Evangelist Kirk Cameron Plans To Distribute Darwin's Origin Of The Species With Creationist Introduction
By Nicole Belle Wednesday Sep 23, 2009 8:00amDo you remember Kirk Cameron, former child star and current promoter of the banana-as-proof-of-God theory of evangelism?
In a video posted recently to YouTube, Cameron lays out a plan to subvert 'Darwin Day' on November 22, 2009 -- a date marking the 150th anniversary of the publishing of Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species." Cameron says that he and like-minded activists plan to deliver 50,000 copies of an altered version of Darwin's book to students at dozens of U.S. universities.
Cameron explains that this "very special" edition of the "Origin of Species" will include an introduction explaining "Adolf Hitler's undeniable connection" to the theory of evolution, and highlighting "Darwin's racism" and "his disdain for women." Cameron's edition also exposes the "many hoaxes" of evolutionary theory, while presenting a "balanced view of Creationism." (There's a pdf of this introduction here.)
Super classy guy, that Cameron. Tying Darwin to Hitler. And misogyny and racism. What, no pedophilia or necrophilia? A YouTuber who goes by the name ZOMGitsCriss responds to Cameron's plans:
WARNING: Strong language, not safe for work.
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I had no idea Der Fuhrer was that old.
Isn't that something.
Perhaps Hitler had a time machine? Like the dinosaurs?
Hitler rode dinosaurs to school. On a saddle. And with a bridle. Yeah, that's the ticket.
That is soo much cooler than what the boring Darwin loser says happened!
Is there an amusement park where I can go see this?
Yes there is an amusement park where you can go see this!
It is in central Kentucky and it is as stupid as camren.
republicanism is a mental illness!
I thought that idiot amusement park went belly-up due to non-payment of taxes their god owed the IRS. Please clarify if I'm wrong. TYVM
The whole premise revolves around a time machine & Hitler, although it's some dude killing Hitler & in turn makes the Russians the powerhouse etc. etc.
that over at huffpo.
Ummm Hitler did use "Origin of the Species" to argue for his master races theories.
Doesn't mean he was involved in writing the damn thing!
If that's how we want to play it then I have an undeniable connection to Harry Potter because I've seen all the movies.
A little fact Cameron leaves out.
They always seem to forget that part. Hitler liked the Bible because it was such a good tool for keeping the masses controlled and sheep-like. Funny, that.
Actually Hitler used Social Darwinism, which was a misreading of Darwin's work who wrote of survival of entire species, not any particular group or individual.
And master races came from a Pre-Darwin Western European worldview, primarily based on the Bible at the time.
It boils down to a cynical misinterpretation of the phrase "survival of the fittest". Proponents of "Social Darwinism" conveniently interpret "fittest" as "strongest", which of course is a self-serving crock of shit. Darwin meant that any species that can adapt in any way that is advantageous to its situation will survive, including intelligence, the use of tools, altruism, compassion, and any number of other adaptations. But that's inconvenient for those who see their own advancement as necessarily one involving power and subjugation.
other "races" were less than human. Sadly for the Nazis, the untermenschen and mongrel races ended up flattening Germany and getting Hitler to commit suicide in a hole in the ground.
Now in this country we're slowly levering the neo-cons, i.e. fascists, out of power. Nazis are losers, in the Darwinian sense.
So does that mean anyone who misreads and mis-interprets the Bible is connected to its creation?
Wow, now THAT would be a long list!
The Origin of Species was one of the books banned by the Nazis. The Nazis used a perverted form of Darwin's theory to justify their eugenics program. http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/burne...
if there are enough ignorant people to tell lies and enough to believe them it doesn't matter what the truth is. this linking of darwin to nazism is a talking point. one that is becoming rapidly more popular amongst these kinds of people. we can only expect that from now on and for the rest of our lives we will have to listen to the coupling of hitler and darwin. this is the lesson of republicans and evangelicals; the "truth" is any outrageous lie (the further from reality the better) repeated often and by as many people as possible. but, it is important to counter lies no matter how tiresome and frustrating it can be.
still, it's so sad and so shameful. darwin was such a good and humble man. i'm sure that if christians took the time to learn about darwin they would see a man very much like themselves, except of course honest and intelligent.
