The ID Report

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Twins who literally share a body have different selves, personalities

Does neuroscience leave room for God?

Human mental abilities: the result of cultural cross-fertilisation As if.

Language: No current theory of its origin is worth much

Language: Not a sophisticated version of primal screams

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).

by Judge Darrell D. White (Retired)

Debate over the Louisiana Science Education Act (SB 733) calls to mind UC, Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson's Wall Street Journal op-ed observation,

"A Chinese paleontologist lectures around the world saying that recent fossil finds in his country are inconsistent with the Darwinian theory of evolution. His reason: The major animal groups appear abruptly in the rocks over a relatively short time, rather than evolving gradually from a common ancestor as Darwin's theory predicts. When this conclusion upsets American scientists, he wryly comments: 'In China we can criticize Darwin but not the government. In America you can criticize the government but not Darwin.'"

Evaluating evidence is critical in the search for truth--in science as in all areas of life. And while science textbooks speak often of "evidence", no helpful definition is provided. As a lawyer and retired trial judge, I find that scientific criticisms of Darwin’s views would clearly be admissible in a court of law.

"Relevant evidence" under Louisiana Code of Evidence Article 401 "... means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action [lawsuit] more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence."

Moreover, if an attorney fails to disclose to a court evidence that is directly contrary to legal authority cited, unethical conduct results! (Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct 3.3--"Candor toward the Tribunal")

Darwin himself acknowledged the need for critical thinking in Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. He wrote,

"a fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question..."

And then Darwin devoted three of the book's fifteen chapters to criticizing his own theory! How can the science textbooks justify withholding all the facts from students?

Congress announced a standard for "quality" science education in the No Child Left Behind Act declaring,

"where topics are taught that may generate controversy (such as biological evolution), the curriculum should help students to understand the full range of scientific views that exist, why such topics may generate controversy, and how scientific discoveries can profoundly affect society."

In 2006, Ouachita Parish School Board unanimously adopted a science curriculum policy that addresses these goals and is a worthy example.

Having reviewed all BESE-approved science textbooks, I can verify that the goal of teaching students to distinguish between observational and historical science is poorly done with the current slate of textbooks. And, as a concerned parent and grandparent, I commend Senator Nevers for his Louisiana Science Education Act legislation. Our children and their teachers deserve enactment of SB 733.

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

The linked stories update and support the material in The Design of Life supplemental text. You are welcome to use them both for interest or private study and for teaching.

Excerpts

big bangs in biology

Avalon explosion: The dawn of life reveals another intricate puzzle (January 14, 2008)

The Big Bang of flowers: An "abominable mystery"? Or an opportunity to really understand? (December 17, 2007)

Biology's Big Bangs (January 14, 2008)

butterflies

How did caterpillars start to become butterflies? (December 29, 2007)

C

common ancestors

Tiktaalik - channelling your "inner fish"? (December 24, 2007)

Copernican myth

The Copernican myth and other science myths: The undead still walk (December 17, 2007)

For the rest of the current index, go here.

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).

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).

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).

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).

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).

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

The math prof makes a design inference

British physicist asks, is there no freedom to criticize evolutionary theory? (Well, no, not if you know a good reason why materialist views are wrong.)

Expelled, its critics, and the theatre managers - knock me over with a feather, the legacy media critics didn't like the film but audiences apparently did

What percentage of scientists support current evolution theory? A better question: In the age of zealous Darwin lobbies, what percentage can afford reasonable dissent?

Who was Ernst Haeckel? Phenomenon? Flawed? Faker? All three, maybe.

Just what IS a design inference? 9-11 provides a clue.

Higher Ed is higher on WHAT, exactly?: Prof sues disbelieving students. Apparently, they disputed her theories about 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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Placebo effect: Your mind's role in your health. (No, don't throw away that prescription. But read this before you conclude that only that pill makes you well.)

