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Welcome to ARN-Announce
by Dennis Wagner

Number Nineteen, November 30, 2001

ARN-Announce is the on-line announcement and information service of Access Research Network. ARN generates announcements to the current ARN Announce list as information becomes available. You have received this message because your email address was submitted to this list. Subscription and Unsubscription information is at the end of this message.

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IN THIS ARN-ANNOUNCE:

CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS: ICONS T-SHIRT AND MOODY SCIENCE FAMILY VIDEO

If you are a fan of Intelligent Design and you’ve been wondering what kind of Christmas gift you can give to a friend, co-worker or family member, I’d like to make a couple of recommendations. For the natural-born rebel in your house I would like to recommend our “Subvert the Dominant Paradigm” T-Shirt. Designed by author Jonathan Wells, this T-shirt is the perfect complement to his recent book "Icons of Evolution".  The large picture of Charles Darwin on the front is an instant attention-getter.  The phrase "Subvert the Dominant Paradigm" immediately communicates that you are no Darwinian groupie.  On the back the famous quote "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" is modified with a strikeout through "evolution" which is replaced with the large red word "evidence."  This T-shirt lets your friends and colleagues know in the most unsubtle way that the Icons of Evolution are no longer good enough for you.

WARNING: Wearing this T-shirt in public may subject you to harassment from the local thought police.

The “Subvert the Dominant Paradigm” T-Shirt is available for $16.95 from ARN. To preview the T-shirt or place your order go to:

http://www.arn.org/arnproducts/miscellaneous/m002.htm

 

We are often asked if we carry any video products on science topics suitable for elementary or junior high children. I’m please to announce we are now making available the Moody Science video set “Journeys to the Edge of Creation.” This set includes two documentary style videos that explore the beauty, design and grandeur of the universe in an engaging style that is appropriate for the entire family.

Utilizing actual photography from the Mariner, Magellan, and Voyager probes, along with first-rate computer animation, the first video "Our Solar System" takes the viewer on a fascinating journey from the sun to the outer planets. The 79,000-foot volcano on Mars, Jupiter's perpetual hurricane, and the raging winds of Neptune are among the highlights of the journey. The great diversity and design are clearly seen in the planets, but the uniqueness of the earth in its ability to sustain life is properly emphasized.

"The Milky Way and Beyond," the second volume in this boxed video set, continues the journey beyond the Solar System, making use of stunning photography from the Hubble orbiting space telescope. The excellent narration highlights recent discoveries that shed new light on pulsars, black holes, quasars, and the innumerable galaxies that lie beyond the Milky Way. The vast distances of space are put into perspective with various, helpful illustrations. This is one of the first videos I have seen that explains the significance of the Hubble Deep Field photographs for the lay audience (see www.arn.org/arnproducts/posters/p100.htm)

These videos do not focus on the nature or method of creation as such but on the Designer's power, majesty, and creativity as seen in the heavenly creation, which in many ways is just now coming into focus. As with all Moody Science films, there is a proper perspective on God without being preachy or overtly evangelistic. These videos are a wonderful resource for families, churches and homeschoolers of all ages.

To order a copy of the two video set “Journeys to the Edge of Creation” for $24.95 go to: (http://www.arn.org/arnproducts/coverimages/v020.htm

 

DISCOVERY PBS EVOLUTION VIEWER'S GUIDE NOW AVAILABLE IN PRINT FORMAT

Two month’s ago we announced that our research partners at Discovery Institute had prepared an exhaustive 156 page Viewer’s Guide to PBS’s Evolution entitled “Getting the Facts Straight.” A downloadable pdf version of the document is still available at the ARN PBS page at http://www.arn.org/docs/pbsevolution/vguide.pdf

However, for those of you that don’t want to waste an entire ink cartridge on the document, or would like to have several professional looking copies to hand out to friends or teachers, I would like to recommend the new hard copy version of the Viewer’s Guide which you can order for $7.95 at http://www.arn.org/arnproducts/php/book_show_item.php?id=54

Two other resources we are making available this month on the PBS Evolution series are “Ten Questions to Ask Your Students About the PBS Evolution Series”

http://www.arn.org/docs/pbsevolution/tenquestions111501.htm

and “An Abridged PBS Evolution Viewer's Guide & Summary” available at:

http://www.arn.org/docs/pbsevolution/pbssummary111501.htm

These resources were both developed by Casey Luskin of the IDEA Club and he has kindly made them available for the ARN PBS Evolution web page. These are great handouts to use in a classroom setting, and can be followed up with the Discovery Viewer’s Guide when you are ready to jump into the detailed analysis of the various points and arguments.