For centuries, reich-wing and religious wackos have used the Bible to justify and sanction all manner of horrible things.
Darwin's book is what it is: a ground-breaking, epochal treatise on how the Earth's species evolved through the millennia. If people who believe in cloud beings and fairy tales can't handle it, too bad.
BID
The Christian church's main justification of the concept of slavery is based on Genesis 9:25-27. According to the Bible, the worldwide flood had concluded and there were only 8 humans alive on earth: Noah, his wife, their six sons and daughters in law. Noah's son Ham had seen "the nakedness of his father." So, Noah laid a curse -- not on Ham, who was guilty of some type of indiscretion. The sin was transferred to Noah's grandson Canaan. Such transference of sin from a guilty to an innocent person or persons is unusual in the world's religious and secular moral codes. It is normally considered highly unethical. However, it appears in many biblical passages. The curse extended to all of Canaan's descendants:
Genesis 9:25-27: "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. He also said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japeth live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave'. "
Christians traditionally believed that Canaan had settled in Africa. The dark skin of Africans became associated with this "curse of Ham." Thus slavery of Africans became religiously justifiable. Author Anthony Pagden wrote:
You are mistaken. Hitler may have been inspired by the Origin of Species but he got it completely wrong. Darwin wrote about natural selection. The Final Solution was artificial selection.
What you CAN say about Hitler is that his speeches were riddled with references to Jesus and Christian ideology. For example:
"My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow my self to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice… And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows . For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people."
–Adolf Hitler, in a speech on 12 April 1922 (Norman H. Baynes, ed. The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939, Vol. 1 of 2, pp. 19-20, Oxford University Press, 1942)
...and there are many, many more.
I've always suspected this strange little Cameron dude was some kind of a nut. Why can't these right wing religious fanatic loons practice their warped religious beliefs in private and leave other people the hell alone? Like the other religious nut jobs, he thinks he is entitled to his own set of facts, then sets about trying to force them on others. Anyone who takes this whacko seriously must surely be as out of touch with reality as he is.
You will also enjoy this video by Bill Mayers on "Atheism"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDC72T_cHmw
Is that Orly Taitz's daughter?
This woman is doubleplussmart. Orly Taitz isn't going to have that kind of an offspring.
that are not produced by parthenogenesis.
... she's easy on the eyes.
I wonder if she has nice feet.
http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/i...
Romanians don't do foot binding.
To see her in a debate (smackdown) with Coulter, Malkin, Ingrahm or any other of the whiners whose names I can't think of right now.A little mud wrestling wouldn't hurt my feelings either. This young lady is wicked smart.Maybe she could get a comment segment on one of the MSNBC shows.Who knows.
i dont know who she is but i think im in love
this was fantastic.
what a nut job cameron is, man.
And of course, a nasty underhanded trick. Since The Origin on Species is in the public domain, Cameron knows perfectly well he can do whatever he likes with it, and nobody can sue him for infringement. What a fucking coward.
to be influenced by creationist nonsense aren't big readers anyway.
...to that. Imbeciles all, well represented by the idiot Cameron. I would like to think that his species and mine had different origins, but reason tells me it ain't so (sadly).
...And as our current political environment continually demonstrates, turn-about is fair play.
I take a nuanced view: Evolutionists have not evolved from the monkey.
If evolutionists have not evolved from the monkey, neither have you. How's that banana?
Can someone help me get some of these fleas off my back...
.
was hilarious. And fallacious as hell.
A) If the design of this (essentially) seed pod was geared for human hands, what about all the other stuff we eat?
B) The modern banana has been engineered through selective breeding to the form we see today. "Real" bananas are bizarre-looking and can't be eaten raw by humans.
C) Even if B weren't true, you could just as easily point to the banana as proof that humans evolved alongside the banana (if you could also prove that it was our primary food staple during a recent phase of evolution when our hands began to change).
and D) What do you always see eating bananas? MONKEYS!
These same people believe that every breed of dog we see today was on the ark with Noah...
