Category: Culture
Academic Freedom Under Fire — Again!
A news article published yesterday on haaretz.com reported that the Israeli Education Minister has dismissed their chief scientist, Dr Gavriel Avital, over — wait for it — questioning particular elements of two theories, specifically those pertaining to Darwinian evolution and global warming. The article reports, Dr. Gavriel Avital has generated controversy in the past for his statements questioning the validity of Darwin’s theory of evolution. He has also challenged conventional theory on pollution’s effects on global warming. “Someone who holds the opinions of Avital cannot serve as chief scientist of the Education Ministry,” said a ministry official. [emphasis mine] What was Dr Avital’s crime? Let’s hear it straight from the horse’s mouth:
God and Evolution at Biola University
Can you believe in God and Darwinian evolution at the same time? Scientists and scholars have an answer that may surprise the audience as they explore this and related questions at the God & Evolution conference on Saturday, October 16, 2010 at Biola University in La Mirada, California. The conference will focus on the conflict between neo-Darwinism and traditional theological views of Protestants, Catholics and Jews. What is “theistic” evolution, and how consistent is it with traditional theism? What challenges does Darwin’s theory pose for Protestants, Catholics, and Jews? Is it “anti-science” to question Darwinian Theory?
Codevilla: “Darwinism corrupted Northern and Southern thinkers equally”
Angelo Codevilla’s new book The Ruling Class: How They Corrupted America and What We Can Do About It has been stirring enviable attention since it first appeared as an essay in The American Spectator. “Magnificent,” writes David Goldman at First Things. “I felt like I had just plunged head-first into 50-degree water.” New York Times blogger Tom Kuntz says: Few articles have resonated with conservatives this year as much as Angelo M. Codevilla’s essay…It says America is divided between an elite, government-dependent “ruling class” — Republicans and Democrats alike — and a majority “country class”: families, businesses and institutions not dependent on subsidies and privileges. Excerpt from the book: Human equality made sense to our Founding Fathers, because they believed Read More ›
Evolution Readiness Project Promotes Made-Up Stories about Darwin and the Galápagos Finches
When it comes to teaching young children about Darwin, the NSF’s $2 million Evolution Readiness Project recommends resources that give him no end of praise. One of their recommended resources, the book Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution, calls “the theory of evolution … one of the great accomplishments of science.” One of the prime examples of evolution in the book is the classic Galápagos finch beak story. Darwin, we are told, visited the Galápagos islands and “found a [sic] unusual group of finches” which “gave Darwin important clues about the way evolution works.” Supposedly Darwin “noticed that on each islands the birds’ beaks were shaped differently” and “Darwin believed that small changes in the birds over many generations Read More ›
How Does The NSF Evolution Readiness Project Dumb Down Students?
“Rabbits, cacti, bumblebees, jellyfish, penguins, sunflowers–all living things on the earth are the descendants of simple, single-celled organisms,” opens the book Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution. This short 40-page book is one of the primary resources that the NSF’s new “Evolution Readiness Project” recommends reading to “young children” so they will “believe in” evolution. In my prior post, we saw that the project justifies teaching students that “evolution by natural selection is the fundamental model that explains the extraordinary complexity and interdependence of the living world” because allegedly there is “universal agreement among scientists” on that point. The evolution readiness project justifies excluding dissenting scientific views from students by pretending they don’t exist. The argument you’re likely to Read More ›