In the News

Stephen Meyer responds to Francisco J. Ayala's review of his book Signiture in the Cell.

More...

A great example of ID...and far less complex than the working inside a human cell, as shown in THIS ANIMATION.

and in Unlocking the Mystery of Life

Here is the Rube Goldberg machine...

In the EnterpriseBlog, Jay Richards comments on the story in the New York Times about the linking of climate change and evolution.

Richards opines...there are budding initiatives in state legislatures and boards of education to encourage or require balance in classroom discussions of global warming. The point of the piece, though, is to connect the teaching of evolution to the climate change debate:

Critics of the teaching of evolution in the nation's classrooms are gaining ground in some states by linking the issue to global warming, arguing that dissenting views on both scientific subjects should be taught in public schools.

Now when I read anything on the environment in the New York Times, I try to keep a couple of deconstructionist qualifiers running in the back of my head: "This is what the New York Times wants me to believe about the issue" and "What are they trying to accomplish with this piece?" I know it's cynical, but when it comes to environmental stories, I just don't trust New York Times reporters to keep it straight.

Some things they want to accomplish with this piece:

More...

A fossil that was celebrated last year as a possible "missing link" between humans and early primates is actually a forebearer of modern-day lemurs and lorises, according to two papers by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin, Duke University and the University of Chicago.

In an article now available online in the Journal of Human Evolution, four scientists present evidence that the 47-million-year-old Darwinius masillae is not a haplorhine primate like humans, apes and monkeys, as the 2009 research claimed.

They also note that the article on Darwinius published last year in the journal PLoS ONE ignores two decades of published research showing that similar fossils are actually strepsirrhines, the primate group that includes lemurs and lorises.

More...

Well known theologist, R.C. Sproul, interviewed Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, on philosophy, evolution, education, Intelligent Design, and more.

The GospelCoalition has the link. Scroll down to Justin Taylor's March 5 post.

Click HERE.

This debate was held at Indiana University.

Craig's analysis, as usual, was beautifully precise and accurate.

For the debate, click HERE.

The Israeli Education Ministry's chief scientist sparked a furor among environmental activists and scholars with remarks questioning the reliability of evolution and global warming theory. The comments from Dr. Gavriel Avital, the latest in a series of written and oral statements casting doubts on the fundamental tenets of modern science, led several environmentalists to call for his dismissal.

"If textbooks state explicitly that human beings' origins are to be found with monkeys, I would want students to pursue and grapple with other opinions. There are many people who don't believe the evolutionary account is correct," Avital said.

More...

There will be a showing of "Darwin's Dilemma" and a dessert, sponsored by Probe Ministries in the Dallas/Fort Worth area on Tuesday, February 23rd.

Details at this Web page

"I would never have predicted that an atheist would name a book about intelligent design as one of the top books of 2009, while another atheist would write a book defending intelligent design?" commented Dennis Wagner, ARN Executive Director, about the organization's Top Ten Darwin and Design Resource List for 2009. "This is a sign that open minds in the academic and scientific communities are beginning to take the evidence for intelligent design seriously," Wagner concluded. He was referring to the number one book on the list, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design by Stephen Meyer and number three book Seeking God in Science: An Atheist Defends Intelligent Design by Bradley Monton.

Kevin Wirth, ARN Director of Media Relations, pointed out that several other resources on the 2009 list show a growing international interest in intelligent design: "Hungarian scientists published an English version of their book, Nature's IQ, that documents over 100 irreducibly complex behaviors in nature, while a well-published British medical doctor documented his reservations about Darwinian evolution in the book Why Us? How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves."

An online version of the ARN Top 10 Darwin and Design stories for 2009 with hyperlinks to original news sources can be found at www.arn.org/top10.

"If you don't think viewpoint discrimination is alive and well in this country when it comes to Darwin's theory, then you must be living on another planet," said Dennis Wagner, announcing this year's Top Ten in Media News in the growing Darwin vs. design controversy. This year, top honors went to Texas and Louisiana for protecting students' and teachers' rights to examine and critique all sides of evolution and other controversial science issues.

"The theory of evolution has been elevated to the status of a sacred dogma in many parts of our modern culture" observed Dennis Wagner, ARN Executive Director. "Students, teachers and science professionals have suffered recrimination for challenging Darwin's theory, and political policies like those recently passed in Texas and Louisiana are now required to maintain academic freedom and freedom of speech. Critical thinking skills are key not only to the learning process, but more importantly to scientific progress," said Wagner.

