugh and fight back at the ID movement. This work by Chuck Asay proves again that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Click to view a larger imager or order your Visogoths products at our CafePress Store

I picked up this little book a few years ago in a museum shop in Europe, and to tell you the truth it was the seed that generated this whole ID Arts project. The book explains that four different types of “isms” are represented: 1) a trend within the visual arts; 2) a broad cultural trend; 3) artist-defined movement; and 4) retrospectively applied label. The broad cultural trends caught my eye: Renaissance, Secularism, Humanism, Realism, Materialism, Primitivism, Post-Modernism. The art movements marched along the timeline in step with intellectuals movements. As ID theory emerges in step with startling new discoveries about the design and complexity of life, where will that show up in the world of art? IDism? Designism? If you are an artist thinking about these issues, buy this book and spend a weekend looking at the Chronology of Isms timeline in the back of the book and absorbing the sample art for each period and help us define the next art ism on the chart: Designism.

Isms: Understanding Art is the perfect pocket-sized guide for gallery and museum lovers who have a general interest in the arts, but not necessarily any formal education in the visual arts. With this portable and indispensable tool in hand, anyone can guide themselves through the world’s prestigious museums and major art collections and recognize and intelligently discuss the significant movements that have shaped the world of art.

Using an informative and engaging style with informal and direct tone, each of the numerous “isms” that are used to define-but often misleadingly cloud-art movements are explained in simple terms and made accessible to the casual art lover. Readers are encouraged to think of styles as useful tools for conversation and exploration rather than as hard and fast academic definitions, and to relate to the art itself rather than to a merely conceptual idea.

Each spread is devoted to a single art historical period and begins with an introduction that explains when the movement first emerged, the historical period to which it applies, and the principal disputes over its applicability, usefulness, or significance. The rest of the chapter is divided into several sections illustrating the most important artists and works within the period, related key words, and illustrations that best represent the distinctive features. This comprehensible structure makes it possible for any reader to gain a clear understanding of Classicism or Cubism while sitting in a café or visiting a gallery.

Isms: Understanding Art is Available at Amazon.com

Wonders

by Roger W. Hancock

Looking, viewing, wondering,
Of all the stars, all the universes;
Man to find meaning,
Plots the constellations.

Looking, searching, wondering,
All the suns, and planets be,
Man still looking to the stars,
Surmise our origins.

Looking, studying, wondering,
All on earth and in the sky,
Man’s belief in a godless faith,
Chose unproven thought.

(c) 10-16-06, Roger W Hancock
www.PoetPatriot.com

Earth

by Roger W. Hancock

Earth is set precise,
Among the heavenly stars;
Happenstance? They say.

(c) 10-16-06, Roger W Hancock
www.PoetPatriot.com

Big Bang

by Roger W. Hancock

Chaos of a blast?
Universe of order set,
Wonders of the stars.

(c) 10-16-06, Roger W Hancock
http://www.PoetPatriot.com

(HAIKU POEM: A form of poetry forming three lines of the first being 5 syllables, the second 7 and then 5 for the third. The Haiku usually contains the elements of the spiritual or the human condition within nature. I often will deviate from the purity of the definition.)

The Tree

The calm quiet strength of a tree
Anchored deep in the earth
Reaching high in the sky
The calm quiet strength of a tree

The calm quiet strength of a tree
Full of life from its roots
To the tiniest branch
The calm quiet strength of a tree

And oh, how it comforts me
How it teaches me
Without a sound
Then I realize at once
That this tree and I are one
In eternity

The calm quiet strength of a tree
From the weight of its trunk
To its delicate leaves
The calm quiet strength of a tree

The calm quiet strength of a tree
Showing anyone near
All the secrets of time
The calm quiet strength of a tree

Copyright 1994 Tom Splitt

The Tree (listen to sample mp3 file)

To purchase the entire audio track visit Tom Splitt’s website.

Do our musical abilities in any way reflect or express the larger design of the universe we find ourselves in? Composer and solo pianist, Tom Splitt, thinks so. When you decompose music into notes and octaves it is a precise mathematical language of its own. And yet music can also be a highly creative and spontaneous experience. How do design, talent, creativity, inspiration, and spontaneity combine to form music we love to hear? What does the creative process of music tell us about the creative nature of the universe? Listen as Tom describes the creative process behind several of the songs on this project, then close your eyes and let his music carry you down the rushing river and soaring with the wind.

“élan is an album of piano music. Most of the pieces relate to a place or person. For example, The River came after a visit to Eldorado Canyon in Colorado. I was back home walking across the Michigan Avenue Bridge–which spans the Chicago River–and could not get the sound of that rushing river in the canyon out of my head until I wrote this piece.

Three of the pieces came entirely spontaneously during recording; I had never heard them until they came out of my hands. The Wind and Soaring are two of these, and in listening to the playback, the titles came just as spontaneously. The third piece was a beyond-time experience of eternity, when I was fully aware of being played by the music, of being its instrument, not its source. It was, and is, Grace.” — Tom Splitt

Go here to listen to sample clips, read reviews or to order the élan CD from ARN.

…[T]he universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference…” —Richard Dawkins

“It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I’d rather not consider that)” –Richard Dawkins

**********************

Recently (January 2006) in the Belfast Telegraph, zoology Prof. Richard Dawkins was interviewed. The feature article (“Is Religion the Root of All Evil”) begins with this provocative introduction:

“Known as ‘Darwin’s Rottweiler’, professor Richard Dawkins relishes controversy. In his new TV series he explains how religion is a form of abuse—and why God is man’s most destructive invention.”