That's just plain dumb.
These same people believe kangaroos, polar bears and penguins (in their current incarnations, no evolution here) were on the ark too. I worked with one of these whackos who tried to explain HOW that happened...God called them together from all the corners of the earth and they got on the ark! She really believed this. Any other explanation is the devil's work. Oy!
when Cameron et al tried to ambush a scientist with it... the dude simply asked Cameron et al to explain him the coconut then, and how it fit with the hole "designed for human hands" stupidity.
What Cameron failed to understand is that the modern banana is a recent mutation. It's not even 200 years old. It's the only banana humans can eat without cooking.
when you say modern (yes I know not the best thing to do but..) that your referring to the cavendish (aka chiquita) banana, but there are over a 1000 different types of bananas, quite a few are edible without cooking. And quite a few of those are ancient species.
my dad grows several types at his house...very finicky plant. The more primitive types have a triangular shape, and are more pinkish in hue...and better tasting I think...
That's why the cavendish is so desired amongst the big banana producers...easy to grow...but they're all clones...highly susceptible to a certain blight that could wipe them all out.
render survival of the fittest banana?
and it will be a hell of a struggle too...them nanners is feisty!
It's the SECOND strain we've grown en masse for raw eating. The first one was wiped out in the 1940's due to a blight. Because we were dumb enough to be growing only one kind, when the disease hit, they all went. Another strain was developed and THAT is the one we're eating now. According to those who were around when the first one was, this newer one isn't as tasty. It's flavor is flatter and not as sweet.
And the dumbass doesn't even realize that monkeys don't peel bananas from the stem, they peel it from the bottom so that it doesn't leave those stringy things behind. I guess humans aren't so smart after all.
and their fingers aren't as strong.
It always makes me laugh to see fundies demonstrate that. They claim it's proof of God because it was "designed for human hands". And yet the vast majority of people in this country don't know how to open one! They go straight for the end that's hardest to deal with.
You know who figured out how to open bananas easily? CHIMPANZEES. They do it the easy way: push your nail into the OTHER end. It splits open with almost no effort. Then enjoy!
Hey, I'm just agreeing with them that they did not evolve from (beyond) monkeys - is that so wrong?
Creationists believe in spanking the monkey
(Makes them gay, you betcha).
Or is that a game Captain Kirk played with the Chicago mob boys?
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u98/cats_f...
I'm glad you got a hold of this and posted it. Little Mikey Seaver is really going off the deep end. There needs to be some backlash to this.
I think the idea the vlogger had is a good one -- someone needs to write a 50-page "special introduction" to the Bible and distribute it around campuses for free. Oh, and send one to Mr. Cameron and his banana-minded friend with a little thank-you note for the great idea.
that idea too! I hope some one does so. Of course it'd take more then 50 pages.
Well, I don't know about adding an introduction (although I suspect that's been done), but there are several annotated versions of the, "Big Book of Bronze Age Myths & Fables," that have been done.
I'd love to see someone distribute newly-minted copies of Thomas Jefferson's annotated version, but there's also the Skeptics' Bible: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/ as well as the Evil Bible: http://www.evilbible.com/
I know there are others, but the names are escaping at the moment - most likely caused by a curse on my memory from Yod-Heh-Vau-Heh.
I think I'm in love with ZOMGitsCriss. Excellent reply! And spot on!
I loved that statement too!
Such a sexy (Russian?) accent too!
I think she is Romanian. Either way, this girl rocks!
Yes, Romanian.
I'm in love.
phone number?
Can Steve Gould write the introduction to the next reissue of the Bible?
He'd have to come back from the dead...and that's strictly in the domain of the bible beaters.
Hitler also has an "undeniable" connection to gravity via V2 rockets that fell on London. Let's pretend the earth is flat! Problem solved!
I have just met my new wife. Sorry, current wife.
She's my current wife. I'm head over heels.
but wouldn't want to have her as a wife. A very funnny video; free speech, personal expression, fantastic.
Hands off dudes!
That's my FUTURE ex wife y'all are droolin over!
on all your parades guys but she's married.
Notice, I said future ex-wife...
