Year: 2010
California Senate Minority Leader Launches Probe into California Science Center’s Alleged Violations of First Amendment Rights
SACRAMENTO—California Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth has sent a letter to the California Science Center (CSC) requesting documents related to the Center’s cancellation of a screening last October of the pro-intelligent design documentary “Darwin’s Dilemma.” The screening was sponsored by the American Freedom Alliance (AFA), a private group that had rented the Center’s IMAX theater. Senator Hollingsworth’s letter follows two lawsuits filed against the state government-operated Science Center charging that it violated both the First Amendment and California’s open records law in its effort to stop the screening and then cover up the real story behind the cancellation.“The constitutional implications of [the Science Center’s] actions are concerning” wrote Senator Hollingsworth in the letter, citing various court decisions protecting private parties Read More ›
Access Research Network Publishes Top Intelligent Design Stories for 2009
Each year the Access Research Network (ARN) provides an excellent service to the intelligent design (ID) debate by publishing its Top ID Stories of the year. They recently released their “Key Darwin and Design Science News Stories of the Year” for 2009, but before I review some of them I want to make a preliminary note about ARN. ARN is one of the most important ID organizations in large part because their online “media resources” bookstore has a huge collection of ID resources, ranging from books to videos to audio products, and even YouTube clips. There are conspiracy theorists at Wikipedia who claim that ARN “acts as a de facto auxiliary website to the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Read More ›
Darwin’s Legacy Rebroadcast: Stream Talks by Michael Medved, Steve Fuller, and Tom Woodward
If you’re wondering what a major one-night event with some of the leading voices challenging Darwinian evolution sounds like, here’s your chance to find out. If you’re interested in attending this year’s conference, featuring Michael Medved again, along with Dr. Stephen Meyer and Dr. David Berlinski, be warned: Last year’s conference sold out, and over 200 were turned away. Click here to secure your place with a ticket in advance.From our friends at the C. S. Lewis Society: Last year’s conference, “Darwin’s Legacy: The Hidden Story,” was held by the C. S. Lewis Society at the University of South Florida and featured Michael Medved and Professor Steve Fuller of the University of Warwick, along with CSLS director Tom Woodward. Highlights Read More ›
Intelligent Design, Front-Loading, and Theistic Evolution
Over at Scott McKnight’s blog at Beliefnet, an anonymous blogger has started a review thread on Steve Meyer’s book. Signature in the Cell. While the blogger (“RJS”) says he ultimately disagrees with Meyer’s argument, it’s clear that he takes Meyer’s argument seriously and is trying to do his best to present the argument accurately. This is much more than can be said for the many hysterical and misinformed “critiques” of Meyer’s argument that are now floating around the Internet. Anyone who’s actually read the book will know that most of these critiques are cliches that Meyer addresses in detail in the book, suggesting that the critics don’t even know the argument they are criticizing. A civil review like this is Read More ›
Does “Lifeless” Prion Evolution Demonstrate Anything Significant?
I was recently asked by an e-mailer to comment on a new study about evolution of prions based via a process like Darwinian selection. Prions are misfolded proteins (or misfolded protein complexes). They aren’t alive. They can’t replicate on their own. They require their host’s cellular machinery for producing new proteins they can “misfold” in order to propagate. Prions can be dangerous because they propagate themselves by misfolding other properly folded proteins produced in the cell. The misfolded proteins don’t always function property, and this can disrupt activity in the cell. As the BBC article states, “Prions are associated with 20 different brain diseases in humans and animals.” The new research just shows that prions don’t always make perfect copies Read More ›