Sacrificing accuracy and children for art

August 14, 2007

Cartoon Brew has an upload of an animated ad for the abominable Creation Museum in Kentucky, Ken Ham’s monument to denial of reality and campaign against science. (I wish I knew how to upload a link here . . . if you have suggestions, pass them along.) Here’s Youtube version:

Yes, it’s nice animation. As art, it functions rather as the opposite of Picasso’s Guernica, though, doesn’t it? Instead of revealing a truth, even a horrific truth, it is art aiding a campaign of deception.

What do you think?

Does biology need to recruit the ghosts of Tex Avery and Chuck Jones to keep pace? Or is this just one more demonstration of the scientific and moral vacuity of creationism?

We still can’t get legal copies of that brilliant Civil War animation from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, but we can get crap on television from Ken Ham. It’s just a matter of time before Ham has a slick DVD promo for his museum, mailed to 40,000 high school biology teachers . . . what’s the hurry, and why are we in this handbasket? Going where?

Update: Soyeon Kim, the animator/designer for the commercial, notes in comments that the creators of the ad did not realize it was a creationism museum, since they’d never heard of anything other than legitimate natural history museums. Think of the moral dilemmas: A paying client, versus accurate information. The poorly-paid biology teachers in Dover, Pennsylvania defied their employers and refused to teach creationism. At what point should one simply refuse to go along, even for pay?

1 Comment | Cartoons, Creationism, Evolution, Museums, Religion, Science and faith, Video and film, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

A religious bias against good higher education — in theology!

August 10, 2007

Some religious primary and secondary schools stand on the same, treacherous ground when it comes to curricula which deserve challenging. Castle Hills First Baptist School is not the only educational institution damning children with fool ideas.

Douglas Groothuis teaches at Denver Seminary. In his blog, Constructive Curmudgeon, he lists a set of “imperatives” that he presents annually to his class in “Christian Ethics and Modern Culture.”

Despite his imperative #9:

9. The biblical concept of truth is that a true statement corresponds with or matches objective reality. While human knowing is corrupted by sin, knowledge of the things that matters most—divine and human—is possible, desirable, and pertinent.

Groothuis continues to support and defend intelligent design, a position I find both contrary to his imperative #9, and unethical for anyone, especially Christians, in imperative #17:

17. The Intelligent Design movement is thrusting a wedge between empirical science and philosophical materialism such that the evidence for design in nature may emerge apart from dogmatic and a priori restrictions. Learn about, teach about, and support this movement. See William Dembski, The Design Revolution (IVP, 2004).

Groothuis is a genuine fan of Dembski and Jonathan Wells and all the folderol they can produce. Urging students who claim to be Christian to promote the falsehoods of intelligent design is not a major sin; it’s not so severe as coaching them on racism, genocide, murder, sexism, or disowning the poor. I fear, however, it is the seed of those greater sins. (Here’s a clue: Inter-Varsity Press (IVP) is not known for high standards on science, nor on theology, to some of us; but they are probably more reputable than Regnery publishing.) Intelligent design ideas trend to the fantastic, undesirable, and not relevant.

Shakespeare put the words in Hamlet’s mouth; if only philosophers today would pay them more attention:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

More things like: science, biology, real facts, and honesty and good faith.

What is it about philosophers (Dembski, Groothuis, others at DI)? Are they competing to become to literature and social sciences what engineers are to the sciences, with regard to creationism?

Leave a Comment » | Curricula, Education, Ethics, Intelligent Design, Religion, Science, Science and faith | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Tripoli 6: Justice in a creationist world

July 18, 2007

We hope the Tripoli 6 are out of Tripoli, Libya, soon. Libyan courts commuted the death sentences delivered to the six health workers, but the commutation was to life sentences; late news indicates that Libya has agreed to extradite the six to Bulgaria in return for payments to the families of the 400+ children who were victimized by the hospital screw-ups for which the six are erroneously blamed.

Libya claims to have confessions from the health workers. Evidence suggests they were tortured to sign hoax confessions.

For rational people who care for justice, there is a powerful moral here. Forensic evidence shows that the HIV viruses that infected hundreds of children at a hospital, infected the children and evolved well before the five nurses and one doctor got to the hospital. In short, it is physically impossible in time for the accused workers to have been responsible for the infections. They are innocent.