I still have a chance...these other poor saps...not so much, lol!
Go for it dude.
unless she shows up in Key Largo...I am SOL.
What these "top 50 campuses" are? Because if my college is one of em, I want to grab a copy so I can explicitly read this "introduction" and point out the nonsense.
And then rip out the 50 pages and have a perfectly serviceable copy of "The Origin of Species" on hand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J30gJhUgsYk&fe...
1. Princeton University (NJ) http://www.princeton.edu
2. Harvard University (MA) http://www.college.harvard.edu
3. Yale University (CT) http://www.yale.edu
4. Stanford University (CA) http://www.stanford.edu
5. University of Pennsylvania (PA) http://www.upenn.edu
6. California Institute of Technology (CA) http://www.caltech.edu
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA) http://web.mit.edu
8. Duke University (NC) http://www.duke.edu
9. Columbia University (NY) http://www.columbia.edu
10. University of Chicago (IL) http://www.uchicago.edu
11. Dartmouth College (NH) http://www.dartmouth.edu
12. Washington University in St. Louis (MO) http://www.wustl.edu
13. Cornell University (NY) http://www.cornell.edu
14. Brown University (RI) http://www.brown.edu
15. Northwestern University (IL)
http://www.northwestern.edu
16. Johns Hopkins University (MD) http://www.jhu.edu
17. Rice University (TX) http://www.rice.edu
18. Emory University (GA) http://www.emory.edu
19. Vanderbilt University (TN) http://www.vanderbilt.edu
20. Notre Dame (IN) http://www.nd.edu
21. University of California - Berkeley (CA) We have this one.
22. Carnegie Mellon University (PA) http://www.cmu.edu
23. University of Virginia (VA) http://www.virginia.edu
24. Georgetown University (DC) http://www.georgetown.edu
25. University of California—Los Angeles (CA) http://www.ucla.edu
26. University of Michigan—Ann Arbor (MI) http://www.umich.edu
27. University of Southern California (CA) We have this one.
28. University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill (NC) http://www.unc.edu
29. Tufts University (MA) http://www.tufts.edu
30. Wake Forest University (NC) http://www.wfu.edu
31. Lehigh University (PA) http://www.lehigh.edu
32. Brandeis University (MA) http://www.brandeis.edu
33. College of William and Mary (VA) http://www.wm.edu
34. New York University (NY) http://www.nyu.edu
35. University of Rochester (NY) http://www.rochester.edu
36. Georgia Institute of Technology (GA) http://www.gatech.edu
37. Boston College (MA) http://www.uiuc.edu
38. University of Wisconsin—Madison (WI) http://www.wisc.edu
39. University of California—San Diego (CA) http://www.ucsd.edu
40. University of Illinois—Urbana - Champaign (IL) http://www.illinois.edu
41. Case Western Reserve University (OH) http://www.case.edu
42. University of Washington (WA) http://www.washington.edu
43. University of California—Davis (CA) http://www.ucdavis.edu
44. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) http://www.rpi.edu
45. University of Texas—Austin (TX) http://www.utexas.edu
46. University of California—Santa Barbara (CA) http://www.ucsb.edu
47. University of California—Irvine (CA) http://www.uci.edu
48. Penn State University—University Park (PA) http://www.psu.edu
49. University of Florida (FL) http://www.ufl.edu
50. Syracuse University (NY) http://www.syr.edu
CANADIAN SCHOOLS TARGETED
Ottawa University
Carleton University
Queen's University
University of Toronto
York University
McMaster University
Guelph University
Brock University
U of Western Ontario
Concordia University
McGill University
U of New Brunswick
Memorial U of Newfoundland
Dalhousie University
University of Manitoba
U of Saskatchewan
University of Alberta
University of Calgary
Simon Fraser University
U of British Columbia
University of Victoria
I'm near Cornell, so I'll be able to pick one up on that day...or my friend at RPI could. Thanks again!
Wow. They're going to hand these out at that bastion of progressive secularism...Notre Dame?! Does Kirk understand the meaning of the term "preaching to the choir?"
