Tag Archives: Evolution

Evolution Supporters Oppose Bill That Encourages Review Of Scientific Theories

Evolutionists are up in arms over a bill in the Alabama legislature that would allow students to learn the “strengths and weaknesses” of scientific theories.

The evolutionists claim it’s an attempt by creationists to undermine “the integrity of science education.”

The bill in question, House Bill 592, amends the state’s education policy to include objective review and discussion of existing scientific theories.

“This bill would require the State Board of Education, local boards of education, and staff of K-12 public schools to create an environment that encourages students to explore scientific questions, learn about scientific evidence, develop critical thinking skills, and respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about scientific subjects,” the bill’s synopsis states. “This bill would also allow public school teachers to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of all existing scientific theories covered in a science course.”

While the bill specifically prohibits promotion of “any religious doctrine”, groups are claiming it’s all about religion.

“This is a thinly-veiled attempt to open the door to religious fanatics who don’t believe in evolution, climate change or other scientifically-based teaching in our schools,” ACLU of Alabama executive director Susan Watson told AL.com.

The bill’s lead sponsor, Representative Mack Butler, denied the attacks against the bill in a posting on social media.

“To clarify HB 592 only encourages debate on scientific theories! Nothing is mandated,” Butler posted on Facebook last week. “I don’t understand all the profanity laced emails from a few liberals I’m receiving about this bill. There is nothing to fear in a little healthy debate as debate helps develop critical thinking skills for our students.”

Part of “Ape-Man” Skeleton Actually From Baboon

A team of scientists has announced that one of the bones in the “Lucy” skeleton, the “ape-man” that proves evolution, is actually from a baboon.

The scientific team reported in New Scientist that one of the vertebra was significantly smaller than the vertebra for a human being.  The scientists said after they noticed “something odd’ they investigated further.

“Baboons were a close match, both in shape and size,” researcher Scott Williams of New York University explained. “So we think we’ve solved this mystery. It seems that a fossil gelada baboon thoracic vertebra washed or was otherwise transported in the mix of Lucy’s remains.”

The researchers also released the report at a Paleoanthropology Society meeting in San Francisco last week.

“Even though Lucy is fairly complete for a mammal fossil (47 of 207 bones found), the bones are mostly small fragments with many pieces missing,” Doug Henderson wrote of the fossil in 2013. “Other specimens have been found, but they are far more fragmentary. No matter how complete, all fossils must be interpreted. Some interpretation is always left to the imagination of the person doing the reconstruction.”

Charles Darwin Day Declared In Delaware

The statement by Delaware Governor Jack Markell (D) that he is declaring February 12th “Charles Darwin Day” in the state has overjoyed atheists and anti-Christianists.

“Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is the foundation of modern biology, an essential tool in understanding the development of life on earth,” the governor said in a statement.    “The anniversary of Darwin’s birthday is a time to reflect and celebrate the importance of his scientific achievements,.  Now, Therefore, I, Jack A. Markell, Governor, do hereby declare February 12th, 2015, Charles Darwin Day.”

The day is organized around the world by the anti-Christian group American Humanist Association, which is committed to promoting anti-Christian beliefs around the world.

“The mission of International Darwin Day is to inspire people throughout the globe to reflect and act on the principles of intellectual bravery, perpetual curiosity, scientific thinking, and hunger for truth as embodied in Charles Darwin,” states the AHA’s International Darwin Day website.

Markell took the action at the request of the Delaware Atheist Meetup.

Critics point out that Darwin’s only real accomplishments in science revolved around work on invertebrates.  Brian Thomas of the Institute for Creation Research says that the trumpeting of Darwin is just an attempt by anti-Christianists to push the idea of doing whatever you want without moral beliefs.

“The spiritual link between Darwinism and atheism follows from thinking that natural processes like death and mutations can transform worms into humans,” he stated. “Where does a Creator fit in this view? Without a Creator, man feels free to do what he wants, how he wants—all while ignoring his conscience that reminds him of the Judge he must one day face.”

Arizona State University Teacher Mocks Jesus

A teacher at Arizona State University openly mocked Christ in one of the school’s classes.

Christofer Bang teaches biology and ecology courses for the state-funded university.  The teacher held a class last week where he openly mocked Christ and described Biblical creation as “magic.”

