Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Pope to Embrace Intelligent Design?

Current news reports note that Pope Benedict XVI may change the direction the Vatican is taking regarding evolution.

The Creation of Adam, fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, 1511. But there is an alternate perspective on this concept of creationism - click here for more...

News articles:

Pope may embrace intelligent design from
Pope Benedict XVI may reportedly embrace the theory of intelligent design, possibly heralding a fundamental shift in the Vatican's view of evolution. [...]

Vatican ponders 'design' theory from The Age (AU)
PHILOSOPHERS, scientists and other intellectuals close to Pope Benedict will gather at his summer palace outside Rome this week, possibly signaling a fundamental shift in the Vatican's view of evolution. There have been growing signs that the Pope is considering aligning his church more closely with the theory of "intelligent design". [...]

There has been speculation that these reports coincide with the resignation of Fr. George Coyne from his position as Director of the Vatican Observatory, a position he has held since 1978. Fr. Coyne has been an outspoken critic of intelligent design. In August of 2005, an article he authored on biological evolution entitled God's Chance Creation was published in , a progressive international Catholic weekly newspaper.

In late 2005 he remarked that intelligent design should be taught in religion classes, not science classes, stating, "Intelligent design isn't science, even if it pretends to be."

In other news...

Mitsubishi Motors has announced the new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, a series of turbocharged performance vehicles, which is presumed to be appropriately named as it has evolved from previous Mitsubishi Lancer models.

Nobody has stated whether a Darwin emblem will be provided as standard or optional equipment.

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Friday, August 25, 2006

Schonborn Sightings: Timely News on Christoph Cardinal Schonborn: "Pope Replaces Intelligent Design Critic at Observatory" - Religion News Service

Schonborn Sightings: Timely News on Christoph Cardinal Schonborn: "Pope Replaces Intelligent Design Critic at Observatory" - Religion News Service

Worth reading.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Creationism is not the alternative...

Creationism is not the alternative to Evolution - ignorance is.

John Stear, the "Web Bloke" from Australia, has been running a very interesting site:

This site is quite a resource for people looking for more information on Darwinism, Evolution, Intelligent Design and all of the other associated issues. It's a site that is well worth taking the time to explore.

And in exploring it, found another exceptional section:

"Creationism is not the alternative to Evolution - ignorance is."

The author has a collection of responses to his Web site in the form of emails and posts to his Message Board and Guest Book, and he has presented them here with spelling and grammatical errors intact.

Here are just a few items from that often-hilarious collection:

