Month: April 2011
Tennessee House Passes Academic Freedom Bill by 70-23 Vote
Today an academic freedom bill in the Tennessee State Legislature passed out of the Tennessee House by a vote of 70-23. The journal Science has an online newspiece about the bill which states the following: In a 70-28 vote today, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed HB 368, a bill that encourages science teachers to explore controversial topics without fear of reprisal. Critics say the measure will enable K-12 teachers to present intelligent design and creationism as acceptable alternatives to evolution in the classroom. The bill’s text, if passed into state law, would protect teachers from discipline if they “help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories Read More ›
Francis Beckwith Takes on Barbara Forrest in Synthese
“We have a choice. We can take our cue from Forrest, and a few of her compatriots higher up on the philosophical food chain, and continue to escalate and amplify our inflammatory rhetoric . . . Or we can be philosophers.”
Understanding Ontogenetic Depth, Part I: Naming Versus Measuring
The theory of evolution by natural selection does not explain the origin of animal form, because natural selection cannot account for origin de novo of the developmental stages required to construct (i.e., evolve) animals.
What We Can’t Not Know
If you were to read only one book explaining and defending natural law, I would recommend J. Budziszewski’s What We Can’t Not Know: A Guide.
The “Newspeak” of Evolutionary Biology Hopes to Banish the term “Design,” by Design
Some ID critics today are so fearful of lending any credence towards intelligent design that they are recommending that biologists stop using the word “design” entirely.