In the News

In ENV, David Klinghoffer, points out that agnostics are "getting it".

Could it be a trend, with critics of intelligent design and others outside the familiar world of ID's friends and advocates at last realizing that ID isn't merely NOT the same thing as creationism? More than that, a couple have noted lately, intelligent design isn't necessarily even theistic.

At Panda's Thumb, Jack Scanlan stirred up a huge number of comments for the site with the revelation that ID seems to imply not theism but dualism, the notion that there's a separate realm of the mind and of ideas that may interact with the physical world and influence or direct it but is not reducible to material terms. Meanwhile on the Chicago Tribune website, an agnostic named James Kirk Wall endorses ID as a natural support for agnosticism!

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Each year Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture offers a free summer seminar for college juniors, seniors and graduate students is an intensive 9-day summer learning opportunity in Seattle, July 8-16.

These seminars are designed for outstanding and motivated students who seek a deeper understanding of science and its implications for society. Past alumni credit the seminar with giving them focus and inspiration for their research, as well as a place to network and receive the support and mentoring they need to equip themselves for the rewarding but difficult work ahead.

This year, in addition to the seminar focusing on ID in the natural sciences, the Center for Science and Culture announces the new C. S. Lewis Fellows Program on Science and Society, which will explore the growing impact of science on politics, economics, social policy, bioethics, theology, and the arts.

The CSC Seminar on Intelligent Design in the Natural Sciences will explore cutting-edge ID work in fields such as molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology, developmental biology, paleontology, computational biology, ID-theoretic mathematics, cosmology, physics, and the history and philosophy of science. This seminar is open to students who intend to pursue graduate studies in the natural sciences or the philosophy of science.

Click here for details and to apply.

The C. S. Lewis Fellows Program is an inspiration from the work of its namesake, particularly The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength, where Lewis foresaw the dangers of both scientism and technocracy.

Click here for details and to apply.

Discovery Institute will pay expenses for students who are accepted into these programs (travel, lodging, meals, books and other course materials). Applications will be accepted until April 22, 2011, but earlier applications may receive priority consideration.

Aman Batheja in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram writes that an Arlington, TX lawmaker has filed a bill aimed at protecting Texas college professors and students from discrimination because they question evolution.

The measure from Republican state Rep. Bill Zedler would block higher education institutions from discriminating against or penalizing teachers or students based on their research into intelligent design or other theories that disagree with evolution.

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Reported by The Science Network, J Craig Venter says that the Tree of Life "is an artifact of earlier ideas that haven't held up" and, indeed, "there isn't a tree of life" around 9 minutes into the program.

At about 11:20, Richard Dawkins expresses his shock. He asks Venter to endorse a single Tree of Life, and the latter only smiles in silence.

The program...

Ron Matus, for the St. Petersburg Times, Florida science teachers must offer a "thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution" under a bill (SB 1854) filed by a key state senator.

Evolution supporters say the language is another attempt by Florida lawmakers to undermine the teaching of evolution, introduce the faith-based concepts of creationism and intelligent design, and water down state science standards that were narrowly passed by the state Board of Education in 2008.

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James Perloff will speak on the topic of his two books "Tornado in a Junkyard" and "The Case Against Darwin: Why the Evidence Should Be Re-examined". The topic will be layman's level discussions of the growing scientific case against Darwin's Theory of Evolution.

New scientific discovery has led to a more in depth understanding of the nature of the human cell that does not correspond with Darwin's limited understanding at the time his Origin of the Species was written.

The meeting will take place at the Holiday Inn in Runnemede, NJ on March 18 at 7:30 p.m.

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