Aren't a lot of those private schools? Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't like 99% of private schools Christian (whether liberal or not)?
p.s. Kirk Cameron thinks kids on these campuses have never heard about Christianity? How on Earth can someone grow up in America and not have heard this crap every single day of their lives? I was raised Presby until I grew my own brain at 14, but even had I been raised in an irreligious home, I'm quite confident that I'd know plenty about the Bible simply through constant exposure.
p.p.s. Notice how the three professions Kirk (which, incidentally, means "church" in Old English) singles out are doctors, lawyers, and politicians -- the three types of people who hold the most power over the people? The three types who make the most choices for you? I think Kirk would have been quite happy in, oh I don't know, Spain during the 1480s....
Germany during the same period. Spain gets the brunt of the bad rap, but Germany was FAR worse. The ugliness there didn't start with the Nazis. It was a bad place for outsiders for a looooong time.
that the Spanish inquisition was a "copy" movement of earlier Northern European inquisitor movements, specially in England of all places. Even the Brits tried to expel the Jews decades before the dynamic duo of Ferdinand and Isabella did so.
But then again, I assume that the Spanish Inquisition jokes work better from the perspective of Monty Python ;-)
in 1290. He was ahead of the anti-Semitic curve.
and he got to make the rules. this dumbshit would have been a heretic in the eyes of The Church. He's not an adherent of the One True Apostolic Faith.
Torquemada - do not implore him for compassion.
Torquemada - do not beg him for forgiveness.
Torquemada - do not ask him for mercy.
Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!
-- Mel Brooks
they will easily be absorbed into the millions of books at those institutions; hilarious.
That's great! My alma mater is number 12 on this list! But I didn't take any pscychology or biology classes in college....maybe I ought to go back to school and do so.
I'm quite proud of Washington University, in spite of its "atheism" it espouses. Harold Ramis, the author of "Animal House," went there!
These asshats dont have the cojones to do that at an Oregon Campus.
http://assets.livingwaters.com/pdf/OriginofSp...
Remember - Go pick up a book if you can and just rip the pages of shit out. After all, you get a free book in the process.
but at least it's free.
I don't know, but I did go to a Jesuit high school. My biology teacher, not a priest, taught us all about evolution without mentioning anything at all about these dumbass creationist theories.
He probably wasn't allowed to make a curriculum based around creationism.
Will Cameron's "additions" be confined to the introduction, or will he also be defacing Darwin's own words? You cannot trust a religiously insane person-- they excuse themselves from all moral standards when fighting the things they hate.
I wondered the same thing when I read about this a few days ago. "Origin of Species," is in the Public Domain, so these bozos can freely bastardize it without fear of being sued. As we know, they have no qualms about being seen as complete nutters.
The logic is just too good to be true.
The proper Christians would like to show you the correct path by hiding a secret portion of a book into an existing book, thereby deceiving the reader. The reader should then read the portion that they added, under false pretenses, and determine that the ones who deceived the reader have a more likely theory than the original author, who used no deception or misleading practices. Essentially, the liar is the more believable of the two. Add in that the liar also claims to take literally a book which lists among its top ten sins "Thou shalt not bear false witness," and you have endless insanity.
This sounds like a winning idea.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/fait...
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr6808.html
BWAHHAHAH!!
Spot on!
It takes a nation of idiots to come up with a plan like that one!
religious right wingnuts who for decades have re-written the Bible, adding new words, changing the meaning of scripture to suit their own political agenda. They have no faith in God so they subvert truth with the goal of control and manipulation of the masses.
>"The proper Christians would like to show you the correct path by hiding a secret portion of a book into an existing book, thereby deceiving the reader."
KJV and apocrypha anyone?
This Romanian girl shredded Kirk Cameron to pieces. I'd be embarrassed if a foreigner schooled me on the US Constitution. She's so hot physically and intellectually.
Look out for hickeys.
that the religious right (ah hell, the rightwing in general) in this country is NEVER embarrassed to flaunt their ignorance. They revel in it.
she didn't school him on the US Constitution. The Constitution grants no right, it innumerates unalienable rights, rights that you are born with or God given. It is unique in that respect, all other national Constitutions grant you your rights which means they can be taken away.