But of course, this evidence is based on evolutionary paradigms, the same way that all DNA evidence is. The Libyan courts waved the evidence off, essentially, convicting the workers in a second trial after a team of international scientists completed a special research project showing, with the highest degree of assurance, the impossibility of liability to the accused.

Creationism is relativism with King James language: Facts are not facts, science is not science, what is true in the laboratory and in the wild, not true in a creationist court. The Libyan courts dismissed what would have been exonerating evidence in U.S. and most European courts.

And so another international team was assembled to raise the extortion demanded by Libya, and a settlement negotiated. U.S. scientists contributed time and expertise; the U.S. government appears to have deferred to European governments.

Sadly, the people who created the conditions for infecting 400 kids with HIV will go unpunished in this creationist court.

Effect Measure over at the Seed stable of science blogs has a much more complete explanation of the case, with links detailing the heroic work of scientists, and I encourage you to read that account and follow the links.

Justice, justice shalt thou pursue.

                                 – Deuteronomy 16:20

Tip of the old scrub brush to P. Z. Myers and Pharyngula.

Leave a Comment » | Creationism, Hoaxes, Junk science, Justice, Law, Science, Science and faith | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Reason and Christians: Oil and water? Bathtubs and truth?

July 13, 2007

Do Christians have any obligation to use reason, to be rational about the world at large?  Blatzkrieg writes about the issue here, especially with regard to vaccination phobics.  (A few people in every community can safely go without vaccinations, if everyone else gets them.  In too many communities, we have too many going without, for religious, political and economic reasons, and that puts us all at risk.)

It bugs the heck out of me, the “I-don’t-have-to-think;-I’m-a-Christian” view that tends to emphasize the snarkier bumper-sticker views on everything, and usually the wrong bumper-sticker.   How many times today can you find someone telling you the equivalent of “I’m sure Millard Fillmore put the first plumbed bathtub in the White House, because I have faith he did — and he probably invented plumbing, too?”

1 Comment | Hoaxes, Public health, Reason, Science and faith | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Creationist fear to debate in the spotlight

July 12, 2007

How can we tell creationists and intelligent design advocates fear debating their ideas with scientists?

– Religious kooks send threatening notes to biologists at the University of Colorado.

– Other religious kooks contemptibly make excuses for the threats.

– Don’t take my word for it; read the things for yourself, and you decide.

Bug Girl lists several instances of threats against teachers of evolution. The phenomenon is not new, and does not appear to be decreasing (though not rampant, either — thank God).

Vox Day, Pat Sullivan, time to stand up for free debate, civilized answers, and no threats — where are you?

2 Comments | Accuracy, Citizenship, Creationism, Ethics, Intelligent Design, Science, Science and faith | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Upon these rocks . . .

July 9, 2007

. . . Ken Ham’s creationist museum is established. An amateur geologist/paleontologist in Cincinnati lets the rocks tell their own story. Interestingly, the story they cry out is not the one promoted by Ken Ham.

Tip of the old scrub brush to Panda’s Thumb and P. Z. Myers.

Leave a Comment » | Bogus history, Creationism, Hoaxes, Museums, Natural history, Reason, Science and faith | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Dembski’s blog caught hoaxing again

June 30, 2007

An acquaintance sends word he’s happy to be back in the mountains with his hammer again, breaking rocks as a geologist in support of a mining venture. The price of gold is high, a few advances in technology have helped the process, and our friend was tapped by suits with money to help keep the actual gold mining operation in the proper vein, so to speak.

Mining is best done with a good scientist on hand to make sure the hole dug out is done right, and to be sure that the digging keeps going for the genuine nuggets.

William Dembski’s blog, Uncommon Descent, has no scientists with any geology training, it appears. But again they’ve been mining, for quotes instead of useful ore, and they’ve come up with fool’s information. Unable to tell the difference between fool’s information and the real stuff, they’ve published the fool’s information for the world to see.

A wise person does not allow fool’s information into one’s information banks. Read the rest of this entry »

3 Comments | Accuracy, Bad Quotes, Bogus history, Creationism, Ethics, Hoaxes, Intelligent Design, Research, Science, Science and faith | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

NY Times special on evolution – run, get it!

June 26, 2007

Evolution is the subject of a special edition of the Science section of the New York Times today. The section features articles by most of the best of the stable of science writing contributors the paper has, covering up to the latest developments in the field of evolution.