Philosophy of mind: In case you wondered whether you are conscious and reading this. (Actually, there is hardly a materialist explanation of consciousness that is worth considering.)

Animal minds: Learning may not pay, but some animals do it anyway. "If your science prof told you long ago that learning evolves because animals that learn faster are more likely to survive, forget it. Learning imposes costs of its own, as one experiment showed."

Heard way, way too often: The soul boils down to a few genes?

Materialist Mythbusting: Genes 'R' Not Us

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Goodbye GATTACA: Environment and lifestyle affect which genes are actually expressed

The genes that matter are the ones that are expressed. A recent North Caroline State University study of North African Berbers showed that which breathing-related genes were expressed depended in large part on whether the individual is living an urban, rural, or nomadic lifestyle. Vince Freeman, the genetically troubled hero of GATTACA (1997), need not rely only on determination. He has other heavy hitters on his team too, as it turns out. Genes "R" Not Us.

Go here for more.

Junk DNA - oops, non-coding DNA - less junky than ever but still expected to fit the "frame"

Junk DNA has sure come up in the world: From Dawkins's "sea of nonsense" to increasingly biologically important - but somehow it is still supposed to support the conventional explanations.

One consequence of growing efforts to "frame" science is that readers of reports on new research must be skilled at seeing past elaborate frames, in order to discern findings. For more, go here.

Cutting edge science: Cambrian explosion ecosystems organized themselves pretty much the way ecosystems do today, and not everyone is pleased to hear that ... (because it implies that there may be underlying patterns and laws within nature that are not merely incidental and mechanistic).

Natural selection: Mutation protects against malaria - at a steep cost. (A recent study supports Mike Behe's observation in Edge of Evolution that the protections against malaria that evolve through natural selection acting on random mutations (Darwin's mechanism) - apart from being few and far between - tend to come with serious problems. DON'T trust evolution to solve your problems!

Human evolution: Shape of early human teeth fails to predict actual diet, study finds.

"A recent study by anthropologist Peter Ungar of the University of Arkansas and colleagues has challenged the conventional way that anthropologists determine what early humans and human ancestors ate. Apparently, they didn't necessarily eat what they 'should have.'" So there is a lot we cannot predict about early human diets. For more, go here.

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Reasons not to be a materialist if you have a mind

The ... Spiritual ... Brain ... Is ... NOT ... a ... brainiac ...menace ... !

Human brains are unique, neuroscientist observes - but still wants to leave pile of stuff on cutting room floor

Chimpanzees more "rational" than humans? It depends on what you mean by rational.

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

While Imagining no heaven, no hell, no Yoko Ono, and no delay till the Expelled DVD comes out, I note where John Lilley, Baylor’s president, has seen fit to defend his institution in the light of the unflattering portrait provided in Expelled.

Read more here.

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

So far it is imaginary.

Ono is seeking at least $75,000 in damages and injunctive relief.

Her case turns on the use of some lines from Ono’s late husband John Lennon’s ”Imagine”*.

Read more about the current injunction and the upcoming court case here.

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Disorder: Increasingly, anything you do that annoys me

Google: When “secular” means “materialist”

Politics, religion, and civil rights - a teetering balance worldwide

Fred on Everything, including evolution: Hot air about big brains

Atheism: Its attractions for science bigwigs

More on animal minds: But does the animal think it is art?

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Expelled as "creationist porn"? right-wing columnist as past his stale date?

New book on harassment of scientists who doubt Darwin - free chapter available

Democratize the brains trust:Vote for your favourite public intellectual from a list of 100!

Semantics watch: Architecture is okay in geology, as long as there is no architect

Department of Natural Sciences Obfuscation Committee needs YOUR help!

Five states are now considering academic freedom bills

You know the ID folk are winning when ... exhibit is "consciously avoiding" intelligent design

Couch potatoes, do not arise! Veg out with a good deal on ID DVDs

TV science demo you won't see this year: The limits to Darwinian 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).

