Robert Crowther

Anyone who is familiar with Alan Leshner will know that he is a dogmatic defender of Darwin-only science education, and so you will be shocked to find out that he now seems to agree with us. You may also be shocked to learn that he favors teaching the strengths and weaknesses of evolution.

They say that students need to hear about the strengths and weaknesses of evolution, which of course is true.

Yes, we do say that, as do many scientists, teachers, educators, and school board members all over the country. Just this past summer the state of Louisiana passed the Louisiana Science Education Act, which protects teachers who discuss the strengths and weaknesses of evolution. So far, so good; we’re all in agreement.
. . . Until Leshner completely misstates our views and positions in his very next sentence.

Distinguished scientist and professor James M. Tour will moderate a
debate next month in Texas about intelligent design and evolution featuring four prominent scientists and philosophers. What’s interesting is that defending intelligent design are an agnostic who is skeptical of ID and an atheist philosopher. That would be Dr. David Berlinski and Dr. Bradley Monton, respectively. Defending evolution will be British theologian Denis Alexander and well-known physicist Lawrence Krauss.

Here’s how the hosts at St. Andrews Episcopal church in Fort Worth, Texas describe the debate:

The issue of the debate is one of the most emotionally-charged questions facing our country today. The debate seeks to present the audience with different perspectives and helpful insights to enable them to form better conclusions about faith and science. It will feature four world renowned participants who will address this significant issue from different viewpoints; specifically, a Pro-Intelligent Design Theist and Atheist, and an Anti-Intelligent Design Theist and Atheist. Our moderator, Dr. James M. Tour, is an individual of impeccable scientific standing and credentials.

It should be pointed out that David Berlinski is not a theist but an agnostic, as was made clear in his recent, hot-selling book The Devil’s Delusion. While he is a prominent skeptic of Darwinism, he is not a proponent of intelligent design. An interesting choice to defend the theory, to be sure.

AUSTIN, TX — The Chicken Littles at the Texas Freedom Network (TFN) are ranting that the sky is falling because two of the six experts selected to review the state’s science standards co-authored Explore Evolution, a textbook that examines both the strengths and weaknesses of Darwinian evolution (www.exploreevolution.com).

What the TFN doesn’t reveal is that another of the expert reviewers co-authored a one-sided, Darwin-only textbook! David Hillis, a biology professor at UT Austin co-authored the 2008 edition of Life: The Science of Biology, a textbook whose previous editions have been approved for use in Texas high schools. Hillis also serves as a spokesman for a pro-evolution lobbying group that is trying to remove language in the Texas science standards requiring students to study the “strengths and weaknesses” of scientific theories. Gerald Skoog, another expert reviewer, has signed a statement issued by the same pro-evolution group, and he too has been a science textbook author and has a long history as a pro-Darwin activist.

[Note: For a comprehensive defense of Ben Stein’s documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, check out NCSE Exposed at NCSEExposed.org] Follow Ben Stein’s lead and sign the Academic Freedom Petition at www.academicfreedompetition.com today. You can help by signing the Academic Freedom Petition and stand up for free speech and free scientific inquiry.Ben Stein’s Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed will be released on DVD next week. Pre-order your copy here.

It seems that dogmatic Darwinists will now applaud efforts to consistently suppress scientific criticism of modern evolutionary theory. The winner is a biology professor at University of Minnesota. If you guessed the infamous PZ Myers, guess again, because this year’s most dogmatic Darwinist is Randy Moore.

“The evidence supporting evolution is overwhelming and comes from diverse disciplines, such as molecular biology, paleontology, comparative anatomy, ethology, and biochemistry. There is no controversy among biologists about whether evolution occurs, nor are there science-based alternative theories,” states Dr. Moore. “Evolution is a unifying theme in biology; teaching it as such is the best way to show students what biology is about and how they can use evolution as a tool to understand our world. [Evolution] is as important an idea as there is in science — it is a great gift to give to students,” says Dr. Moore.

In accepting his award, Moore manages to make a number of mistakes.

At ID The Future there have been a number of interesting interviews recently broadcast with a wide variety of scientists, scholars, and educators who have their doubts about Darwinian evolution. University of Warwick sociologist Steve Fuller, the author of the recent book, Dissent Over Descent discusses topics from his book and explains the nature and problem of a scientific consensus on controversial topics. Fuller argues that intelligent design is not anti-science (just anti-establishment), as biological study continues to become more like an engineering project, it will be harder for scientists to deny that life is intelligently designed. Listen as Fuller addresses why there is, in fact, dissent over descent. CSC Fellow Ray Bohlin earned his Ph.D. in molecular and cell Read More ›

If you missed seeing Expelled in theaters last spring, relax. Expelled will be out on DVD Tuesday, October 21st. “Big Science in this area of biology has lost its way,” says Stein. “Scientists are supposed to be allowed to follow the evidence wherever it may lead, no matter what the implications are. Freedom of inquiry has been greatly compromised, and this is not only anti-American, it’s anti-science. Its anti-the whole concept of learning.” Now that the legal issues swirling around Expelled have been mostly resolved, it will be interesting to see what “Big Science” Darwinists will try next to expel smart new science from labs and classrooms. Go here for more on Expelled. [Note: For a more comprehensive defense of Read More ›

Rick Richman, editor of Jewish Current Issues, has an article in American Thinker about Neo-Atheism and the response to it from three different authors, including CSC senior fellow David Berlinski. In April, David Berlinski, a secular Jew and well-known skeptic of Darwinism, who holds a Ph. D. in Philosophy from Princeton and has written widely on mathematics and science, published “The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions.” The book defends religion by attacking atheism’s attempt to enlist science in its cause.The book is written with Mr. Berlinski’s characteristic literary verve. To a Nobel Prize scientist’s argument — offered at a conference on “science, religion and reason” — that “for good people to do evil things, [it] takes religion,” Berlinski Read More ›

Darwin Day in America, by John West, has garnered praise and driven Darwinists crazy with it’s overwhelming preponderance of evidence showing that Darwinian biology and reductionist science have been used to degrade American culture over the past century through their impact on criminal justice, welfare, business, education, and bioethics. It is in the area of eugenics that West has really exposed the devastating — and dehumanizing — consequence of Darwin’s evolutionary ideas. A new review of DDA in the New Oxford Review gives a good overview of the book, but examines most closely the portions dealing with eugenics. Writes reviewer Anne Barbeau Gardiner: Scholars today place the blame for the eugenics debacle on politicians, but West finds it more accurate Read More ›

If you watch baseball then you are probably familiar with the time-honored tradition of a team president or general manager expressing on Tuesday night after a game how they stand 100% behind the manager, who is summarily fired on Wednesday morning. Such statements of support are almost always a signal that the end is near for a team’s manager. Consider this statement in The Times last Friday, reportedly issued by the Royal Society in the wake of Prof. Michael Reiss, a biologist and the Society’s director of education, suggesting discussion of creationism in science classes to explain how it isn’t science, but Darwinian evolution is. “A spokesman for the organisation, which counts 21 Nobel Prize winners among its Fellows, confirmed Read More ›