It’s available on-line, too, for a week or so — free subscription required. Or, Times Select customers will be able to access the stuff so long as they subscribe.

Since the section covers the best of science, there is nothing on intelligent design or other forms of creationism. The aim of the editors is the best of science, not “balance” in presenting opposing views even if vapid.

So, for $1.00, biology teachers can get a dozen weeks’ of enrichment material for this fall’s classes.

Run, don’t walk — your local Starbuck’s should have the paper, if your local newsstand doesn’t. It’s worth it just for the lead article featuring evo-devo, if that’s all you read.

Leave a Comment » | Accuracy, Charles Darwin, Darwin, Evolution, Geography - Physical, Intelligent Design, Natural history, Public health, Research, Science, Science and faith | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Creation Museum: Sad, beleaguered

June 6, 2007

For those of us who worry at every eruption of intentional ignorance, such as Ken Ham’s Creation Museum, the comments of BBC’s correspondent Justin Webb produce a little salve:

There is nothing remotely convincing about the Creation Museum and frankly if it poses the threat to American science that some American critics claim it does, that seems to me to be as much a commentary on the failings of the scientific establishment as it is on the creationists.

And a bit later:

At the Creation Museum, goggle-eyed children watch depictions of the Great Flood in which children and their mums and dads are consumed, because God is cross.

In a nation of kindly moderate people I am not sure this is the future.

I put my faith – in America.

Mencken’s hoax about bathtubs in the White House was innocent enough, but impossible to kill (yet). Ham’s hoax about science, at $27 million (U.S. reports) or $30 million, doesn’t have the grace of its perpetrator confessing the hoax and urging correction (yet).

Faith in America is reassuring, until one remembers P. T. Barnum’s faith that Americans include a “sucker born every minute,” and Tom Sawyer’s assessment of small town politics: ‘Ain’t we got every fool in town on our side? And ain’t that a big enough majority in any town?’

3 Comments | Accuracy, Bogus history, Creationism, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Museums, Natural history, Science, Science and faith, Voodoo history, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Quote of the Moment: Physicist Bob Park, on the Creationism Museum

May 25, 2007

The museum is a monument to the failure of education.

o Bob Park, “What’s New,” May 25, 2007

[See full quote below the fold]

Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a Comment » | Bogus history, Creationism, Natural history, Science, Science and faith, Voodoo history | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Another intelligent design advocate denied tenure

May 14, 2007

News out of Ames, Iowa, is that intelligent design advocate, physicist and astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, was denied tenure at Iowa State University.

Advocates of intelligent design will argue this as evidence of a bias against counter ideas, part of a massive, monolithic conspiracy to hide the truth about intelligent design. Gonzalez will be more circumspect, at least until his appeal of the tenure denial is finished.

Another friend of intelligent design, Dr. Francis Beckwith, a philosopher, was originally denied tenure at Baylor last year. His appeal was successful, however, and he now has tenure at Baylor, though he is moving from the Institute for Church State Relations to the philosophy department. Beckwith also made a splash in conservative evangelical news recently when he made public his return to the Catholic church.

I can’t speak for Iowa State, but it has been my experience that professors who get tangled up in crank science projects get distracted from the work that will get them tenure. While faculty certainly have free speech rights to advocate causes, much of the backing for intelligent design is sub-standard academically, or even bogus.  Such advocacy does not help a case for tenure.

Advocates argue that Gonzalez has more than enough publications to meet the standards set by Iowa State, but the numbers do not account for how many of the publications may be in suspect journals that support intelligent design, nor do they account for the publicity an ardent ID advocate brings to a department which is often unwanted. Faculty at Iowa State collected 120 signatures on a petition disowning intelligent design, in what they billed was an attempt to convince the outside world that Iowa State is not “an intelligent design school.”

ID advocates frequently miss the point that science is not a game of racking up publication points, and that the quality and accuracy of the research also plays an important role in tenure decisions.

Wailing and gnashing, and perhaps rending of garments, from the ID group should begin any moment now.

5 Comments | Creationism, Education, Intelligent Design, Research, Science, Science and faith, Teaching, Tenure | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Getting evolution right

May 13, 2007

Odd thing happened the other day: The Philadelphia Inquirer carried an editorial that rather accurately described evolution theory. Just when I’m ready to lambaste my colleagues in print media, they come through.

The editorial’s point of departure was the Republican “debate” among presidential contenders, in which they were asked whether they support evolution or creationism. Three of the candidates confessed they don’t “believe” in evolution.