Dr. Jerry Bergman, author of the forthcoming book "Slaughter of the Dissidents" is featured on the front page of the Toledo Blade today. The story covers the movie Expelled as well as Dr. Bergmans charge that many educators are treated unfairly for their dissent over aspects of evolution.

Readers can also go to the book's website at www.slaughterofthedissidents.com

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Darwin dating: Only a Darwinist would think of something this vulgar

Expelled ten days later - Yoko Ono is suing over the use of John Lennon's Imagine - which you can hear on YouTube.

Churches should holler for Jesus and schools should indoctrinate Darwin?

The miracle of the disappearing prof: St. Charles Darwin's fanatics make Prof. Nancy Bryson disappear

Blogging: Crocodile, crocodile, cry me some tears (The circulation-bleeding New York Times feels sorry for people like me. Yeah really.)

Blog seeks the firing of Baylor U's anti-ID president

Darwinism and atheism: No connection whatever?

Expelled: Did Darwin really lead to Hitler? Better question: Did the suggestion lead to free publicity?

A kind correspondent wants to know why I am not in Expelled ("Well, for one thing, I wasn't kicked out of anything for making the intelligent design controversy my major beat. Oh sure, people laughed at me in 2001 when I said it would be one of the biggest stories of the decade by mid-decade.")

Reasons to Believe: Reasons to Believe: Old Earth Creation ministry thumbs down on Expelled film - claims there is no persecution of ID theorists

New for blogroll: Atheism is dead

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Things we know but cannot prove: Another nail in the coffin of materialism.

Excerpt: "We are at an undisputed edge of naturalism in computing and math. There is no TOE. Does science have a TOE? If so, will we ever know we are at the edge?"

The fours be with you! (You will be "fours"ed to cooperate with this words/numbers game. (Hey, it's Friday night!)

Altruism: Why it can't really exist but why it does anyway

Evolutionary psychology: Eliot Spitzer is a kludgebrain!, psychologist opines (but so are we all)

Mind and medicine: The placebo effect - Did your doctor just prescribe you a quarter teaspoon of coloured sugar? Maybe ...

Materialism: When the store is on fire, hold a fire sale:

Excerpt: So this is the latest pseudo-explanation of the soul? I could do better myself! How about this: Minds that are accustomed to think in terms of a future have difficulty grasping the idea that there is no future after death.

Way simpler, to be sure, but materialists wouldn't buy it because I forgot to drag in the Paleolithic cave guys telling stories around the fireside - the staple of evolutionary psychology.

Fitna: A thoughtful Muslim's response The predicted riots largely didn't happen, but where to go from here?

Excerpt: And while we are here: Dial-a-mob/rent-a-riot behaviour is NOT copyright to Middle Eastern Muslims. I ran into the same thing among the American Ivy League elite in May 2005, when the New York Times bungled a story I broke on my other blog, The Post-Darwinist, claiming that a film about to be shown at the Smithsonian was "anti-evolution." It wasn't; it did not even address the subject. But zillions of Darwinbots, as I called them, behaved exactly as if it had. It's a good thing that no one gives them sharp objects to play with.

Rupert Sheldrake's guide to New Atheism (which makes it sound like New Coke, really)

Can a transplanted heart lead to transplanted thoughts? Well, maybe, but the mechanism might be fairly conventional.

Why science without God destroys itself: Because the alternative idea of a multiverse is a step into magic, that's why

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).

Roddy Bullock has had to delay his next essay due to an extremely heavy schedule of writing and speaking in March and April. Stay tuned, however, as the next essay promises to be one of the best.

In the meantime, try the latest thought question at IDnet Ohio's Blog on Truth. Go here: http://ohiointelligentdesign.com/blog/category/thought-questions/ and answer the question, "If you are not a creationist (in the broadest sense of the word, not necessarily a Biblical creationist), then what are you?

Think about it and respond.

For further comments, visit IDnet Ohio's website (URL below) and go to the "Contact Us" page.

