2011

Why do we need academic freedom legislation like Tennessee’s HB 368? In case biology lecturer Alison Campbell decides to relocate to the United States. Sadly, even if she remains in New Zealand, there are already people here who don’t allow for the free flow of ideas, especially when it comes to discussion of evolution. Biology lecturer Alison Campbell at the University of Waikato in Hillcrest, New Zealand, exemplifies a mindset that is tragically common in academia. She openly boasts that if a student were to use standard ID arguments such as the irreducible complexity of the bacterial flagellum, that student would be “marked down”: If, for example, a student were to use examples such as the bacterial flagellum to advance Read More ›

A survey in the journal Science hopes that teachers who doubt Darwinism will “pursue other careers.” Is this proof of institutionalized discrimination at work? “Honey, why are you seeking this promotion? Do you really want to swim with us big boys in management? You just stay in your place, sweetie.” If such words were spoken to a female employee in any American corporation, she would immediately be entitled to file a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination — and rightfully so. Such words would also reflect a corporate culture that seeks to marginalize certain employees. This form of institutionalized discrimination would seek to implicitly — or explicitly — discourage unwanted individuals from pursuing certain jobs. With that in mind, what do we Read More ›

The John Ankerberg Show will launch this weekend a multi-part series examining the science behind origin of life theories and featuring Dr. Stephen C. Meyer. In four television programs beginning Sunday night, Feb. 27th at 9 PM EST on Daystar and Sky Angel at 11 PM EST across the US and over 200 nations worldwide, join Dr. John Ankerberg as he interviews Dr. Meyer. Go here for a full schedule for both cable and local channels. On this week’s first program: Every person’s body consists of over a trillion cells. Almost every one of these cells includes a DNA molecule. What is DNA? Why is it so special? What does it do? Where did the digital code embedded in DNA Read More ›

There has been much discussion about the recent appearance on Jeopardy of a computer named Watson. Watson has played against human contestants, and has provided uncannily accurate answers to some questions. Can Watson actually think? Does Watson have a mind?

It’s springtime (almost), which means that Darwin lobbyists are starting to come out in full force to spread misinformation about academic freedom legislation. This is most unfortunate because their goal, plain and simple, is to prevent students from hearing about scientific critiques of neo-Darwinian evolution in the classroom. I’ve already covered some of these bad objections here. Let’s consider the false claims being promoted by critics of academic freedom legislation. Myth #1. Academic Freedom Laws Have Led to Litigation Some critics, especially those in Oklahoma, have felt the need to promote outright falsehoods by claiming that the Louisiana Science Education Act has been subject to lawsuits. The truth is that there has never been a legal challenge to an academic Read More ›