Creation and Science Chronicle

Francisco Ayala and Catholic Evolutionism

March 2, 2009 Comments Off

former-priest Former priest is a Darwin disciple
By Eric Berger
Houston Chronicle Sunday, p. B3
March 1, 2009

As part of the festivities surrounding Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday, evolutionary biologist Francisco Ayala spoke last week at Rice University, the Houston Museum of Natural Science and Baylor College of Medicine. Ayala is a passionate defender of evolution. But, as a former Dominican priest, he also has a unique viewpoint on how science and religion need not collide. Science writer Eric Berger caught up with Ayala at Rice to find out why.

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Another Poll of United Kingdom Views on Creation, Evolution, and ID

March 2, 2009 Comments Off

4of5britons Four out of five Britons repudiate creationism
Ian Sample, Science correspondent
The Guardian (United Kingdom), p. 10.
March 2, 2009

The east of England may be the most godless region of the UK, according to a “belief map” published by a theology think tank today. Almost half of adults there believe the theory of evolution makes God obsolete, and more than 80% disagree with creationism and intelligent design, which propose that humans were created by God in the past 10,000 years, and that life owes its complexity to divine intervention.

The map was drawn up by the think tank Theos following a survey of 2,060 people across the country who were chosen to be representative of the adult population.

The survey, which was conducted to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, found that nearly half of the British adult population could not name the country’s greatest naturalist as the author of On the Origin of Species, the 1859 book that introduced evolution through natural selection to a sceptical Victorian society.

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UK Atheists Can Now Whine Together in UK Schools

February 20, 2009 Comments Off

It’s nice to see that atheists, humanists, secularists, free thinkers, and rationalists can now get together in UK schools and whine about how much it bothers them that God is mentioned in the public square. But does the world really need another club that is opposed to free speech?

uk-atheists-organize First the buses. Now atheists get a student society
by Jessica Shepherd
The Guardian (United Kingdom), p. 14.
February 19, 2009

Ads on London buses encouraged atheist students to find their voice

Every religion on campus has its student society, from the Christian Union to the Jedi Knights. Now the non-religionists will have theirs too when the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies launches today to mobilise non-believers.

The “anti-God squad”, as it is happy to be called, says it will fight for the voices of what it believes to be the majority of students to be heard on campus and further afield. It is planning campaigns and events across the country to protest against religious privilege and promote the understanding of science.

Affiliated to the British Humanist Association, it has the support of some leading critics of religion: scientist Richard Dawkins, philosopher AC Grayling and Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee.

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Canadian Atheists Lose Fight To Advertise On Ottawa Buses

February 20, 2009 Comments Off

Canadian atheists certainly have a taste for the absurd when they don’t get their way. Having been turned down by the Ottawa transit authority for their silly bus ad campaign, they staged a photo-op with their mouths taped shut as a protest against the decision. How ironic considering they are the usually the first ones to try and shut down any displays of Christianity in the culture.

canadian-atheist-bus-ads Atheist ads have no place on buses, Ottawa transit rules
The News, New Glasgow (Canada), p. 8.
February 18, 2009

There will be no atheist advertisements on Ottawa city buses.

The national capital’s transit committee voted Wednesday to support OC Transpo’s decision to reject the ads.

Members of the Humanist Association of Ottawa are disappointed with the decision and call the city’s ad policy discriminatory.

Group member David Burton said he and others were shocked when they learned the city refused to allow the ads, sponsored by the Freethought Association of Canada.

The ads, which have been accepted for display on buses in Toronto and Calgary, say, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

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UK’s Guardian Highlights United States, Australian, and British Creationists

February 19, 2009 Comments Off

One of the United Kingdom’s major newspapers gave prominent coverage to creationist activities in the U.S., Australia, and Britain. Mentioned were: the Creation Museum, Genesis Expo, Ross Rosevear and the Creation Science Movement, John Mackay and Creation Research, Paul Taylor and Answers in Genesis, the Genesis Flood book, Monty White (formerly head of Answers in Genesis-UK), Geoff Chapman and the Creation Trust, Todd Wood and the Center for Origin Research, Paul Gardner and Biblical Creation Ministries, Sylvia Baker (author of Bone of Contention), John Peet and the Biblical Creation Society, and Kurt Wise and the Center for Science and Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Whew! Good coverage and something to excite evolutionary activists!