Roddy M. Bullock
Author: The Cave Painting: A Parable of Science
http://www.idnetohio.com

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Would you go to see a film about a pregnant New York waitress from a deprived background - estranged from her family, dumped by her lover, fired for being late, and about to arrange an abortion? Really?

If you said no, you would certainly be affirmed in your decision by critics at the top Entertainment sections.

But then Bella stunned film mavens by winning the Toronto Film Festival People's Choice Award. Audiences have since made Bella a popular, award-winning - and well-rewarded - movie.

There is currently an enormous cultural divide between elite culture and popular culture in North America, and film's future rests with popular culture. To understand what will happen next for Expelled, ignore the derision of the elite; note whether people "with jobs" go see the film.

Denyse O'Leary looks at what happened with Bella here at the ID Arts 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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Somebody else's turn: Darwin trolls try to eviscerate former pal Chris Mooney for saying something sensible about Expelled. Caution: One way ticket to Troll Central

Harvard publishing conspiracy theory? A couple of years ago, I wrote an underappreciated series on the growing scandal of peer review. Darn, I should have put money on it!

Biologic Institute Web site now on line (for the convenience of reasonable persons and inconvenience of mindless detractors.)

Just up at Uncommon Descent:

So Richard Dawkins thinks design can be studied?

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

"Living fossil" tuatara surprises scientists: Evolves quickly without ever changing

Excerpt: "In short, the tuatara's sluggish exterior conceals a swiftly changing genome that never got around to doing anything for two hundred million years. That in turn raises the question of just what influence the genome does have on animal form (morphology) or evolution."

It also raises questions about the usefulness of the "molecular clock." Is it right only twice a day?

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

The Expelled film: The box office and other important stuff

Expelled: Not your father's documentary?

Earth to planet D'Souza: Check your space-time co-ordinates before wading deeper into the Darwinism-ID controversy:

Excerpt: I find D-'Souza's glib assertion, "Most Christians don't care whether the eye evolved by natural selection or whether evolution can account for macroevolution or only microevolution." troubling to say the least. Many of us oppose Darwinism because it is a false official account of the history of life, and thus a major obstacle to developing a correct account. We want to provide accurate information. If "most Christians don't care" it is either because they do not know the facts or because they do know them, but do not mind promoting falsehoods. Either situation is a cause for concern.

Also, at Uncommon Descent: Expelled: When telling the truth means telling "lies"

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Art produced by animals: Is it really art?

Are there really innate ideas about God?

Why can't philosophy alone kill off materialism? Why do we need evidence from science?

Civil rights protests force extinction of Olympic flame

Mayo Clinic co-sponsors Dalai Lama's 16th Mind and Life conference, on benefits of contemplation or meditation

Artificial intelligence: A look at things that neither we nor computers can discover

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

Contrary to legacy media scaremongers, intelligent design is not a "Christian" idea. Serious theists the world over have assumed - quite obviously - that the universe and life forms show evidence of design. Many agnostics agree.

The least theists expect of God is the ability to design and execute a universe. We divide into religions and sects on more immediately pressing subjects, such as whether God permits war, revenge, alcohol, polygamy, divorce, or married clergy.

Nineteenth century materialism created an intellectual market for theories that attempt to explain how the universe and life hoisted themselves into existence without design. "Many universes" and Darwinian evolution are the two most popular today. These theories are given vastly more weight than the evidence allows. And yet their enthusiastic, often fanatical backers wonder why the public remains skeptical.

Recently, I had a chance to read The Science of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom (New York, Free Press, 1997) by physicist Gerald Schroeder - a Jewish take on design in the universe.

Formerly at MIT, Schroeder - who now lives in Israel - was one of the people who helped convince highly respected atheist Antony Flew that, There IS a God, on account of design.

He starts off with the arresting question he was asked hundreds of times around the world: "If the Bible is true, why doesn't it mention dinosaurs?"

