Science Reporting

Scientific American is carrying a new piece by Michael Shermer on “Why Christians and conservatives should accept evolution.” Shermer is a libertarian, agnostic Darwinist, so it is curious that he would make this argument. It reminds one of Eugenie Scott‘s lectures in churches. (Recall that they are both original signatories of Humanist Manifesto III.) But perhaps this is all the more reason to hear Shermer’s argument. After all, if ID advocates and their detractors merely speak to their natural constituencies, this controversy-that-does-not-exist will go nowhere. Shermer makes six quick arguments.

It used to be that when politicians spoke up against censorship and in support of academic freedom they were applauded. Not anymore, at least in Michigan. Now if you express support for academic freedom and speak out against censorship and dogmatism, you get attacked by rabid Darwinists and their knee-jerk supporters in the mainstream media.

There’s a new player in the United Kingdom in the debate over how best to teach evolution. A new website launched this week, “Truth in Science,” seeks to “promote good science education in the UK.” Because of the different education and policy environment in the UK, versus that of the United States, TiS endorses teaching both the criticisms of evolution and the scientific theory of intelligent design.

We consider that it is time for students to be permitted to adopt a critical approach to Darwinism in science lessons. They should be given fair and accurate presentations of alternative views. … Truth in Science promotes the critical examination of Darwinism in schools, as an important component of science education.

It appears the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Toledo Blade have both joined the ranks of Ohio papers in need of correction, like the Akron Beacon Journal. Both the Plain Dealer and the Blade ran stories misrepresenting intelligent design and Discovery Institute, and neither chose to publish my letters to the editor, which follow.

“It’s official, men have higher IQs than women.” Incredibly, that was an actual headline last week. Some others were a bit more objective, but make no mistake: the latest study by white nationalist J. Philippe Rushton (a fellow of the AAAS) will be used (as he perhaps intended) to “prove” male superiority via Darwinism. Today’s story in the Daily Mail trumpeted the “battle of the sexes” and quoted Rushton making the ridiculous claim that men are smarter than women:

He claims the ‘glass ceiling’ phenomenon is probably due to inferior intelligence, rather than discrimination or lack of opportunity.

Today NPR covered an exciting archeological find. It appears to be the oldest writing known in the Americas. Although archeologists do not know the meaning of the symbols on this newly found stone block in Mexico, they are certain it is designed and not the product of, say, wind and erosion. How do they know this?

I just returned from hearing Chris Mooney speak at The Elliott Bay Book Company in downtown Seattle (which is a very cool place!). As discussed in this press release, tomorrow I will be posting live my complete response to Mr. Mooney’s chapter in The Republican War on Science against intelligent design. I’d like to give a brief account of the talk and commentary on my exchange with Chris Mooney. I was impressed by Chris Mooney. He’s clearly intelligent, articulate, and has spent a lot of time immersed in the issues he writes about. As will be documented tomorrow, his attacks against intelligent design unfortunately are based upon a straw-man version of the theory. Much of Mr. Mooney’s talk was about Read More ›

Two of the leading skeptics of Darwin’s theory of evolution will be appearing at a major event in Florida on September 29.

Every American should be troubled by this statement by a federal judge:

I think that some of the cross-examination was absolutely fabulous,” said Jones. “It will endure, and I think it will be excerpted for advocacy classes. … I would say, in particular, Eric Rothschild’s cross-examination of Professor [Michael] Behe — the intelligent design proponent — that might be as good a cross-examination of an expert witness as I have ever seen. It was textbook. (quoted in Pennsylvania Lawyer, July/August, 2006)

A recent editorial entitled “They’re Back” in the Akron Beacon Journal (ABJ) is chock-full of false and misleading information about how evolution has been taught in Ohio Public Schools. The title seems intended to imply a sense of ominous doom (read it “Theeeeeyyyyy’rrreeee Baaaaaaccck”) because apparently re-considering teaching students about both the scientific strengths and weaknesses of evolution is extremely scary in the eyes of some Darwinist journalists who would rather that students don’t learn about the scientific problems with evolution. Regardless, the real record looks far different from the ABJ editorial’s alternate reality. The editorial’s opening line that “[s]ome members of the state school board appear obsessed with wedging creationism into high school biology classes” is a scare tactic Read More ›