THIS DVD IS NOTHING SHORT OF AMAZING. Even people who don't think they want to watch it---who think they know all there is to know about how the world came about---come away almost speechless and not nearly so convinced of Darwin's theory of evolution. And it's made in its entirety by scientists.
Something that I've always wondered: Everything we use on a daily basis--- chairs, hair-dryers, computers, airplanes, cars, toothpicks etc----each and every one of them had some intelligent designer who thought it up, drew it out on a drawing board, engineered and re-engineered it before finally bringing it into existence. Not one of these things just sprung up or evolved on its own from nothing without a designer and a builder.
Was a chair I'm sitting on just an ottoman before it spontaneously evolved into my Pottery Barn catalog, then my house? Was an ottoman just a stump of wood before it evolved into a footstool on its own? I'd be considered a lunatic to make such an argument with a straight face.
Yet, we modern sophisticates have the audacity to think the intricacies of the universe and man evolved from amoebas and salamanders without a designer! We not only say it, we say it with dour conviction and reverence. We say it with the same conviction that we say that the science of man-made global warming is overwhelming and closed to further discussion. I mean, how utterly ridiculous it that? How arrogant? How realistic? In my book it's the silliest of sillies.
I'll take my Holy of Holies any day. He's the Ultimate Designer of everything and the Ultimate Designer of me. Unlike all those dark, dull darwinians, My Creator has a wild sense of humor.....after all he made me! He made laughter and he made the French roast half-and-half coffee I'm charging myself with right now.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to run brush my teeth with that tooth brush of mine that just evolved from a racoon's tail totally on its own. But I need to hurry before it morphs into a broom too big to fit into my mouth! We won't even talk about where my toothpaste evolved from.....way too early in the morning to go there!
Remember what I said? You won't find a scientist without a religious connection arguing the case for intelligent design or creationism.
ReplyDeleteThis video was produced by the Discovery Institute, the same organization that has pushed the idea that evolutionary science is linked with Nazism, the same group that was found in court to fraudulently push the notion that ID was science and not creationism.
The producer of this movie is not even a scientist, Meyer has a PhD in history of science and has been affiliated with 2 christian universities, not as a science teacher but as a philosophy teacher.
The Discovery Institute is well known for its campaigns that mask a near total absence of scientific support and productive research programs. The Templeton Foundation, who once provided grants for conferences and courses to debate intelligent design has since rejected the Discovery Institute's applications for more funding because of their lack of a scientific approach.
Every leading scientific professional organization has through position statements unequivocally endorsed evolution as a widely accepted and well-proven scientific fact.
Back to my original point, your argument is not fact and science based, it is based on religion, as are all challenges to evolution.
But speaking of religion, Father George V. Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory said, "Pope John Paul’s declaration that evolution is no longer a mere hypothesis is a fundamental church teaching which advances the evolutionary debate....Intelligent Design is not science, invented to avoid the overwhelming evidence for purpose and design found in modern science"
Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Church's Pontifical Council for Culture said "the Church had never formally condemned Darwin, in the last 50 years a number of Popes had accepted evolution as a valid scientific approach to human development. Evolution could be traced back through Scholastics such as St Thomas Aquinas to St Augustine in the fourth century"
You see, belief in God doesn't dictate a ignorance of science. Come out of the dark ages, God gave you a brain.
Ellen dear, I can't speak to the question that someone, anyone is pushing Creationism as pure science. I don't believe that's the case because the mystery of Intelligent Design takes into account far more than the known and seeable world. But from my standpoint math and science describe a great deal of the known world.
ReplyDeleteIf this bothers you so much then don't give it so much power and credence in the marketplace of ideas. Walk away and go wherever you wish.
Again, I'm impressed with this DVD and think anyone who has an open mind could benefit from watching it. If it doesn't attract you, then fine.
As to darwinism's link to nazism, it's a well known fact that Hitler was indeed enamoured with Darwin and his theories. As was Stalin. They were both atheists and also believed in race cleansing and ethnic engineering. In the case of Hitler, it was the Jews. This is a fact....and the rest is desperately despicable history.
I would urge all those to educate your children in areas of math and science as America is falling behind in these areas. Part of the reason is that religious fundamentalists are pushing hard to discredit science. A Christian friend of mine who is also a science teacher in Winchester, TN public schools was told to not mention the word 'evolution' in science class. Most all of her colleagues are creationists. This is what I'm talking about. Some children asked her, "do you believe in dinosaurs?" their parents implying such notions were a hoax.
ReplyDeleteI find this very disturbing in that such attitudes exist in backward corners of the US in public schools.
I would recommend again, the excellent PBS Nova series 'Becoming Human.' Teach your children facts, science, reason over fables and superstitions. The documentary includes much new scientific information on human evolution as Darwin's theory has been proven as scientific fact by means which Darwin himself could not have imagined, particularly by genetics and human genome studies. 150 years of scientific scrutiny has confirmed everything Darwin has hypothesized in many intersecting and diverse disciplines including biology, anthropology, paleontology, physics, chemistry, etc... There NO debate on the validity of Darwin in the scientific community, only in the minds of fundamentalists and the uneducated.
Despite what paranoid people say, the only agenda of science is truth, discovery and acquiring knowledge, there is no Nazi agenda. Facts are presented and people make up their own minds.
As TN presidential nominee Mike Huckabee said, "If anybody wants to believe that they are the descendants of a primate, they are certainly welcome to do it."
Well, Mike, you're ignorant. You ARE a primate, as we all are.
The point is don't be ignorant. Err on the side of knowledge. Don't shelter yourself.
I don't know of a more respected Christian than Pope John Paul who accepted human evolution,in his words, as "more than a hypothesis."
Some will continue to say, "well it's just a theory"... but so are concepts like gravity and photosynthesis, and without, there would not be life on earth.
One more thing, what is really despicable is this guilt by association game that you play with Hitler and Darwin. By your logic, since Hitler enjoyed the music of Beethoven, we all now must realize that Beethoven composed music based on Nazi principles.
ReplyDeleteJust plain stupid.
You've made your points, Ellen, now go out and get some fresh air.
ReplyDeleteYour logic above with Beethovan isn't analagous.
For the last time, I know no one who doesn't teach their children math and science. No one. Again, my educational background is in math and engineering. My favortie equation is Bernoulli's which describes the flow of fluids in a closed system and entropy.
I can't speak to people who are fundamentalists in different ways but don't believe there are any of them who come here.
Any more name calling to anyone here, and you will not get your comments published. Stick to the issues Ellen, or go elsewhere.
I don't understand how name calling, emotional argument or an imperious attitude promote a serious, intelligent conversation when people disagree. It doesn't change anyone's mind. It is possible to have a kind-hearted exchange of ideas if everyone will be respectful.
ReplyDeleteIf a person finds it too distressing to read the responses to his/her comments on a blog, it is better for mental and emotional health to let it go and find something more productive to do.
If I err, I'd rather it be on the side of grace.
Yes, this can only be a respectful discussion and even disagreement, or none at all.
ReplyDeleteWe/God/Higher Power imagined ourselves into existence. Science is just an extension of our senses. Very limiting--Nothing more, nothing less. And we know how our senses can lie. I had the same epiphany years ago...if the world works by us imagining something before it becomes physical..and every man made thing starts in the mind, then what dreamed up the world/universe/all that is? The intelligence behind evolutionary process is where the real fun begins. Everyone is right...just depends on how far down the rabbit hole you choose to go. Fun stuff.
ReplyDelete