He doesn't answer that question directly or immediately. It is a difficult question to answer.

The questioner clearly supposes that if the Bible is reliable, it must provide an answer to every question about which we are curious, whether or not the answer is needed for a righteous life. If that is the questioner's standard, the Bible must seem very deficient indeed.

Schroeder uses the dinosaur query as a jumping off point, from which he argues that the design of nature is best understood in the light of the Book of Genesis - interpreted, of course, in the Jewish rather than the Christian tradition.

One thing that struck me about The Science of God: is that Schroeder admits freely and with no sense of angst - back in 1997! - that there is very little evidence for Darwinian evolution as a cause of origin of species. Yet here we are in this 2008-2009 season of ridiculous Darwin hagiography, and on the very eve of the Expelled documentary on the suppression of scientists who favour design as an explanation. Update: I have just learned that Schroeder is actually in the film, along with mathematician David Berlinksi.

So why doesn't the monster just die? Let's see.

Introduction The Science of God - a Jewish physicist considers the design of the universe and life
Part One: Is the Darwin cult on the way out?
Part Two: Schroeder as recovering multiverse faddist?
Part Three: Let there be light ... and then time stands still
Part Four: Self-organization - not random, but according to a preordained program
Part Five: Non-humans with a human form? And what of the divine wisdom?

Next: Part One: Is the Darwin cult on the way out?

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

As I noted in the Introduction, The Science of God:, Schroeder assumes that everyone takes for granted that Darwin's theory was never really well established and is now on the way out:

Darwin realized that the staccato nature of the fossil record in no way confirmed evolution via natural selection. Rather, Darwin noted the morphological changes produced by breeders of pigeons and other domesticated animals, and assumed (quite likely in error) that if in tens of generations lean ancestral stock evolve into robust progeny, then gradually over tens of millions of generations vastly greater changes would have occurred, changes so great that phylum by phylum life rose ever higher on the imagined evolutionary tree. (page 9)

He concludes:

Macro-evolution, the evolution of one body plan into another - a worm or insect or mollusk evolving into a fish, for example - finds no support in the fossil record, in the lab, or in the Bible. (page 16)

In fact, Schroeder argues, the real history of life is a guided evolution that occurs as a series of jumps:

"The statement Darwin repeats several times in Origin of Species,"natura non facit saltum" - that nature does not make jumps - is simply false. Transitional forms are totally absent from the fossil record at the basic level of phylum and rare if present at all in class. Only after basic body plans are well established are fossil transitions observed. Darwin would have been much closer to the truth had he written "natura solum facit saltum" - that nature only makes jumps. (page 10)

Indeed, he charges that Darwin knew this perfectly well,

An accurate description of macro-evolution as presented by the fossil record is that it usually takes place somewhere else and all we are left with is the punctuations. Darwin realized this far better than his overly enthusiastic followers. On no less than seven occasions in the Origin of Species", he implored his readers to ignore the evidence of the fossil record as a refutation of his concept of evolution or to "use imagination to fill in its gaps. (page 31 )

and that his modern-day followers dedicate museums of natural history to keeping the fantastic Darwin cult alive:

The magnificent Natural History Museum in London devotes an entire wing to demonstrating the fact of evolution. They show how pink daisies can evolve into blue daisies, how gray moths change into black moths, how over a mere few thousand years, a wide variety of cichlid fish species evolved in Lake Victoria. It is all impressive.

Impressive, until you walk out and reflect upon that which they were able to document. Daisies remained daisies, moths remained moths, and cichlid fish remained cichlid fish. These changes re referred to as micro-evolution. In this exhibit, the museum's staff did not demonstrate a single unequivocal case in which life underwent a major gradual morphological change. (page 31 )

One story Schroeder tells that, for obvious reasons, is not part of the official saints' legends of materialism is the suppression, for decades, of the Cambrian fossils at the Smithsonian. C. D. Walcott, the Smithsonian secretary who found the fossils in the Burgess Shale in British Columbia, Canada, actually shelved them for decades because they did not support gradual Darwinian evolution.