Why did these three, all of whom wish to be the leader of the most powerful country in history, say they did not believe in evolution? There might be thousands of reasons. Perhaps they misheard: “I’m just curious: Is there anyone on this stage who doesn’t believe in elocution?” But two reasons are more likely:

(1) They really don’t think evolution exists. As in, it’s not happening and never did. We got here some other way. There’s no evidence for it.

Uh, yeah, there is. Although technically a theory, Charles Darwin’s version of the evolution of species is a theory-with-the-status-of-fact, robust and vigorous, demonstrated in living color each and every day in field and laboratory everywhere. No jury is “out.” The verdict’s in and everybody’s gone home. Way home.

And,

(2) These men raised their hands because they knew it would get them votes from religious conservatives.

Tancredo, Huckabee and Brownback know they need the Christian conservative vote to win the Republican nomination. Christian conservatives don’t like Rudy Giuliani. They’re lukewarm on John McCain, perplexed by Mitt Romney.

But any candidate who would ignore science to attract conservative votes has made a lousy calculation.

The newspaper’s editorial board concluded:

So, while pundits are calling the evolution flap an embarrassment to the GOP, what it really is is a call to the Republican faithful: “We’re in trouble. If we don’t rally on the wedge issues now, by 2008, a Republican majority may seem as far away as the Planet of the Apes.”

Click here to find out more!

Leave a Comment » | Accuracy, Charles Darwin, Creationism, Darwin, Education, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Public education, Science, Science and faith, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Baylor’s Beckwith returns to the Catholic Church

May 7, 2007

Dr. Francis Beckwith, the Baylor University professor whose writings formed much of the justification for claims that intelligent design could be taught as science in public schools (prior to the Dover decision), announced he is returning to the Catholic Church and resigning as president of the Evangelical Theological Society.

Beckwith explains his faith switch at Right Reason. Contrast comments there with the snarky, uncharitable posts from the “evangelical” side, with Constructive Curmudgeon as an example. If this is the way ID advocates (such as Doug Groothuis) treat someone who merely changes sect, what would they do to someone who became rational on science?

Beckwith’s road at Baylor has not been a smooth one. One wishes him well when brickbats are already flying his direction, for silly reasons.

Educators and scientists, including especially those of faith traditions, may wish he had left the church of intelligent design instead. Perhaps he has, or will, if the attacks from fundamentalists keep up — similar to the way such attacks on Charles Darwin encouraged him to distance himself from the church.

How does this alter the Texas biology textbook fight discussion?

4 Comments | Intelligent Design, Law, Politics, Religious Freedom, Science and faith, Texas, Textbook Selection | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Carnival catch-up

April 16, 2007

Uh-oh. Running behind.

One of the reasons I list various carnivals is to make sure I have a note of the good ones somewhere easy to find. Busy-ness in the last week just kept me away from the keyboard.

Carnivals you ought to check out:

Oekologie 4.1: Over at Behavioral Ecology. Lots on climate change, of course, and some very nice bird photos.

Carnival of the Godless at Neural Gourmet has a good run down of the Blog Against Theocracy, and complaints about it, too.

Carnival of the Liberals #36 is up at Truth in Politics. Well, that’s an obvious pairing. Free speech, the president and the Constitution, tyranny in the Middle East, and quite a bit more.

Carnival of Education #114 is back at The Education Wonks.  State legislatures may be wrapping up their sessions, but education issues are heating up.

Skeptics’ Circle #58 finds a hangout at Geek Counterpoint, with several posts that get at how we know what is true — good stuff for historians and economists to ponder.

This is as good a time as any to remind you that that Fiesta de Tejas! #2 is coming up on May 2 — deadline for  post nominations April 30.  You may e-mail entries to me (edarrellATsbcglobalDOTnet), or submit them at the Blog Carnival portal to the Fiesta.

Leave a Comment » | Curricula, Economics, Education, Education blogs, Education reform, Education spending, Fiesta de Tejas!, Free market economics, Free speech, Freedom - Economic, Freedom - Political, History, History blogs, History video sources, Religious Freedom, School discipline, Science, Science and faith, Teaching, Technology in the classroom, Testing, Texas, Texas Lege, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

We can honor Jefferson better than this

April 14, 2007

Jefferson, Paul Jennewein bas relief in U.S. House chamber

Jefferson, Paul Jennewein bas relief in U.S. House chamber

Jefferson’s birthday sneaked up on me this year. There is the constant tension between doing the Things that Keep the Wolf from the Door and following all the things we should follow; wolves have been on my mind more lately (notice the drop off in posts).

