In the News

Today Amazon.com announced their bestselling books of 2009 and Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design (HarperOne) by Dr. Stephen C. Meyer made the top ten in the science category.

More...

Today Tom Woodward interviews Dr. David Berlinski on our Darwin or Design radio show. You can listen live via the Internet on Saturday mornings (10AM E.T.) at The BridgeFM. To celebrate the occasion we are offer The "Berlinski Bundle" of books and DVDs by Dr. Berlinski.

The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions by Dr. David Berlinski has just been released in paperback after the hardback edition sold out in weeks. ARN is offering the Berlinski Bundle at a 20% discount off our regular prices which includes Devil's Delusion, his new collection of 32 stunning essays, The Deniable Darwin & Other Essays, and the entertaining and informative interview DVD, The Incorrigible Dr. Berlinski. Individually these items normally cost $70, but you can buy the Berlinski Bundle for a limited time for only $50 which includes free shipping anywhere in the US.

Sophia Lee, of the USC Daily Trojan, reports that with nothing but a projector screen and folding chairs, the tiny Embassy Auditorium of the Davidson Conference Center is a far cry from the 50-foot-high IMAX theater where Darwin's Dilemma was originally scheduled to be screened. Even though the California Science Center recently backed out of its contract to host the film's Los Angeles premiere, the tensions created by the controversial documentary's release followed the event to its new location.

The final installment of Illustra Media's long-planned Intelligent Design trilogy, this documentary brings to light the contradiction between the fossil record and Darwin's theories. It focuses on the Cambrian explosion, a time period in the earth's history in which there was a sudden "explosion" of complex species without any ancestral trace.

Though unmistakably pro-intelligent design, Darwin's Dilemma takes on a purposefully secular stance. The word "God" is never mentioned. Instead, less threatening euphamisms like "information source" and "designer" are used. In fact, post-screening panelist and anti-evolution activist Jonathan Wells emphasized that intelligent design is not creationism or natural theology.

"Intelligent design is not a random, convenient solution to evolution," Wells said. "In fact, it actually opens more doors to scientific research and investigation."

More...

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...

More...

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

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.

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

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.

More...

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.

More...

James-Michael Smith, reports in the Examiner, that University of Colorado Professor of Philosophy Bradley Monton has openly criticized the decision in the famous Dover case over Intelligent Design.

He has also argued that Intelligent Design is a valid form of philosophical and scientific inquiry that should be undertaken rather than dismissed.

He is also an Atheist.

More...

Animation Gives Unique Look Inside the Cell

A new short animated video, Journey Inside The Cell, launched this week which dramatically illustrates the evidence for intelligent design within DNA, as described in Stephen C. Meyer's book, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design (HarperOne 2009).

The original animation by Light Productions reveals in intricate detail how the digital information in DNA directs protein synthesis inside the cell, revealing a world of molecular machines and nano-processors communicating digital information.

"This video is going to make things worse for critics of intelligent design," Dr. Meyer explains. "They will have more difficulty convincing the public that their eyes are deceiving them when the evidence for design literally unfolds before them in this animation."

Narrated by Stephen Meyer, the video is a brief tour of the molecular labyrinth, the cell's sophisticated information-processing system, which not only produces machines, but also reproduces itself. The three minute animated video is available for viewing online in the ARN Molecular Machine Museum. For public use copyright permissions, contact cscinfo@discovery.org.