Not quite right, it grants those rights that they will protect.
For example freedom of religion doesn't include human or animal sacrifices
They don't mention marriage at all, so the push to "define marriage" makes no constitutional sense
Or to limit it to a monogamous couple by allowing laws to forbid polygamy and polyandry, communal or gay.
does include animal sacrifices, as long as its done in a safe humane manner. Per SCOTUS 1993
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/91-948....
You are correct that marriage is not mentioned, but it could be argued to be a right under the 9th. But if its not a right, it can be limited or defined however congress chooses for federal law such as taxes and other federal benefits and by the states. It does not need to make constitutional sense, since it isn't a right protected by the constitution.
start schooling others about the constitution, shouldn't you have schooled gw/cheney?
is more unique than I thought. The only country with a constitution written by God. Who knew?
"Unique" is an absolute. It means "having no peer or equal". A thing cannot be either more or less unique. It either is or it isn't, end of story.
written by God, but it enumerates some of our God given or unalienable rights however you wish to say it.
Most child actors end up dead from drugs, in jail or with a radio show. Poor Kirk, he took the wrong path and became an evangelical mouth piece.
Something else we can blame Alan Thicke for
Besides being a smarmy bastard.
...to earn more money than he could as an actor.
It worked for the Scientologists.
..eewww.
He's a druggie, too. His drug is religion, and he's just as pathetically addicted as any heroin addict.
My baby picture:
http://imagecache5.art.com/p/LRG/8/842/XDWY00...
According to my calendar, November 22 is on a Sunday. So, Kirk Cameron is going to do this on.....the Sabbath?
SINNER! CHARLATAN!! PHILISTINE!! THE FLAMES OF HELL AWAIT THEE!!
On a side note, I'll spend that date watching my edited DVDs of "Growing Pains." They're like the original series, but with good acting, ergo, no Kirk Cameron.
She did a wonderful public service.
Peace out to you too, sister.
That lady gave him a beatdown!
Smokin' hot and smart as hell!
She knew more about our government than he does!
Ya know the economy is in the crapper when Cameron can't even get work on an informecial.
... was some low-rent film version of Tim LaHaye's Left Behind.
get on the X list "celebrity" shows with Danny Bonaduce and that crowd.
..AWESOME plus 10!
I'll be back with some more pro-Evolution stuff shortly!
As the young lady said, Peace out!
That video just rocked!
...admitted that well known marketing ploy; If you can't sell your product (religion) based on it's merit and real worth, just fool people into buying it.
What a fucking moron.
... how all 50,000 copies were snapped up like *that*, which PROVES that people are hungry for the truth about Christ Jesus, blahdiddy blah blah blah.
And people who murder others with bullets are utilizing the theory of inertia.
Try again, Kirk. You are a delusional has-been.
Kirk evolved on the set of Growing Pains from child actor to brainwashed wing nut. His mutation may be a direct result of brain dysfunction associated with memorizing horrible plot lines.
.
Andrew Koenig arrested at Rose Parade
Welcome to Beijing, Calif. Attorney argues city violated First Amendment by detaining Rose Parade protester
Ya think they talk anymore?
catapulting the propaganda again...
..and it was a neat little debunking of intelligent design. I offer it to anyone whenever this issue comes up:
Intelligent design not on par with evolution
November 15th, 2005
William J. Fitzpatrick, Associate professor of philosophy
In a recent editorial “I.D. necessary to show faults in evolution” (CT, Nov. 11), it is claimed that evolution is just a theory because it “has not been proven,” and that it is therefore on a par with intelligent design theory in this respect. There are two important points to make about this, which should significantly clarify the debate.
First, it is not part of the definition of “theory” that it “is something that has not been proven.” The National Academy of Sciences defines a scientific theory as “a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences and tested hypotheses.” Even when “proven” beyond any reasonable doubt, a theory remains a theory, and that does not imply that it is not also a fact. The real question is just whether or not evolutionary theory is well-substantiated.