The teacher’s actions were released to the website Campus Reform by a student who wished to remain anonymous.  The teacher posted a slide that showed Darwin on one side with his evolution and Jesus on the other with a caption that read “zap! Magic!”

“Quite a few students in the lecture hall were bothered by the picture, and it didn’t contribute to the lecture besides adding spite,” the student said.

Arizona State officials are defending the teacher’s anti-Christian attitude.

“The image you are referring to is on the title page of a [PowerPoint] and sets the stage for a discussion about the extremes of the public discourse on evolution/creationism,” Sandy Leander, media relations manager for ASU’s School of Life Sciences stated.

Even non-Christian students were offended by the teacher’s actions.

“All the professor needed to do was state the facts about evolution and move on,” one student said. “There’s no need to attack Christianity in the process.”

Anti-Christianists Seek To Remove Creationism From Scottish Schools

An anti-Christian organization is attempting to remove the teaching of creation from schools in Scotland.

The Scottish Secular Society claims their goal is to “support and further the cause of secularism” and was founded by Garry Otton, who has openly said he has a deep hatred for Christianity.

The group has filed a petition with the Scottish Parliament to prohibit any teaching of anything that conflicts with evolution.

“Evolution, meaning the common descent of living things and their change over time, is, and has been for generations, the unifying concept of the life sciences,” the petition claims. “The deep time necessary for this evolution had been recognized by Scottish geologists over a century earlier.”

David Robertson of the St. Peter’s Free Church, says that SSS is desiring to “undermine and attack Christianity in pursuit of their sectarian and bigoted anti-religious beliefs.”

Bill Nye Publishes Anti-Christian Creation Book

Bill Nye, the atheist scientist who attacked Pastor Ken Ham and his beliefs as “bad for humankind” has published a book that mocks Christianity and had stated he has a goal to keep children from being taught the truth of creation from the Bible.

Nye has written a book called “Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation” where he claims to outline “scientific proofs” for the theory of evolution.

He even mocks Christianity by saying evolution is “the most meaningful creation story that humans have ever found.”

Nye even told the New York Times that he wants to get his book into the hands of young children to keep them from being brainwashed by Chrsitians.

“My biggest concern about creationist kids is that they’re compelled to suppress their common sense, to suppress their critical thinking skills at a time in human history when we need them more than ever,” he asserted. “By the time you’re 18, you’ve made up your mind. … But if you’re 7 or 8, we got a shot.”

Creationist Ken Ham reviewed Nye’s book and says Nye dismisses anything that does not agree with him.

“I want to point out that the public would understand science a lot better if evolutionary scientists would stop treating their humanistic, God-denying, worldview-based interpretations of our origins—which no scientist has ever observed or tested—as if they were as reliable as the conclusions drawn from the testable, repeatable processes of observational science,” he stated.

Pope: Evolution Not Inconsistent With Creation

Pope Francis spoke to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and said that evolution is not “inconsistent” with creation.

“When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so,” he told those gathered for a discussion on “Evolving Concepts of Nature.” “He created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfillment.”

“And so Creation continued for centuries and centuries, millennia and millennia, until it became which we know today, precisely because God is not a demiurge or a magician, but the Creator who gives being to all things,” Francis continued. “The Big Bang, which today we hold to be the origin of the world, does not contradict the intervention of the divine creator but, rather, requires it. … Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve.”

The statements from the Pope come a month after the official papal astronomer said that he rejected the literal interpretation of Genesis and said that he finds truth in “science.”

One-Third of Americans Reject Evolution

A new survey shows that 33 percent of Americans reject the idea of evolution and say “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.”

The study from the Pew Research Center’s Religion and Public Life Survey showed that evangelical Protestants top the list of those rejecting evolution with 64 percent saying there is no such thing as evolution.

A quarter of those surveyed said that “a supreme being guided the evolution of living things.”

The survey noted that while the overall number of those who do not believe in evolution has stayed steady, the partisan divide grew.  In 2009, the last time the question was asked, 54 percent of Republicans accepted evolution.  The total in 2013 is 43 percent.  Democrat support for evolution was up 3 percent.

The survey of almost 2,000 adults was conducted in March and April 2013 with the findings released this week.