In the News

There is a Web site of the upcoming event "Intelligent Design: Is it Viable?" It will be a debate between Dr. Francisco J. Ayala and Dr. William Lane Craig. Moderated by Dr. Bradley Monton. The debate will occur on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 7 p.m. EST at Indiana University Auditorium.

Here you will find all of the information you need to attend the event.

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In ScienceDaily, it is reported that thhe mantis shrimps in the study are found on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and have the most complex vision systems known to science. They can see in twelve colours (humans see in only three) and can distinguish between different forms of polarized light.

Special light-sensitive cells in mantis shrimp eyes act as quarter-wave plates -- which can rotate the plane of the oscillations (the polarization) of a light wave as it travels through it. This capability makes it possible for mantis shrimps to convert linearly polarized light to circularly polarized light and vice versa.

Dr Nicholas Roberts, lead author of the Nature Photonics paper said: "Our work reveals for the first time the unique design and mechanism of the quarter-wave plate in the mantis shrimp's eye. It really is exceptional - out-performing anything we humans have so far been able to create."

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And how did this evolve through only natural processes? Given enough time anything can happen?

On October 21st Richard Dawkins appeared on the syndicated Hugh Hewitt talk show to promote his new book, "The Greatest Show on Earth".

It was a lively and interesting discussion...

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Cornelius Hunter blogged on Dawkins afterwards. Here is the link.

Seeking God in Science: An Atheist Defends Intelligent Design by Bradley Monton is a breakthrough book in the origins debate. Why? Because an atheist professor of philosophy at a secular university has written a book to defend intelligent design. As Monton would admit, it's a partial defense, as he does not find ID arguments overwhelmingly convincing, but he also does not find them trivial, and he believes they should be allowed on the table and in the classroom for discussion. He even went so far as to defend ID in a public debate in 2008, and his position as a true educator seeking truth has brought the wrath of Darwinists and fellow atheists down on his head. Welcome to the club Dr. Monton!

His work on a rigorous definition of intelligent design in chapter 1 is worth the price of the book alone. While most ID proponents use sound byte definitions to communicate the essence of ID to the public, Monton develops a rigorous definition that he feels will help in testing ID theory. We wouldn't expect any less of a philosophy of science professor and we think his definition will generate a more meaningful dialogue. But don't worry, you don't have to be a philosopher to understand this book. Monton has done a great job of making his arguments accessible to the general reader. This book is now available at ARN.

Stephen Meyer, Michael Behe, David Berlinski and John West are all featured speakers at The Legacy of Darwin Intelligent Design Conference to be held at the Douglas County Event Center in Castle Rock Colorado this weekend October 30-31. The Conference fee is $10. For more information visit www.shepherdproject.com/idconf/notabene.html or call 1-800-253-1869. Registrations will also be taken at the door. The conference begins 7 pm Friday night.

ARN launched its Darwin or Design Radio Broadcast today The Bridge FM family of stations in the New York and New Jersey area. The show airs each Saturday morning at 10 A.M Eastern time and ARN shares hosting duties with Dr. Tom Woodward with the C.S. Lewis Society. Those outside the broadcast area can listen in on the streaming web broadcast available at www.BridgeFM.org.

For the most recent broadcast with Dennis Wagner (October 24th), we've put together two extraordinary offers. Keep in mind that we can only promise to keep these offers posted through Thursday, October 29th!

OFFER #1:

(V070SK): This is the Phillip Johnson DVD Collection. Ten of the best of Phillip Johnson videos produced by ARN, including interviews, lectures, debates and a special tribute to Phil from his friends and foes. Normally these videos sell for $25 each, but you can save 50% when you purchase the entire collection of ten DVDs for only $125 U.S ($175 Foreign). To purchase this special offer, go to the following link: http://www.arn.org/arnproducts/videos/v070sk.htm. And remember - you can't get these videos anywhere else because they were produced by ARN.

The Phillip Johnson DVD collection includes:

V001 - Focus on Darwinism: An Interview with Phillip Johnson
V002 - Darwinism on Trial, Lecture at UC Irvine
V004 - Darwinism: Science or Naturalistic Philosophy: Debate with William Provine at Stanford University
V008 - Can Science Know the Mind of God? Lecture at Princeton University
V009 - Blind Watchmaker: Lecture at the University of Wales
V028 - How Darwinists Think: Lecture at Northern Michigan University
V029 - Raising Questions about Evolution in the Schools: Lecture at Northern Michigan University
V036 - The Right Questions: An Interview with Phillip Johnson
V040 - An Evening with Phillip Johnson: A Tribute to Phil from his Friends and Foes
V057 - One Nation Under Darwin: Lecture by Phillip Johnson

OFFER #2:

(B037) ARN is offering 45% discount off Phil Johnson's The Wedge of Truth hardback book. Dr. Phillip Johnson is one of the founding fathers of the intelligent design movement and there is no better place to start learning about ID than this book. Normal price is $18 US $28 Foreign. Sale price for this hardback edition is only $10 U.S which includes FREE shipping! ($20 Foreign). To view this offer, please visit the following link: http://www.arn.org/arnproducts/php/book_show_item.php?id=38

Those who live in the Los Angeles area are invited to attend a gala premiere screening of Illustra Media's new documentary, Darwin's Dilemma: The Mystery of the Cambrian Fossil Record next Sunday, October 25th at 7:00 pm at the University of Southern California. The event is sponsored by the American Freedom Alliance.

