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Helping an Internet Debater Defend Intelligent Design

We receive lots of e-mail inquiries from people who are seeking information on intelligent design, often because they want to respond to objections from critics. Sometimes it can be hard to know if these e-mailers are sincere, and I don’t always have time to respond. But when I do find time, I try to give the benefit of the doubt, and help them find what they are looking for.

For example, the other day a correspondent submitted a series of questions with the subject line “ID suppression and bias in Scientific Community, help please!!” He explained that he’s “in a debate with a Darwinist and would appreciate some help in showing how the Scientific Community and others are intimidating Intelligent Design” scientists. He requested links whenever possible. I replied as follows, with the writer’s specific questions indicated in bold.

Dear [snip],

Greetings and thanks for your e-mail. I can briefly point you to where you can find what you’re looking for.

1) Can you give me half a dozen (or more) examples of where ID or Creationists have been intimidated for their views? Whether they were fired, threat of firing, demoted, sued, threat of suit, or publicly humiliated by the Scientific Community and/or Atheist and/or ACLU. In cases of a firing, I would much appreciate examples where a lawsuit ensued because that tends to shows the serious nature of the offense…

My reply: For a list of various ID-friendly scientists who have faced discrimination, please see here.

2) Can you provide half a dozen (or more) examples where any scientists who publicly raised a challenge to evolution or evolution theory was also intimidated? I would appreciate it, if you could provide a few examples of people who actually supported evolution who then realized their research tended to disprove evolution. You can also provide a few examples where those in academia were intimidated.

My reply: For a list of evolutionary scientists and/or atheists who have acknowledged intimidation against those who publicly express doubts about Darwinism, please see here.

3) Can you tell me how many states now have laws that protect teachers in allowing them to give both evidence supporting evolution as well as evidence disproving evolution? I would especially appreciate examples where the evolutionists or ACLU attempted to block those legislative attempts.

My reply: For a list of states that require or permit teaching the controversy over evolution, please see here. In every single state, it’s safe to say that evolutionists tried to block those legislative attempts.

4) Can you give me examples of where evolutionists tried to deceive the public or scientific community?

My reply: I’m not one who sees, or even likes to see, evolutionists as intentionally trying to deceive the public or the scientific community. However, a couple of famous “frauds” include Piltdown Man and Haeckel’s embryo drawings. You might enjoy reading the book Icons of Evolution for details on this.

5) *** As I’ve read and researched, there has never been an example of “evolution” actually occurring; yet Wikipedia makes the bold statement that implies there are examples and then lists bacteria as one…
“Typically, observable instances of evolution are examples of microevolution; for example, bacterial strains that have antibiotic resistance….”
I believe I recently read that in fact bacteria haven’t been observed “evolving” and that evolutionists themselves note this is a real challenge, because they should be able to make it change but it never does. It simply reverts back. Isn’t it true that bacteria, as referenced in Wikipedia, aren’t evolving but are simply developing an immunity to the antibiotics?

My reply: You’re basically correct that antibiotic resistance entails very small-scale degrees of biological change. Please see here

You’re also correct that antibiotic resistant bacteria tend to “revert” to their prior forms after the antibacterial drug is removed. This is due to a “fitness cost,” which suggests that mutations that allow antibiotic resistance are breaking down the normal, efficient operations of a bacterial cell, and are less “advantageous.” Please see here.

5) Lastly, can you give me four or five major things that disprove evolution….

My reply: For a list of challenges to biological and chemical evolution, please see here.

Thanks and I hope this helps.

Casey

Casey Luskin

Associate Director and Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Casey Luskin is a geologist and an attorney with graduate degrees in science and law, giving him expertise in both the scientific and legal dimensions of the debate over evolution. He earned his PhD in Geology from the University of Johannesburg, and BS and MS degrees in Earth Sciences from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied evolution extensively at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. His law degree is from the University of San Diego, where he focused his studies on First Amendment law, education law, and environmental law.

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