Read the rest of this entry »

“Darwinocracy’s All Muscle”
(Never Mind Its Sacred Vow!)

by Tom Graffagnino

The Imams of Evolution
Have Designs on every school…
Darwinocracy’s all muscle!
Scientism’s come to rule!

Read the rest of this entry »

What does Shakespeare have to do with Intelligent Design Theory? Ben Wiker, co-author of A Meaningful World, explains in this interview with Ignatius Insight.

Recently, a team of geo-microbiologists at Penn State University discovered that the origin of life on Earth may not have dropped out of the blue via some sort of extra-terrestrial panspermian planting, or accidentally (magically?) popped into existence when lifeless primordial goo was zapped by a purposeless and random prehistoric lightning strike.

Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Tom Magnuson
1997 Drama/Sci-Fi (PG), directed by Robert Zemeckis, 153 min, IMDb Info

Many are intrigued by the possibility of other advanced civilizations in the cosmos. The interest ranges from the general public to gifted scientists such as Carl Sagan, whose book Contact was the inspiration for a 1997 blockbuster film. Contact portrays the scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) by the passionate Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodi Foster). Although Sagan was a outspoken public champion for a materialistic worldview, this movie raises many interesting discussion questions about the nature of our universe, the nature of reality, and the assumptions behind our worldviews.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Robert Voss

BUILT UP FROM A SKULLCAP AND ORANGUTAN’S JAW,
IN MANY OLD TEXTBOOKS, PILTDOWN MAN WE ALL SAW,
TEETH FILED TO LOOK HUMAN, AND STAINED TO LOOK OLD,
HIS LESSON FOR US: DON’T BELIEVE ALL YOU’RE TOLD.

TEN YEARS LATER, NEBRASKA MAN WE SALUTED.
FROM A SINGLE PIG’S TOOTH HE WAS RECONSTITUTED.

AND WHO CAN FORGET JAVA MAN’S FEARFUL LOOK?
A BIG GIBBON, FINAGLED FOR YOUR SCIENCE BOOK.

DEPICTIONS OF “NELLY” AND “LUCY” STILL SCARE US.
SADLY, BOTH ARE PREDOMINANTLY PLASTER OF PARIS.
THEIR DRAWINGS AND SCULPTURES BOTH BIASED CREATION,
MAN-LIKE FEATURES ENSUE FROM RICH IMAGINATION.

THE OPPOSITE’S TRUE FOR THE MAN FROM NEANDER;
APISH LOOKS AS THE ARTIST’S PEN TENDS TO MEANDER,
DESIGNED TO IMPRINT IN THE POPULAR MIND,
A CREATURE, NOT MAN, BUT A WHOLE DIFFERENT KIND.

NOT ONLY APE-MEN WERE DOCTORED, LORD KNOWS.
“PILT DOWN CHICKEN” AND MINIATURE HORSIES WITH TOES.
STILL IN SOME TEXTBOOKS, AS FAR AS THAT GOES,
ARE HAEKEL’S FAKED DRAWINGS OF CRITTER EMBRYOS.

FISH EXTINCT FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS, SO THEY SAID,
WASHED UP BY TSUNAMI, BUT UH-OH, FRESH DEAD.
AND COELACANTH, MOST RESILIANT FISH YET,
KEEPS SHOWING UP LIVE IN THE FISHERMAN’S NET.

SOME FRAUDS, SOME SINCERE, BUT ON EVERY OCCASION,
STRONG DEVOTION TO THEORY TRUMPS GOOD OBSERVATION.

By Jim Rogers, MD

Little machines that go
Integrated just so
Blueprint incognito
What makes it grow

Put together so fine
Personalities shine
Words of poetry rhyme
How can you know
What a wonder it is

It’s a silly thing to think we’re dumber
Than Mother Nature who’s got no brain
For evolution it’s quite the bummer
Because she can’t explain
What clearly needs a brain
Mother Nature’s got no brain

Nanotechnology
In cell biology
Professors eulogize
It’s Darwin I surmise

DNA transcription
Protein configuration
Gene translocation
Godly revelation
What a wonder it is

Are we just animals
Roaming the streets because
Some textbook said it was
What we should be

I know there’s more to life
It’s evident despite
Go see the stars at night
There in plain sight

by Daniel Schwabauer and John Calvert

Intelligent Design Network, (paperback), 34 pages, 2002.

When Nate Plummer presents his 10th-grade biology class with an objective look at human origins, he has no idea it will put him squarely between the Board of Education and the ACLU, accused of teaching creationism to his students.

In this one-act play, set during a school board meeting convened to investigate his curriculum, Nate the Biology teacher finds himself debating his old friend, Dr. Malcolm Trent, Anthropology Professor and School Board Member, to argue the merits and shortcomings of “The Rule”, a.k.a the doctrine of Methodological Naturalism.

Arranged in an on-stage format, The Rule touches on a number of concepts and arguments surrounding the “teach the controversy” debate, relating them to the central question: does ID have a place in the science classroom? By framing the argument around fictional characters engaged in real-life situation, The Rule puts the argument in a more practical and comprehensable form.

The format and length of The Rule make it ideal not only as a quick read, but also as a great learning tool for middle- or high-school students, to help them understand what the “teach the controversy” debate is all about.

The Rule is available from ARN.