The ID Update

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Albert Einstein's letter coming up at auction: Does it show that he was an atheist? (I think that's just a publicity ploy.)

Materialists start to come to grips with failure, but materialism dies hard (Sorry, BoBos, it's not up to you to decide where it will end. It will end where the evidence leads, and the evidence simply does not favour materialism - yours or anyone else's.)

Evolutionary psychology: So you don't stick to your goals? Blame your kludgebrain ... or maybe not

(Excerpt: But why evolution? What happened to our stars, our parents, our societies, our religion, and our genes as the explanations for why we do not meet our goals? Oh, come to think of it, evolution is in the news right now, what with Darwin's anniversary celebrations and the Expelled film.)

Health can sometimes be fun, free, and painless: The placebo effect gets its own Web site

Toronto-based Canadian journalist Denyse O'Leary (www.designorchance.com) is the author of the multiple award-winning By Design or by Chance? (Augsburg Fortress 2004), an overview of the intelligent design controversy. She was named CBA Canada's Recommended Author of the Year in 2005 and is co-author, with Montreal neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, of the forthcoming The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist's case for the existence of the soul (Harper 2007).

Legislatures in three states - Louisiana, Michigan and Missouri - are considering academic freedom bills that would give teachers greater protection and freedom in teaching the strengths and weaknesses of Darwinian evolution.

"There has definitely been a raising of consciousness among people that there is a problem of censoring scientific information that challenges evolution," the Discovery Institute's Casey Luskin told Baptist Press.

The language of the bills in Louisiana, Michigan and Missouri does not allow for ID to be taught.

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by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Take this survey: If SETI found ET, would that destroy your faith?

Prof thinks profs' intellectual sneers at public are not great TV, and he sure is right

Check your calendar ... is it still Orwell's 1984 where you live?

Science teacher symposium: Answer student questions without getting sued or fired

In some ways, bonobos (pygmy chimps) are more similar to humans than to other chimps

How fares the Expelled film? Still No. 5 - and who's ahead of it anyway?

David Attenborough, 81, to make one last film - on evolution

Toronto-based Canadian journalist Denyse O'Leary (www.designorchance.com) is the author of the multiple award-winning By Design or by Chance? (Augsburg Fortress 2004), an overview of the intelligent design controversy. She was named CBA Canada's Recommended Author of the Year in 2005 and is co-author, with Montreal neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, of the forthcoming The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist's case for the existence of the soul (Harper 2007).

"At the request of the Swiss government, an ethics panel has weighed in on the "dignity" of plants and opined that the arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong. This is no hoax. The concept of what could be called "plant rights" is being seriously debated." The initiative derives from a sincerely held conviction that the word "dignity" should be associated with all life forms. The Swiss Federal Constitution, which has triggered this study, is itself a product of a collective social conscience and a Federal Ethics Committee was given the task of articulating what the concept of "dignity" means in the context of plants.

Should convictions about the dignity of plants affect the way we cut and cook asparagus? (source: go here)

How did the working group proceed? What ethical principles did they identify? The participants were not of one mind on the issues: "Even within the ECNH, the intuitions relating to the extent and justification of moral responsibilities towards plants were highly heterogeneous." They sought to capture this diversity of opinion:

"So if we are trying to put the idea of the dignity of living beings into concrete terms for plants, we must first show which basic ethical positions permit the consideration of plants for their own sake. This discussion was structured by means of a decision tree."

Much of the report (12 pages) is devoted to documenting the different perspectives contributed by working group members. It is worth highlighting the absence of appeal to scientific method. Furthermore, there was no lead to any alternative source of knowledge. Theocentrism was defined as: "The basis for this position is the idea of a God who is creator, and therefore the creative ground of all living organisms. What counts for its own sake is God. All organisms count because of their relationship to God." However, the report also says: "No member takes the theocentric position." The emphasis in the report is on capturing what the "dignity of plants" meant to the assembled experts and then suggesting what this might mean for contemporary society. This approach bears all the hallmarks of relativised socially-constructed knowledge. This is a post-modern response to the problem of defining the dignity of plants.

Previous blogs (here and here) have identified postmodernism as a response to the materialist worldview. Despite numerous books and articles, a framework for ethics supported by the scientific method has not emerged. It is possible to find examples of almost any practice in the world of nature, so if the natural world gives us 'norms', then anything goes! The philosophy of naturalism has two faces when it comes to ethics. The first option is to adopt sphere sovereignty (Gould's NOMA) and push ethics out of the arena of public knowledge. This leads straight to postmodernism for every academic discipline other than science (although if you are not a scientist, science also is viewed through postmodern glasses). The other option is to find an ethic within science - usually informed by evolutionary theory. This allows advocates of that ethic to speak with a semblance of authority, but the reality is that their schemes are no more evidence-based than adaptationist just-so stories.

The reaction of the Nature report about plant dignity was to express bewilderment and to publicise the opinion of one scientist that "things will start to become clearer when legal challenges to specific research projects come to court, and case law becomes established." One is inclined to comment: what else can be done if ethics are socially constructed?

ID is not a worldview, although advocates do seek to sensitise people to the worldviews that are prevailing in academia. ID does not come with a blueprint for explaining the dignity of plants. However, since the ID community has concluded that there are innumerable evidences for design in living things, and since design implies purpose and meaning, then ID provides a context for thinking that an objective environmental ethic actually exists. Consequently, seeking out this ethical knowledge is an activity worthy of scholars everywhere.

The dignity of living beings with regard to plants
Moral consideration of plants for their own sake
Ariane Willemsen (Editor)
Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (ECNH), April 2008.