The answer is that it is one of the most thoroughly substantiated theories in all of science, robustly meeting all of the above criteria. So it is not “just a theory”: it is as well-supported a theory as we have. Here it is helpful to make a distinction between the claim of common descent (as an account of the origins of species) and the claim that evolution is to explained through the mechanisms of natural selection. Both are well established, but it is important to distinguish them in the context of the current debate.
The claim of common descent is a fact established by an overwhelming body of empirical evidence, and it is conceded even by most intelligent design theorists (as opposed to creationists). The claim that natural selection plays a role in explaining evolution is also typically conceded by intelligent design theorists. What they deny is just that these natural processes are sufficient to explain all the phenomena of evolution. Thus, they supplement existing theories with divine intervention somewhere in the process.
This leads to the second main point, which is that intelligent design is not an alternative scientific theory at all, but a theological theory meant to supplement science. Thus, while evolution and intelligent design may both be called “theories,” they are not competing scientific theories with equivalent forms and degrees of support. Evolution is a well-supported scientific theory, while intelligent design is a theological theory with no support from the scientific realm except for the existence of currently unsolved puzzles, from which it is fallaciously inferred that science “cannot possibly” explain certain things.
Such claims have been made often in the past, after which science progressed and explained the very things that had earlier been deemed impossible to explain scientifically. The history of such moves is therefore not promising. More importantly, while intelligent design could of course turn out to be true, it is obviously not a scientific response to current puzzles in science to jump to supernatural explanations for them.
The scientific response would be to expose the puzzles and then pursue scientific research projects to develop better scientific models to explain them. That is why intelligent design is not on a par with evolution, and has no place in the science classroom, though it has a place in broader public dialogue.
Kirk, your faith is your own just the same way your opinions are your own. Remember that when you try to peddle snake oil.
Yup - false equivalence.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/12/fa...
Kirk and his ilk would like to think that wishing something were true makes it so. So goes this type of religious non-sense. When facts disprove such beliefs, it's time to reevaluate the beliefs.
I believe they call that "praying."
jeez kirk, in your rush to spit on the grave of darwin and your attempts to criticize the theory of evolution i think you hurt jean-baptiste lamarck's feelings... not to mention erasmus darwin, james hutton and charles lyell... they must be feeling a little left out (as usual)
Not to mention Anaximander...oops...
I usedta be messed up on drugs, but now I'm messed up on the Lord.
... is that he thinks 'disproving' Darwin 'proves' the converse, that man was created by God.
Furthermore, Cameron - particularly with the 'banana' example, is presenting anecdotal material as 'proof,' not understanding that he's presuming God made bananas as well. And We All Know bananas share the same 'irreduceable complexity' that humans do, therefore, the existence of God is implied.
Science... facts... head hurts...
"You're a lying sssssssnake"
ZOMGitsCriss you're a firecracker.
"Falling in love again
Never wanted to
What am I to do?
Can't help it"
have a weird idea of freedumb of religion.
It appears as though they aren't "free" to worship unless they can get into everybody's face all the time and MAKE people see and agree
with their bronze-age fairy tales.
Religion is a mental illness and a hate crime.
Tax the **** out of the churches and their businesses.
The Jesuits didn't shy away from teaching us science, and never insisted we give special credence to Genesis or the concept of a divine Creator. (Other than learning how to capitalize such references.)
The only way to deny environment-based differences between human biological composition, and the associated cognative ability, is to accept the fact that Almighty God created us all of the same cloth, in his image. Perhaps Cameron is on to something.
Cognitive.
I really like the idea of handing out Bibles with a 50 page forward detailing Hitler's undeniable connection to it, along with Christianity's racism, it's disdain for women, and of course, it's MANY MANY hoaxes.
I'd set up my table right next to Kirk's, and of course, he would get the first copy.
... to get a bunch of the guys in caveman makeup (a la GEICO commercials) and stand around. Don't even have to say a word.
Yes, you're right. That's MUCH better!
Wish I'd thought of it.
Just had to Windex the monitor after reading that. Spit takes in the middle of the office are not really that professional but that is just TOO funny!!!
Shadowgm...you're a damn genius!
I am so glad I am not an atheist. http://www.trueorigin.org/flatearth01.asp
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