Kevin Wirth, ARN Director of Media Relations, pointed out that several other stories on the 2009 Top Ten Media list indicate the growing need for this type of legislative protection: "Ben Stein was 'expelled' as the commencement speaker at the University of Vermont, Michael Behe was temporarily 'expelled' from Bloggingheads.tv, and the California Science Center censored the showing of a movie that was critical of Darwin’s theory. We thoroughly documented case after case of this type of viewpoint discrimination in the book Slaughter of the Dissidents and the list just keeps on growing."

An online version of the ARN Top 10 Darwin and Design stories for 2009 with hyperlinks to original news sources can be found at www.arn.org/top10.

Discovery Institute has two intensive summer seminars on intelligent design, science, and culture from July 9-17, 2010 in Seattle. The first seminar is for students in the natural sciences and philosophy of science; the second seminar is for students in the social sciences and humanities (including politics, law, journalism, and theology).

These seminars are designed for highly-motivated college students who seek a deeper understanding of science and its implications for society. The seminar focusing on ID in the natural sciences will explore the scientific issues in greater technical detail and the seminar on ID in the social sciences and humanities will give more in-depth attention to the social impact of science. This year's seminar will feature Michael Behe, Douglas Axe, Stephen Meyer, Jay Richards, and many other leading lights in the intelligent design community.

Discovery Institute will pay expenses for students who are accepted into this special program (travel, lodging, meals, books and other course materials). Applications will be accepted until April 16, 2010.

More...

The debate between Darwin and design is coming to Tampa, Florida with a major one-night event featuring some of the leading voices challenging Darwinian evolution...Michael Medved, Stephen C. Meyer, David Berlinski. The event will occur Thursday evening, January 28th.

Info HERE...

In ENV...Discovery Institute is gearing up for the celebration by supporting what Darwin supported: academic freedom.

Academic Freedom Day couldn't come at a better time, as academic freedom is threatened around the country. We have seen Darwinists launch cyber attacks on a pro-ID conference website in Colorado and engage in an illegal coverup in the censorship of a pro-ID film in California.

It's time like these when Darwin's own words should instruct everyone on how to have an open and honest debate over evolution and intelligent design.
In On the Origin of Species, Darwin wrote, "A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question." This quote is the cornerstone of the Institute's Academic Freedom Day efforts.

More...

Dr. William Dembski, internationally known as a paradigmatic figure in the world of science - particularly as he has advanced the theory of intelligent design regarding the creation of the world in contrast to Darwinian evolution is featured on a recent PODCAST. The subject is his recent book - The End of Christianity: Finding a Good God in an Evil World.

More...

Frank Turek, of (http://www.CrossExamined.org) and much more, will have an internet radio talk show on Tuesday, January 19th, beginning at 7 p.m. CENTRAL time. His guests will be some of the top apologists in the world.

The evening will start with the man who is one of the best debaters in the world, Dr. William Lane Craig www.ReasonableFaith.org.

Next will be one of the founding fathers of the Intelligent Design movement-- Dr. Bill Dembski www.designinference.com. He'll show us very simply how life points to an intelligent designer, and how most of the so-called "evidence" for macroevolution is based on materialistic and counter-factual philosophical assumptions.

Next will be Dr. Mike Adams, a Christian professor on a secular campus and one of the most popular conservative columnists on www.Townhall.com.

The show will be capped off with Josh McDowell www.Josh.org. Josh will give us very helpful insights on the importance of relationships to a young person's faith.

A listing of the 200 stations carrying the program can be found here (http://action.afa.net/Radio/). For the live web simulcast, go here: http://action.afa.net/Webcast/WebcastPlayer.aspx?id=2147491014
The American Family Association, who are producing this event, will create a DVD of the program that will be available afterwards. Check www.CrossExamined.org later for details.

ENV reports that Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth has sent a letter to the California Science Center (CSC) requesting documents related to the Center's cancellation of a screening last October of the pro-intelligent design documentary "Darwin’s Dilemma." The screening was sponsored by the American Freedom Alliance (AFA), a private group that had rented the Center's IMAX theater.

Senator Hollingsworth's letter follows two lawsuits filed against the state government-operated Science Center charging that it violated both the First Amendment and California's open records law in its effort to stop the screening and then cover up the real story behind the cancellation.

More...