Schroeder clearly did not have a crystal ball while writing The Science of God:. He did not foresee that, just as Walcott shelved the non-Darwinian fossils, the Darwin establishment would respond to challenges over the next decade by simply Expelling scientists who pointed out the deficiencies of their theory. In so doing, they have bought themselves at least another decade, and perhaps more.

He also probably did not realize the extent to which much of the popular media and commentariat is invested in Darwinism, as justifying an entire range of attitudes to life. For many, being pro-Darwin means being pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia, and pro-stem cell research, because we are all really just hair-challenged apes.

It almost feels like a historical oddity that Schroeder quotes the much maligned Michael Behe, whose Darwin's Black Box had come out a year earlier, also from Free Press, with respect:

Molecular biologist and observant Catholic, Professor Michael Behe stated the case for the believing biologist: "You can be a good Catholic and believe in Darwinism. ... Biochemistry has made it increasingly difficult, however, to be a thoughtful scientist and believe in it." (pages 26-27)

Of course it was right for Schroeder to quote Behe with respect, but in the subsequent decade, Behe has felt the full fury of the Darwin establishment for daring to put forward evidence that counters its free-floating theories. Behe's 2007 book, Edge of Evolution (also from Free Press), tracks the thousands of generations of simple life forms observed in the laboratory - with scant evidence of Darwinian evolution.

As Schroeder says, Darwinian evolution is always taking place ... somewhere else.

But now how does Schroeder himself see the origin and development of life? And what does he think of the many universes bubbling up from the quantum flux that are a staple of fashionable materialist cosmology, if not of reality?

Next: Part Two: Schroeder as recovering multiverse faddist?

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).

by Denyse O'Leary
ARN correspondent

As I noted in the Introduction, The Science of God:, Schroeder assumes that everyone takes for granted that Darwin's theory was never really well established and is now on the way out:

Darwin realized that the staccato nature of the fossil record in no way confirmed evolution via natural selection. Rather, Darwin noted the morphological changes produced by breeders of pigeons and other domesticated animals, and assumed (quite likely in error) that if in tens of generations lean ancestral stock evolve into robust progeny, then gradually over tens of millions of generations vastly greater changes would have occurred, changes so great that phylum by phylum life rose ever higher on the imagined evolutionary tree. (page 9)

He concludes:

Macro-evolution, the evolution of one body plan into another - a worm or insect or mollusk evolving into a fish, for example - finds no support in the fossil record, in the lab, or in the Bible. (page 16)

In fact, Schroeder argues, the real history of life is a guided evolution that occurs as a series of jumps:

"The statement Darwin repeats several times in Origin of Species,"natura non facit saltum" - that nature does not make jumps - is simply false. Transitional forms are totally absent from the fossil record at the basic level of phylum and rare if present at all in class. Only after basic body plans are well established are fossil transitions observed. Darwin would have been much closer to the truth had he written "natura solum facit saltum" - that nature only makes jumps. (page 10)

Indeed, he charges that Darwin knew this perfectly well,

An accurate description of macro-evolution as presented by the fossil record is that it usually takes place somewhere else and all we are left with is the punctuations. Darwin realized this far better than his overly enthusiastic followers. On no less than seven occasions in the Origin of Species", he implored his readers to ignore the evidence of the fossil record as a refutation of his concept of evolution or to "use imagination to fill in its gaps. (page 31 )

and that his modern-day followers dedicate museums of natural history to keeping the fantastic Darwin cult alive:

The magnificent Natural History Museum in London devotes an entire wing to demonstrating the fact of evolution. They show how pink daisies can evolve into blue daisies, how gray moths change into black moths, how over a mere few thousand years, a wide variety of cichlid fish species evolved in Lake Victoria. It is all impre