Month: April 2005
Agronomy Poll Update
Apparently I don’t have any reason to be grumpy with the agronomists.
Darwinism: Weeding out the Weak
World magazine has a brief essay and interview with historian Richard Weikart on how Germany moved from Darwin to Hitler. The essay begins, “Phillip Johnson, leader of the Intelligent Design movement, writes, “The philosophy that fueled German militarism and Hitlerism is taught as fact in every American public school, with no disagreement allowed.” The interview concludes with Weikart noting that “Darwinist terminology and concepts are prominent in many of Hitler’s writings and speeches.” In the example Weikart gives, Hitler is explaining the danger of saving and caring for the weak and imperfect: The natural struggle for existence, which only allows the strongest and healthiest to survive, will be replaced by the obvious desire to save at any cost even the Read More ›
Debate at National Press Club Focused on Intelligent Design and Evolution
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Press Club was the setting today for a Discovery Institute sponsored and hosted debate about evolution and design. Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, CSC director, championed the theory of intelligent design while Dr. William Provine, the Charles Alexander Professor of Biology at Cornell University, stood up for evolution. Of the forty or so people in attendance approximately half were journalists, and the rest of the crowd was comprised of a number of high school students, and various parties interested in the ongoing national debate over evolution. The best parts in my mind were the discussion beforehand between Meyer and Provine, and CSC senior fellow Dr. David Berlinski who attended, and our lunchtime discussion after the event Read More ›
Benedict XVI: Science May Have a New Friend and Neo-Darwinism a New Foe
Cardinal Ratzinger’s sermon at the Mass for the Election of a Supreme Pontiff has been trumpeted as a frontal assault against cultural relativism. This it was and, yet, digging deeper one finds reason to believe that Ratzinger, the newly elected Pope, may also have materialist interpretations of science (including Darwinism) in his sights. In an impassioned essay at NRO, Michael Novak writes:
Defense Will Put Darwinists on the Stand in Kansas
The Darwinists in Kansas have decided to participate in the upcoming hearings on teaching evolution called for by the Kansas State Board of Education. Thw Wichita Eagle is reporting that attorney Pedro Irigonegaray will defend the Darwinists recommendations for state standards and call Darwinists to address the board. “The majority concluded that a response is needed,” he said. “Our witnesses will be called in a timely manner, and they will have relevant and important information,” he added. Currently, the Kansas Science 2005 website lists 24 scientists and scholars who have already agreed to address the board in support of proposed revisions that would require both the scientific strengths and weaknesses of Darwinian evolution to be presented in science classes.