Discovery Institute's Blog, page 459

Protecting "Public Intellectual Life"

"Progressives" in science and other fields increasingly deal with serious opponents by belittling them and ruling their arguments out of order. That wouldn't matter in a free debate, but the left wing in science also disallows debate. That way they are allowed to mischaracterize their opponents' positions and the opponents cannot correct the record in a reply. You will not see a pro-intelligent design article in the New York Times, for example.

The situation is a bit better in England, where, ...

A Weirdly Naked Appeal to Racism from the National Center for Science Education?

You simply must take a moment and watch the priceless trailer for No Dinosaurs in Heaven, the new documentary being promoted by our Darwin-lobbying friends at the National Center for Science Education. The NCSE is a group that wants to help soften up the religious community for Darwinian evolution. And this was their bright idea on how to do it? Wow. An attack on young earth creationism and secondarily, it seems, on intelligent design, the film opens a window on the mind of folks like the...

Butterflies in Space

Yes, there are butterflies in space! Not living ones, of course, but BINOs (butterflies in name only).

When encountering the unknown, our minds try to project the familiar onto the unfamiliar. There are at least four objects in the heavens that have been named after butterflies: Three planetary nebulae and a loose cluster of stars.

M6-A is a cluster in the constellation Scorpius that shows faint bilateral symmetry (credit: Ole Nielsen, via Wikimedia Commons).

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The Hubble Space Telescope has...

Fact-Checking Wikipedia on Common Descent: The Evidence from Paleontology

Previously in this series, I have discussed the arguments for common descent presented by Wikipedia in the areas of comparative physiology/biochemistry and comparative anatomy. In this third installment, I will discuss the arguments from paleontology and the fossil record. Wikipedia's page on the "Evidence of common descent" contains only a brief section on the fossil record, half of which is concerned with describing the discipline of paleontology and noting the limitations of the...

Responding to Venema's Response to Meyer's Response to Venema's Response to Meyer's Signature in the Cell: The Last in a Series (We Promise!)

We recently posted links to the exchange between Stephen Meyer and Dennis Venema regarding Signature in the Cell in Perspectives on Science & Christian Faith (PSCF), a journal of the American Scientific Affiliation. In that same issue the journal gave Venema a chance to reply to Meyer's reply -- in a courtroom setting it's called a surrebuttal, in case you're curious -- giving Dr. Venema the last word. We ask readers' indulgence as, in turn, ENV appropriates the last last word with a...

The Ninth Circuit's Pattern of Double Standards and Denying Justice to Darwin-Skeptics

The Ninth Circuit's recent refusal to rule on the merits of a case where a student alleged his teacher was disparaging creationist religious beliefs isn't the first time the Ninth Circuit has denied Darwin-skeptics their day in court. In the past here on ENV, we've written about how the Ninth Circuit dismissed the Caldwell v. Caldwell lawsuit for lack of standing.

In the Caldwell case, Jeanne Caldwell, a parent of public school students in Roseville, California, filed suit against the...

NCSE and Eugenie Scott Attack Critics of Evolution with New Film, No Dinosaurs In Heaven

If you believe you are on the side of truth, you are most likely at ease. After all, truth remains long after attacks on it have ceased. It is usually those who feel threatened with the possibility of being wrong who make the most noise, who bare their teeth menacingly, and who feel most uncomfortable with respectful discourse and debate. This is the reason many Darwinists and atheists hesitate to debate science with proponents of intelligent design. As long as they can label opponents of...

No, Ninth Circuit, the Relevant Law in C.F. v. Capistrano Unified School District Was Indeed "Clearly Established"

In August, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied justice to a creationist student in the case C.F. v. Capistrano Unified School District. The court claimed it was justified in refusing to rule because "the law was not clearly established." In a previous article, we saw that the court thus failed in its job to establish what the law is. In fact the relevant law on this issue is not nearly as murky as the Ninth Circuit made it out to be.

While many questions about academic freedom for...

Ninth Circuit Uses Outcome-Based Jurisprudence to Deny Justice to Darwin-Doubting Student

Back in August, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied justice to a Darwin-doubting student by refusing to rule on the merits of a lawsuit. A lower court had previously found a public high school teacher violated a student's First Amendment rights by disparaging creationist religious views in the classroom. In the lawsuit, C.F. v. Capistrano Unified School District, the student/parent plaintiffs, "Farnan," filed suit after the history teacher in question, James Corbett, made various...

Watch Oxford Mathematician John Lennox's Response to Stephen Hawking's Grand Design

In his 2010 book The Grand Design, celebrated cosmologist Stephen Hawking sets out to continue what he started in 1988's A Brief History of Time - trying to explain where the universe came from and where it is going. Hawking now claims that a single "theory of everything" is tantalizingly close, and explores several enduring mysteries with the hope that he can provide some answers. Why is there a universe? Why is there something rather than nothing? Why do we exist? Why are the laws of nature...