So all I had was a warning post last week, and the post yesterday wishing Tom a happy natal anniversary day. Hey it’s not my job.

But what about the rest of you? What about the president, Congress, public officials, educators and others everywhere?

Here is what I found of celebrations of Jefferson’s birthday:

Architectural Record reported that the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture was won by Zaha Hadid.

The Daily Progress of Charlottesville, Virginia, Jefferson’s home town, reported that Alan Greenspan won the first Thomas Jefferson Medal in Citizen Leadership.

In the last paragraph of the story about Greenspan, The Daily Progress also noted that the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Law was awarded to Anne-Marie Slaughter.

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression issued 16 “Jefferson Muzzle” awards to people who damaged free expression. The story I found was from the UPI wire, UPI now being owned by the Unification Church and probably sort of a muzzle itself. The story listed only one of 16 awardees.

In Washington, D.C., Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez noted the 200th anniversary of the science agencies that became the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in a speech at the Jefferson Memorial. Jefferson had created the first science agency, the Survey of the Coast, during his presidency, in 1807.

President Bush declared April 13 “Thomas Jefferson Day,” on April 11. If any news agency picked up that press release, I’ve not been able to find it.

That’s about it for celebration. That’s not a lot. It’s not enough.

We can and should do better than that. In The Philadelphia Inquirer, education scholar Peter Gibbon of Boston University suggests we can and should honor Jefferson more overtly, despite Jefferson’s own refusal of letting the citizens of Boston make his birthday a holiday:

Jefferson was more than an eloquent espouser of democratic ideology, more than a patient and realistic secretary of state, and more than a president who doubled the size of America with the Louisiana Purchase. He was a scientist who analyzed climate change, studied mastodon bones, and championed small-pox inoculation; a farmer who invented a moldboard plough and brought fruit trees and upland rice to America; a lawyer who helped make Virginia laws more humane; and an architect who designed Monticello and the University of Virginia.

Only education, Jefferson believed, could end tyranny and preserve democratic values. Thus, he advocated universal primary education, colleges open to merit, and curriculum separate from theology. His thousands of books eventually became the beginning of the Library of Congress. Devoted to reason, he loved beauty, playing his violin, and marveling at the flowers and fruits of the Virginia countryside. In love with knowledge, he placed a higher priority on virtue.

Jefferson cultivated friends, treasured his wife (who died after only 10 years of marriage), and watched after his children. In 1804, Maria, his 26-year-old daughter, died. Against a background of war, political combat, and personal suffering, Jefferson struggled to retain his optimism.

Our celebration of Jefferson’s birthday today is more complicated than the adoration of Boston citizens in 1803. Now, we acknowledge a guilty, conflicted slaveholder who did not transcend his time, a tough politician who orchestrated attacks on his opponents and carefully shaped his reputation for posterity. We see a second presidential term marred by a misconceived embargo that backfired and caused an economic crisis. Still, we might also see a sweet-tempered, affectionate human being – a diplomat, architect, and idealist who believed in religious tolerance, rebuked tyrants, promoted civil rights, and wrote the words that justify the creation of America.

Some Americans are unhappy with Jefferson’s legacy. As with all real humans who achieve some level of hero-worship, some people are unhappy to discover that others who do heroic things are not heroic in all aspects of their lives. They need to get over it.

We should do more to celebrate Thomas Jefferson and his legacy. April 13 is a good day for such celebrations.

This is not a call for a hero cult, nor especially a religious-style cult. Honoring Jefferson honors his better nature, his calls for freedom for everyone, his calls for ending slavery (even if he did not free his own slaves), his call for universal education in order to make a republic work well and righteously, his calls for intellectual freedom, his celebration of the Common Man as an ideal, his work for libraries and learning, his work for good and beautiful architecture, his love of science, etc., etc., etc.

Honoring Jefferson honors America, and calls us to do better ourselves in working for a higher good. We should do that.

Leave a Comment » | 1803, History, Leadership, Libraries, Patriotism, Politics, Presidents, Public education, Public libraries, Science, Science and faith, Thomas Jefferson | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

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