First para: The Federal Constitution has three forms of protection for plants: the protection of biodiversity, species protection, and the duty to take the dignity of living beings into consideration when handling plants. The constitutional term 'living beings' encompasses animals, plants and other organisms. At legislative level, the Gene Technology Act limits the scope of the term to animals and plants. Previous discussion within constitutional law relates the term Wurde der Kreatur ('dignity of living beings') to the value of the individual organism for its own sake.

See also:

Smith, W.J. The Silent Scream of the Asparagus, The Weekly Standard, 12 May 2008, Volume 13, Issue 33

Abbott, A. Swiss 'dignity' law is threat to plant biology, Nature, 452, 23 April 2008, 919 | doi:10.1038/452919a

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Dinesh D'Souza's comments on animal rights ethicist Peter Singer make Ben Stein look bland. And he is getting LOTS of comments, too. (Next time I will remember to bring a feather to knock myself over with.)

The Spiritual Brain shortlisted for three Write! Canada awards

Phyllis Schlafly on the Expelled movie and why she thinks commentators hate the term "Darwinism"

Well-known Turkish creationist sentenced to jail - not ID-related, source says

David Warren on how animals differ from machines, and other topics, including bizarre fur seal sex

Toronto-based Canadian journalist Denyse O'Leary (www.designorchance.com) is the author of the multiple award-winning By Design or by Chance? (Augsburg Fortress 2004), an overview of the intelligent design controversy. She was named CBA Canada's Recommended Author of the Year in 2005 and is co-author, with Montreal neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, of the forthcoming The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist's case for the existence of the soul (Harper 2007).

Science Teachers and Professors...

You are invited to attend Biola's 2008 Science Teacher Symposium: Intelligent Design after "Expelled"

Presented by Biola University's M.A. Program in Science and Religion
Thursday July 17, 2008, 8:00 a.m. - 9:45 p.m., Biola University
Friday, July 18, 2008, 8:30 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Biola University

Cost: $99 ($109 if postmarked after July 1).

What will it be like to teach about Intelligent Design in the wake of the movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed". Internationally known design theorist Dr. Paul Nelson, who appeared in "Expelled", will give us an answer. Dr. John Bloom and Dr. Mike Keas of Biola's M.A. Program in Science and Religion will also contribute to the program. The symposium grants teachers with ACSI (Christian) Continuing Education Units. Public and home school educators are also welcomed.

Symposium Topics Important to all Science Teachers
- Introduction to Science and Religion
- Resources for Teaching about Intelligent Design
- Human Origins: Issues in Physical Science and Biology

Parallel Sessions
- Physical Sciences
- Inferring Design from Anthropic Correspondences
- Biochemistry: The Biochemical Prerequisites for Life
- Life Sciences
- Recent Advances in Biological Intelligent Design Research
- Using the "Explore Evolution" Curriculum (going beyond topics in our
2007 Symposium)

NOTE: We do not favor mandating (as public policy) the teaching of intelligent design (ID) in schools. Even so, many teachers will want to know more about ID as an exciting new scientific research agenda. After "Expelled" more students will be asking about ID than every before. Be prepared to respond to student curiosity!

To get more information and register, click HERE.

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Was one woman who lived 150,000 to 200,000 years ago the ancestress of all of us? Science may not be sure, but pop culture is.

Part One: Our Mitochondria: A piece in the puzzle of our origins?

Part Two: What does our mitochondrial DNA say about human ancestry?

Part Three: African Eve - when pop culture falls in love with science

Toronto-based Canadian journalist Denyse O'Leary (www.designorchance.com) is the author of the multiple award-winning By Design or by Chance? (Augsburg Fortress 2004), an overview of the intelligent design controversy. She was named CBA Canada's Recommended Author of the Year in 2005 and is co-author, with Montreal neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, of the forthcoming The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist's case for the existence of the soul (Harper 2007).

A new Web site covers the problem of discrimination against Darwin skeptics. The Web site will document each case learned of and give advice on how to survive in academia. The Web site will also respond to the common false charges against individuals, such as the claim that there was no evidence that Dr. Gonzalez (Iowa State University) was denied tenure due to his support of intelligent design.

On the Web site, there is a form at the bottom of the page, which will give you a free chapter of an upcoming book. You will also get updates on what is going on with this projects.

Click HERE for the Web site.

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Expelling astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez called one of Iowa State University's missteps

No one makes a big-budget movie about faith-and-science bores

Fun with David Berlinski: The Devil sketches what we do not know

Darwin strikes back: Making intellectual freedom sound scary

Darwin and the Nazis (yes, again, but this is interesting): Nazism as a "biological" political program

Toronto-based Canadian journalist Denyse O'Leary (www.designorchance.com) is the author of the multiple award-winning By Design or by Chance? (Augsburg Fortress 2004), an overview of the intelligent design controversy. She was named CBA Canada's Recommended Author of the Year in 2005 and is co-author, with Montreal neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, of the forthcoming The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist's case for the existence of the soul (Harper 2007).

Tim Woods, of the Waco-Tribune Herald, reports that the school's faculty senate passed a "failure of shared governance" resolution, complaining that Lilley and Provost Randall O'Brien exercised their own judgment in denying tenure to 12 of 30 candidates this spring, in at least some cases overruling University Tenure Committee recommendations.

The resolution goes on to state that "standards in academia provide that the President and Provost should 'concur with the faculty judgment except in rare instances and for compelling reasons which should be stated in detail.' "

The faculty senate also complains there are other university matters where the faculty's voice isn't heard or its recommendations aren't followed.

President John Lilley has not been friendly to ID at BU, and an upcoming Board of Regents meeting could mean he's out.

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