Discovery Institute's Blog, page 117

Atheists Deserve a Better Spokesman than Neil deGrasse Tyson

Just watch him on the Comedy Central program The Nightly Show. Yes, it's on Comedy Central, but that doesn't stop host Larry Wilmore from posing, in earnest, the old question of science versus religion. That's the theme of the panel discussion with Dr. Tyson, comedian Tom Papa, and a soft-spoken Christian hipster pastor, Carl Lentz. Despite having been done to death, the question of whether ancient faith can survive the encounter with modern science is not a no-brainer.

Tom Papa, apart from...

California's Physician-Assisted Suicide Law Requires Doctors to Lie

Correction: This post mistakenly referred to California legislation to legalize assisted suicide that would have required doctors to list as "the cause of death on an individual's death certificate" the "underlying terminal illness." While that provision was contained in a bill to legalize assisted suicide in California, the legislation that ultimately passed into law, during a special legislative session, does not contain that requirement.

California has a new physician-assisted suicide law...

Germany Opens the Door to Culture of Death

If there is one lesson I have learned in 22 years of anti-euthanasia activism, it is that you can't compromise with the culture of death. Once it gets its scythe through the door, it never stops. Like the universe, it keeps on expanding.

Now, Germany shows that it has failed to learn that lesson by legalizing assisted suicide for "altruistic" reasons. From the AP story:

German lawmakers passed a bill Friday allowing assisted suicide for "altruistic motives" but banning the practice in cases...

The Sad Decline of Karl Giberson

Physicist Karl Giberson used to be a serious participant in discussions of issues related to science and faith. A co-founder of the BioLogos Foundation with Francis Collins and Darrel Falk, and a frequent contributor to Books & Culture, Giberson is the author of several notable books. But of late it's getting hard to take him seriously. It's rather sad.

First, there was the controversy over Giberson's use during public lectures of a fake photo purporting to show a human baby born with a tail...

A "Mechanical" Philosophy for the 21st Century

In Francis Bacon's day, it was easy to oversimplify nature. Elizabethan scientists began to conceive of a world that ran like a machine. Robert Boyle was a strong proponent of the mechanical philosophy. Soon, Isaac Newton's clockwork heavens reinforced the notion that all the Creator had to do was wind it up, and let it run all by itself. From Boyle to Babbage, the Newtonian revolution showed the way for scientific progress: just uncover the natural laws that make the universe run.

By the l...

Columnist Lauds Robin Williams's Suicide

Robin Williams's widow has disclosed that he had been diagnosed with a terrible disease that leads to dementia and Parkinson's-like symptoms. That has Dallas Morning News editorial writer Tod Robberson, in effect, applauding Williams's suicide.

From "Suicide is a Selfish Act? Not in the Case of Robin Williams":

Considering the long trail of evidence in Robin Williams's life, his many charitable acts and devotion to worthy non-profit causes, it seems more than likely that he carefully examine...

From Biochemist Larry Moran, More Gratuitous Misrepresentations

Biochemist Larry Moran at the University of Toronto has posted another piece arguing with us about the Cambrian explosion, and specifically the view given by Stephen Meyer in his book Darwin's Doubt. I do wish Moran would state his case without inserting gratuitous misrepresentations. If he's read the book, he should know by now what intelligent design theorists like Stephen Meyer really think. So all I can conclude is that Moran's little slurs are an attempt to prejudice his readers.

Here i...

In the New York Times, a Bizarre Non Sequitur About Skepticism on Evolution

Check out this gratuitous and just bizarre reference to academic freedom and evolution in a New York Times article about religion-based arbitration. It concerns a young man, Nicklaus Ellison, who tragically died of a toxic drug combination after going to live in a Christian substance-abuse treatment center. The article is long and interesting and has nothing to do with evolution. Yet note the sentence in bold:

Like his mother, Mr. Ellison was a committed Christian, but he was never comfortab...

Vasoconstriction and Platelet Aggregation Defy Evolutionary Explanations

Editor's note : Physicians have a special place among the thinkers who have elaborated the argument for intelligent design. Perhaps that's because, more than evolutionary biologists, they are familiar with the challenges of maintaining a functioning complex system, the human body. With that in mind, Evolution News & Views is delighted to present this series, "The Designed Body." For the complete series, see here. Dr. Glicksman practices palliative medicine for a hospice organization.

To feed...

Animal Breeding as Evolution "In Action"?

Ann Gauger's post "Is Evolution Random? Answering a Common Challenge" is an excellent answer to those who still today affirm Darwin's contention that domestic breeding offers an example of evolution "in action." But there is more to say. Alfred Russel Wallace wrote in his famous Ternate letter:

Again, in the domesticated animal all variations have an equal chance of continuance; and those which would decidedly render a wild animal unable to compete with its fellows and continue its existence...