Defying Darwin
The Guardian, G2 supplement, (United Kingdom), pg. 1, 4-7
by Steven Moss
February 17, 2009

The ideas behind the theory of evolution have been scientific gospel for decades – and yet creationists refuse to go the way of the dinosaurs. Who are they? And what do they believe?

They do it differently in the US. The Creation Museum in Cincinnati (motto: “Prepare to believe!”) measures 70,000 sq ft, cost $27m to build, was designed by someone from Universal Studios, and promises “murals and realistic scenery, computer-generated visual effects, over 50 exotic animals, lifesized people and dinosaur animatronics, and a special-effects theater complete with misty sea breezes and rumbling seats”. The museum, opened in 2006 by creationist group Answers in Genesis to promote “true history”, looks Edenic on its website.

By contrast, Britain’s creation museum, Genesis Expo, is housed in a former bank next to the bus station on the harbour front in Portsmouth. It does not appear to have any connection with Hollywood, and is an animatronicfree zone. The sign stretching across the front of the building is peeling, an elderly volunteer from a local church is manning the front desk, and the museum is only slowly converting its stock of creationist videos to DVD. The upside is that Genesis Expo is free to enter.

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Poor Darwin, Now He Had Autism!

February 18, 2009 Comments Off

I’m actually beginning to feel sorry for poor Charles Darwin after reading this story! Is their no shame among evolutionists capitalizing on making money off Darwin’s name?

Now a psychiatrist claims Darwin had Asperger’s syndrome. This is also another example of the intellectual bankruptcy of psychology and psychiatry.

Darwin was autistic, says leading psychiatrist
by Rebecca Smith (Medical Editor)
The Daily Telegraph (United Kingdom), p. 7.
February 18, 2009

CHARLES Darwin probably had a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome, which is related to creativity and originality, a leading psychiatrist claimed today.

Darwin, the author of On the Origin of Species, which sets out the theory of natural selection, had an extraordinary attention to detail but had difficulties with social interaction, according to Prof Michael Fitzgerald, of Dublin’s Trinity College.

Prof Fitzgerald believes that Darwin, who was born on Feb 12 200 years ago, was suffering from a behavioural disorder. Today, he will tell the annual meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Faculty of Academic Psychiatry that Darwin was probably suffering from Asperger’s syndrome.

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Was Darwin a Buddhist? Dalai Lama Now a Darwinist…

February 17, 2009 Comments Off

The past few months we have been ‘treated’ to dozens of books and articles purporting to point out some significant aspect of Darwin’s life. Now, along comes a ‘theory’ that Darwin had Buddhist ideas or leanings. The article manages to draw a tenacious connection to Buddhism through Darwin’s friend, Joseph Hooker, who spent time in Tibet studying plants!

darwin-buddhist The origins of Darwin’s theory: it may have evolved in Tibet

The Independent (United Kingdom), p. 14.
February 16, 2009

CHARLES DARWIN has been accused of many things – but never before of being a closet Tibetan Buddhist.

A leading scholar of human emotions and facial expressions has suggested Darwin’s views on human compassion and morality were strikingly similar to those held by Buddhists.

Professor Paul Ekman said that his studies of Darwin’s texts had revealed that the great Victorian scientist had identical views to those expressed by the Dalai Lama, a personal friend of Professor Ekman.

Darwin wrote at length on human emotions and compassion, and strongly believed in the unity of humanity as well as the commonality of emotions shared between humans and the animals we eat, Professor Ekman said.

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Darwin Celebrated on Magazine Covers

February 16, 2009 Comments Off

The Darwin Bicentennial celebration mania seems to have finally peaked — although we still have the Origin of Species 150 year October anniversary activities to suffer through. So far, there have only been a handful of magazines giving Darwin front cover prominence. (Newspapers were a different story, with many non-United States papers giving multi-page coverage.) Below is a gallery of cover images I’ve accumulated in the past several months from a variety of publications. If I have the time, I’ll provide another image gallery of the better newspaper articles.

Perhaps Michael D. Barton at the Dispersal of Darwin blog might want to update his list from mine…

P.S. Since there’s been little reporting in the blogosphere and among the mainstream media about attendance at Darwin celebrations, I’m assuming many were an attendance bust!