Pictures from Istanbul Conference on ID

The Municipality of Istanbul’s conference on intelligent design apparently turned out to be a precedent-setting hit. We can’t think of anything comparable in the Middle East. At least one follow up conference is planned. (See this post from earlier today.) Some photos have just come in that illustrate the impressive venue:

If You Have Laws, Don’t You Have to Have Punish Lawbreakers?

The Advocate today gives a big hip-hip-hooray for Darwin’s “process.” They worry that the public doesn’t accept Darwinian evolutionary claims to explain the complex diversity of life and the universe. Must be that they just don’t understand. Their solution? Perhaps the “law of evolution” would be more easily understood by the public than the “theory” of evolution. It’s interesting that evolution is so solid, so proven, that it will only survive if it is declared a law. When evolution is the law of the land, what will happen then to those who dissent?

ID Conference a Success in Turkey

On February 24, an audience of approximately 500 students, journalists, scholars and scientists gathered to hear five speakers present an international perspective on intelligent design in Instanbul’s Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall. The conference, which was sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, featured speakers from Turkey, Britain, and America. Already recognized as a success by the local leadership, the conference introduced intelligent design to the people of Turkey and was covered by mainstream Turkish media.

Pro-ACLU Crowd Cheers for P.Z. Myers’ Call for Academic Intolerance

On Wednesday, February 28, Bryan Fischer debated Kitzmiller plaintiffs’ attorney of the ACLU, Witold “Vic” Walczak, over teaching intelligent design in schools. The debate was sponsored mostly by the ACLU. Mr. Fischer reports that the pro-ACLU crowd cheered supportively when Fischer read a statement by Darwinist biologist P.Z. Myers advocating academic intolerance towards proponents of ID. Fischer reported: Of course Fischer read aloud P.Z. Myers’ quote with the intention of shocking the “pro-ACLU crowd” because Fischer assumed that they would value academic freedom, tolerance, and civil discourse. Apparently Fischer’s assumption was wrong.

UncommonDescent and ResearchID.org Report: New York Times Falsely Claimed ID Theorists Failed to Respond to Call for Research Proposals

A 2005 New York Times article asserted that ID proponents failed to respond to a call for research proposals from the John Templeton Foundation, a group that funds research dealing with origins. The New York Times reported that Templeton’s Charles Harper claimed that he had requested research proposals from ID-proponents, proposals which “never came in.” A new report now calls the veracity of the New York Times‘s story into “grave doubt.” According to both ResearchID.org and UncommonDescent, Harper now claims that the New York Times completely invented this story.