Tag Archives: Creationism

Melanie Phillips on “The Secular Inquisition”

From Melanie Phillips today comes possibly the most intellectually aware statement I have seen from any journalist on the Intelligent Design controversy, including this: While materialist fundamentalists can deal with religious believers by scoffing they are in a separate domain altogether from the real ie scientific world, the suggestion that science might itself arrive at …

May 5, 2009 – 10:29 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , , | Comments (29)

The Late Great Ape Debate by Bayard Taylor

Book Review Bayard Taylor has a knack for explaining issues for teens and college students, and doing it clearly, with a refreshing sense of humor. He did it previously with Blah, Blah, Blah, an excellent guide to worldviews (and yes, that’s its title, or at least part of it). He has done it again with …

April 2, 2009 – 3:18 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Creationism and ID: Definition or Rhetoric?

This entry is part 2 of 8 in the series Is ID Creationism?

Yesterday I tried to set aside a question about the relation between creationism and intelligent design, but bobxxx commented, I have a few things to say about creationism and intelligent design. I think people who pretend these are different ideas are being dishonest. Invoking creationism is the same as invoking supernatural magic. Invoking intelligent design …

February 3, 2009 – 9:53 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , , | Comments (17)

Jerry Coyne’s Line In the Sand

Yesterday in a very quick post I pointed to an inconsistency in Jerry Coyne’s New Republic article, “Seeing and Believing,” which is a critical review of two new books by the theistic evolutionists Kenneth Miller and Karl Giberson. Today I must mention several things I really appreciate about what he wrote, and offer some suggestions …

February 2, 2009 – 4:24 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (5)

“The Latest Face of Creationism in the Classroom”

This entry is part 1 of 8 in the series Is ID Creationism?

Glenn Branch and Eugenie C. Scott write in a Scientific American article dated today, Creationists who want religious ideas taught as scientific fact in public schools continue to adapt to courtroom defeats by hiding their true aims under ever changing guises Such is the expected stance from leaders of the National Center for Science Education, …

December 16, 2008 – 10:46 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , , , | Comments (31)

“What You Ought to Know About Intelligent Design”

Blog entry deleted: see here.

May 4, 2008 – 2:08 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , | Comments (49)

How Not to Support Expelled; How Not to Attack Evolution

Media reports on Intelligent Design, with their frequent misunderstandings and distortions, can make a person cringe. Unfortunately, there are times when ID defenders and creationists can make you cringe, too. There are plenty of good ways to stand in sympathy with Intelligent Design, to support creationism (not the same topic, but closely enough related to …

March 11, 2008 – 4:06 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Arts and Culture, Origins and Science | Tagged , , , | Comments (26)

Naturalistic Evolution: Underdetermined By the Evidence

Reading the NAS book on Science, Evolution, and Creationism, I was struck by the fact that naturalistic evolution is underdetermined by the evidence. That is, one cannot validly conclude, just from evidence in nature, that everything can be explained only and exclusively in terms of natural causes and effects. There is always a background perspective. …

January 14, 2008 – 9:25 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science, Unfiled | Tagged , , , | Comments (60)

The NAS on Science, Evolution, and Creationism

Book Review Science, Evolution, and Creationism, richly illustrated and printed on glossy stock, is a marvelous scientific defense of evolutionary theory from the National Academy of Sciences. If that were all it tried to accomplish, it would be quite a fine little book (just 54 pages plus bibliography, index, and author bios). What it attempts …

January 13, 2008 – 6:09 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , , , | Comments (16)