This premiere was originally scheduled for the California Science Center, but the Center canceled the event just a few days ago, leaving the organizers virtually no time to find a new location. If you live in the Los Angeles area, you can show your support for free speech to debate the evidence for intelligent design by attending this important event!

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As reported by Troy Anderson, for the Los Angeles Daily News, a brouhaha has erupted in Los Angeles County over a planned series of events exploring the conflict between his theories and "intelligent design" advocates.
A group that favors "intelligent design" had planned to premier a new documentary film at the California Science Center in Los Angeles later this month, but the center later canceled the event.

The group claims the cancellation was an act of censorship, made after the center was pressured by the Smithsonian Institution, but the center chalked it up to a contract issue, without elaborating.

Coined "The Darwin Debates: A Forum for Dialogue," the nonprofit American Freedom Alliance had planned to premier a new Illustra Media documentary, "Darwin's Dilemma: The Mystery of the Cambrian Explosion," at the California Science Center on Oct. 25.

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Troy Anderson's definition of ID at the very end of the article, is really quite lame, and shows his lack of understanding of the scientific endeavours of pursuit of ID.

As reported in ENV by Anika Smith, Richard Dawkins, the world's leading public spokesman for Darwinian evolution and an advocate of the "new atheism," has refused to debate Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, a prominent advocate of intelligent design and the author of the acclaimed Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design.

"Richard Dawkins claims that the appearance of design in biology is an illusion and claims to have refuted the case for intelligent design," says Dr. Meyer who received his Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge in England.

"But Dawkins assiduously avoids addressing the key evidence for intelligent design and won't debate its leading proponents, adds Dr. Meyer. "Dawkins says that there is no evidence for intelligent design in life, and yet he also acknowledges that neither he nor anyone else has an evolutionary explanation for the origin of the first living cell. We know now even the simplest forms of life are chock-full of digital code, complex information processing systems and other exquisite forms of nanotechnology.

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Michael Behe posts on ENV that Nature has published an interesting paper recently which places severe limits on Darwinian evolution.

Behe comments that "Before reading their paper, even I would have happily conceded for the sake of argument that random mutation plus selection could convert an MR-like protein to a GR-like protein and back again, as many times as necessary. Now, thanks to the work of Bridgham et al (2009), even such apparently minor switches in structure and function are shown to be quite problematic. It seems Darwinian processes can't manage to do even as much as I had thought."

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The Indiana Memorial Union Board and the Secular Alliance of Indiana University will present a lecture by evolutionary biologist, author and atheist Richard Dawkins, titled "The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence for Evolution," Monday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. at IU Auditorium.

The event is free and open to the public. No ticket is required, and doors will open at 6 p.m.

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Michael Behe posts that Nature has published an interesting paper recently which places severe limits on Darwinian evolution.

The manuscript, from the laboratory of Joseph Thornton at the University of Oregon, is entitled "An epistatic ratchet constrains the direction of glucocorticoid receptor evolution". The work is interpreted by its authors within a standard Darwinian framework. Nonetheless, like the important work over the years of Michigan State's Richard Lenski on laboratory evolution of E. coli, which has shown trillions of bacteria evolving under selection for tens of thousands of generations yielding just broken genes and minor changes, the new work demonstrates the looming brick wall which confronts unguided evolution in at least one system. And it points strongly to the conclusion that such walls are common throughout all of biology.

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A debate between Dr. Francisco J. Ayala and Dr. William Lane Craig. Moderated by Dr. Bradley Monton. The debate will occur on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 7 p.m. EST at Indiana University Auditorium.

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Intelligent design is the most likely explanation of the origin of life, an author and speaker at the University of Oklahoma said Monday night.

The way Stephen C. Meyer came to that conclusion, was using Charles Darwin's own scientific method of determining which cause to accept for scientific questions in the remote past.

"The irony of that is that a conclusion that points to intelligent design" is reached by Darwin's own methods, Meyer said.

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The news out of Oklahoma about Stephen Meyer's intelligent design presentation at the University on Sept. 28th is quite encouraging. Over three hundred people reportedly turned out for the lecture and discussion following. For all the potty mouthed bluster that local Darwin activists offered up ahead of time, almost everyone in attendance, whether for or against ID, was civil and respectful during the presentation and discussion.

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