  • Hey dude, Can you please try to make yourself understood? Because NO NORMAL SMART MAN CAN BELIEVE IN EVOLUTION, BUT ONLY APES....
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  • hey man,you ain't gonna believe what i saw today.i saw a mannequins neck evolve into a head at walmart.plus a missing link was standing by some produce peeling his cell phone and trying to talk to his banana.you might think I'm crazy.but i see missing links all the time.one time i was riding on a space ship with Elvis and i spotted a Bigfoot watching nova through somebodies picture window.then i spotted him later at glamor shots getting an estimate.well,i guess i will see you later.i will check back when i spot more evolution miracles...........the joker.
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  • i have concrete proof of God and his son Jesus i swear this is no joke i have shown all sorts of people from doctors-lawers-judges and average people on the street.the responses i get are fear,excitement,shock,joy and amazement. but never denial.my number is [phone number omitted]
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  • If evolution was true then we would see animals with 6 legs. So much to the "truth" of EVILoution!
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  • Dear Sirs Someday your knee will bow and your tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. In the meantime, I'm sorry to hear that a monkey is your uncle.
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  • You’re an idiot! Keep unproven Atheist evolution crap out of our schools anybody with half a brain can look around and see this didn't just evolve. The reason we have kids shooting up schools is because of crap like your web site being shoved down the throats of kids to push your liberal agenda.
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  • John: Just a quick note to say I viewed your web site. You sir are a fool! That is God's words and I believe Him not you. To even begin to think otherwise is to forsake the God given intelegence bestowed on you. The sad part sir is that your knowledge has lead you to think you are wise but has blinded you. Someday sir your knee will bow to the Lord of the universe and you will recall all the times you forsook the truth. Repent! sir before it is too late!
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  • You cannot tell a Jew that he comes from the monkeys. We have proved the world that there is a God who created the universe. I come from God and you may come from the monkeys. Jews don't take orders or teaching from Christians or Gentiles. Get it!
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  • You're an idiot and one day you'll stand before the Living God and answer for your lies, if you want to believe you decended from slime, be my guest, just don't blame Christians when you're consigned to hell, good day.-
  • this site will BUURRRRNNN IN THE PITS I WILL SEE TO IT THAT GOD WILL BURN IT!!!!
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  • Sir: You are so arrogant & stupid I wonder how God permits your poison to be spread. You will be sorry on the day of judgment, I'm sure of that.
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  • Aight listen up, I got some info for you very plain and simple. One you goin to hell!!! It does'nt matter if you believe it of not, two Evoloution is not a science it's a faith. And a very loosely misguided one at that! I can kill evoloution in one blow with this: the big bang theory states that all living things came from an explosion and one single molecule, where did that come from?
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  • You ar e ALLL going to BURN!!!! Evolution is NOTHING but a way to deny GOD and HIS works. Evlutionists try to age the fosils by type of dirt, and the dirt by the type of fosils, so any fool can see THAT ALL YOU DO IS THINK IN CIRCLES!!!!!!!!!! AND our FATHERS were not APES ARE YOURS? GOD SAVES and apes skratch there asses. -
  • Hey dork how do you explain a complex world such as this one elvoving out of nothing. What are the odds. Impossible. Mega dork liberal!-
  • Praise the Lord God Almighty HOLY HOLY HOLY is the LORD!!!! PURE!!!! GOD IS PURE!!!! ABSOLUTELY PURE!!!!!!!!! HE WILL BLOW YOU MIND IF YOU LET HIM !!!!!! IT IS BETTER THAN ANY DRUG OR SEX THIS WORLD OFFERS. AND I'M NOT SPEAKING FROM LACK OF EXPERIENCE EITHER. I'm now SELIBATE THOUGH TALK ABOUT POWER PURE RAW POWER TERRORIZING POWER -
  • Since your obviously aren't catching on very fast and you'll probably try to break down everything I say Ill make it as clear as possible. -CLAMS LIVE IN WATER -THEY DONT HAVE FEET. -THEY CANT CLIMB MOUNTAINS. -THEY CANT FLY EITHER. -WHEN THEY DIE THEIR MOUTHES OPEN UNLESS THEY ARE BURRIED ALIVE. -SO HOW DOES A CLAM GET TO THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN THEN DIE BY BIENG BARRIED? Since we are all generally intelligent people Ill leave the rest up to you. -
  • Carl Sagan and Charles Darwin are both rotting in hell right now. Not trying to be rude, just telling the truth. peace.

What amazes is that there seems to be no middle ground, no points for open discussion with some of these people. It seems to be that they expect you to accept what is written in the Bible with blind and unquestioning faith, and if you don't, you're just going to "Burn in Hell"... period.

As noted before, these are just a few of the hundreds of comments and letters that John Stear has received on his site. And again, they can be found here.

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Technorati note-

Arguing with Creationists

Kids, it's eight planets, not nine.

Dan Radosh is one of the editors at The Week, one of the better national news and opinion digests, and it's available on the 'Net. When he comes out almost anything on his blog site, it's often very humorous and usually well worth reading. Here is a perfect example:

Why it's not smart to argue with creationists
I’ve long regarded Saturn’s misty tantalizing moon Titan as the Homecoming Queen of the solar system, courted and fawned over, stringing us along with teasing glimpses under her atmosphere, while Pluto was more like the chubby Goth chick who wrote weird poems about dead birds and never talked to anybody. Still, I just can’t stand by and watch as the solar system’s Fat Girl gets pushed down into ever-more ignominious substrata of social ostracism.

If you enjoyed Tim Kreider's essay on Pluto, as I did, you will want to also view his cartoon entitled Science vs. Norse Mythology.

Just as a side note, it was just last year that the Lowell Observatory celebrated the 75th anniversary of the discovery of Pluto.

Today's evolutionary announcement about Pluto being dropped from the list of planets is going to be an interesting topic when kids go back to school for the fall session.

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Friday, August 18, 2006

The I.D. Song

Scientists Sing about Incompetent Design

No, it's not a typo. Here's a a group of six scientists singing not about "intelligent design," but "incompetent design."

Marching Song of the Incompetents
( a.k.a The I.D. Song)
Lyrics by Don Wise,
sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"

My bones proclaim a story of incompetent design.
My back still hurts, my sinus clogs, my teeth just won’t align.
If I had drawn the blueprint,
I would cer-tain-ly resign.
Incompetent Design!

Evo-Evo-Evo-lution!
Design is but a mere illusion.
Darwin sparked our revolution.
Science SHALL prevail!

First performed at a Geological Society of America (GSA) meeting in October, 2005. Dr. Don Wise is Professor Emeritus of Structural Geology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He's been attempting to get the letters '' to stand for in the public mind.

See for more on this.

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