As reported in ENV, Dr. Atkins, is a noted critic of intelligent design and author who appeared in Expelled, stating: "Religion, it's just fantasy...and is evil as well." According to a 1992 article by Atkins in New Scientist, "Darwin effectively swept purpose aside in the living world," and "[a]ll reimpositions of purpose are artifices of the religious to feed their faith." He holds little back on religion, claiming that it only offers only "empty gulping and the verbal flatulence that passes for theistic exposition."

More...

Access Research Network has just released its annual "Top 10 Darwin and Design Science Stories" for 2009.

Gaining top honors on the list was a peer-reviewed article by intelligent design theorists William Dembski and Robert Marks II in the September 2009 journal IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics. The authors used computer simulations and information theory to challenge the ability of neo-Darwinian processes to create new functional genetic information. This research provides validation for the core ideas in Dembski's 2001 book No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence. "For years the scientific establishment has tried to brush off intelligent design claiming that there are no peer-reviewed scientific articles supporting the theory and no research being done from the intelligent design paradigm," stated ARN Executive Director, Dennis Wagner. "This article is yet another rebuttal to both charges, and the research results put the monkey squarely on the back of the scientific materialists' to prove Darwinian processes can actually create new functional genetic information" Wagner concluded.

While there was a lot of hype in the media this year about the Darwin Bicentennial Celebration, Kevin Wirth, ARN Director of Media Relations, found it ironic that a several of the stories on ARN's top ten list this year were articles in scientific journals proclaiming that Darwin's theory should be abandoned because it no longer fits the data, or is severely limited in what it can do or explain. According to
Wirth "a cross disciplinary approach to biology is leading scientists away from reductionistic theories like Darwinian evolution toward more collective, holistic, systems approach." In one of the top ten articles on this topic Mark Buchanan states in Nature Physics "A coming revolution may go so far as to unseat Darwinian evolution as the key explanatory process in biology."

An online version of the ARN Top 10 Darwin and Design stories for 2009 with hyperlinks to original news sources can be found at www.arn.org/top10.

As reported by ENV...there are two big stories arising from the California Science Center's censorship last October of the pro-intelligent design film Darwin's Dilemma. The first big story, which was the primary focus of a Los Angeles Times article last week, is the act of censorship itself. As an agency of state government in California, the Science Center is required to abide by the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech. The Science Center didn't have to rent its facilities to the public, but once it did so, as a government agency, it was legally obliged by the First Amendment to treat all citizens equally.

But there is another big story tied to the Science Center that hasn't received sufficient attention yet: The Center's illegal cover-up.

The California Science Center has flagrantly violated California's open records law in an apparent effort to hide the real story behind its censorship of Darwin's Dilemma. The Center's evasion of the law is the reason for the open records lawsuit recently brought by Discovery Institute against the Center.

More...

William Dembski and Lewis Wolpert had an audio debate a few weeks ago, which is now available online as a podcast. There is around three minutes of stage-setting by the interviewer Justin Brierly before the actual discussion begins. The debate is part of a program series called UNBELIEVABLE.

Go to podcast...

This is not a book about God, or about intelligent design. Rather, here is a remarkable book, one that dares to challenge natural selection - not in the name of religion but in the name of good science. Most scientists are so terrified of religious attacks on the theory of evolution that it is never examined critically.

But there are major scientific and philosophical problems with the theory of natural selection. Darwin claimed the factors that determine the course of evolution are very largely environmental. This is a thesis that empirical results in biology are increasingly calling into question. The authors show that Darwinism is committed to inferring, from the premise that a kind of creature with a certain trait was selected, the conclusion that that kind of creature was selected for having that trait. Though such inferences are fallacious, they are nevertheless unavoidable within the Darwinist framework. Ultimately, Jerry Fodor and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini level a devastating critique against Darwinist orthodoxy and suggest new ways of thinking about evolution.

More...

The book, God in Science: An Atheist Defends Intelligent Design by Bradley Monton has been out for five months and has not gone unnoticed by the ID community. In fact, Dr. Monton, a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado-Boulder, is a contributor to ARN. Monton argues that ID is legitimate as a scientific endeavor, although he is unconvinced, at this time, that an intelligent designer exists. It is refreshing to meet up with a clear-thinking, intellectually honest atheist.

-----------------------------------------------------

Monton's thinking is blogged in Proslogian by Dr. Jay L. Wile, Nuclear Chemist at the University of Rochester.

Read...