REVIEW OF PBS EVOLUTION COMPANION BOOK EVOLUTION: TRIUMPH OF AN IDEA

The PBS Evolution Project includes not only 8 hours of video programming, but a companion textbook Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea written by Carl Zimmer, and a website with interactive lessons and teaching resources. Cornelius Hunter, author of Darwin's God: Evolution and the Problem of Evil, provides a review of Zimmer’s textbook. Zimmer consistently tells an overly optimistic story. As a popular tome supporting the pro-evolution perspective, Zimmer’s work is excellent—perhaps the best there is right now. But like the theory it defends, Zimmer’s work should not be confused with an even-handed, neutral assessment of the facts. As with the television series, the production is excellent but the content is committed to a particular view.

To read Cornelius Hunter’s review of “Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea” go to

www.arn.org/docs/pbsevolution/zimmerreview112101.htm

A REPLY TO EUGENIE SCOTT'S CRITIQUE OF ICONS OF EVOLUTION

Dr. Eugenie Scott from the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) has been on a mission to discredit “Icons of Evolution” and author Jonathan Wells since the book was first published last fall. It started with her review of Icons in Science, and continues with her attempt to debunk the book on the lecture and conference circuit. Rumor has it that Dr. Scott even has a “Wanted” poster of Jonathan hanging in her office bathroom.

The NCSE recently published responses to Jonathan Well’s Ten Questions: http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/7719_responses_to_jonathan_wells3_11_28_2001.asp

and Eugenie Scott presented a lecture recently at the California Science Teacher Convention in Palm Springs entitled “Icons of Evolution: The Good, Bad and Ugly.” I was in the audience that day along with Casey Luskin and Nathan Gapper, of the Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Club, a student-run club at UC San Diego devoted to discussing the creation-evolution issue (http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~idea/).

Dr. Scott began the talk with something that appeared like an intelligence briefing for a secret military operation for agents about to go take out the big names in ID.  She showed a black and white picture she had lifted from the Discovery web site with Bill Dembski, Jon Wells, Bruce Chapman, David Berlinkski, Paul Nelson, Steve Meyer and others. She then went through and talked about each person and tried to dig up some quotes to convince the audience that these people had religious beliefs and were not to be trusted.

On several occasions Dr. Scott grossly misrepresented Wells leaving the audience with the impression that his book was full of factual errors. For instance she stated that she had examined all ten of the textbooks reviewed by Wells and found that facts did not always line up with Well’s assessment. As an example she said that contrary to Well’s claims, the Ape-to-Human Icon did not appear in any of the ten textbooks. I just happened to have a copy of Well’s book in my lap so I turned to chapter 11 and found that Well’s never claimed that this Icon appears in textbooks. I then turned to Appendix I where Wells scores the textbooks and found that he rated the textbook on seven Icons and the Ape-to-Man Icon was not included. Based on these few examples it was not hard to see that Scott was engaged in a public relations campaign to discredit Wells with ad hominen remarks and misrepresentations.

Scott did attempt to address some of the technical issues regarding the Icons. But as you will see in the response to her lecture written by Casey Luskin and Nathan Gapper, while her condemning critique of Icons may have sounded convincing to the unsuspecting teachers in the audience, it did not pass muster with anyone knowledgeable about the evidence.

To view the response to Eugenie Scott’s lecture by Luskin and Gapper go to:

http://www.arn.org/docs/wells/jw_iconstouch111501.htm

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A FEW NOTES ABOUT ARN ANNOUNCE

This is the nineteenth issue of ARN-Announce. It describes many of the upcoming events and new articles, books, videos and other resources on Intelligent Design. Please forward this message to several of your friends and colleagues to let them know about the resources available at Access Research Network (www.arn.org). Back issues of ARN-Announce can be found at www.arn.org/announce.htm

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ARN-Announce is written by Dennis Wagner (dwagner@arn.org)

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