Evolution News & Views We offer critiques and corrections to major news stories about the debate over how to teach evolution.
Dembski Rebuts Plaintiffs' Expert Witnesses Thu, 27 Oct 2005 02:03:46 +0000 Mathematician, philosopher, and theologian William Dembski has written a thorough response to many of the claims made by plaintiffs' expert witnesses in their expert reports for the Dover trial. The experts to which he responds are Barbara Forrest, Robert Pennock, John Haught, Kevin Padian, and Kenneth Miller. See: Rebuttal to Reports by Opposing Expert Witnesses [PDF, 720 kb] Item Category: CSC News & Views Item comments: http://www.evolutionnews.org/index.php?p=966&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments
Applebaum's Bird Flu Argument Batty Wed, 26 Oct 2005 20:36:25 +0000 In this column in the Washington Post, Anne Applebaum writes:[...] Read more! Item Category: CSC News & Views Item comments: http://www.evolutionnews.org/index.php?p=964&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments
Cornell President Misrepresents Intelligent Design And Delivers A Diatribe Against Academic Freedom Tue, 25 Oct 2005 17:17:36 +0000 The President of Cornell stirred up a hornets nest when he spoke out against intelligent design last week. While he stopped short of trying ban it from campus science courses as has been tried at University of Idaho and Iowa State University, he definitely struck a blow against academic freedom. The IDEA Club at Cornell was quick to point out that the President really didn't know what ID is, or was willfully misleading with his characterizations of it. This article from Inside Higher Ed is typically biased (refers to ID as a "sham"), though it does have some [...] Read more! Item Category: CSC News & Views Item comments: http://www.evolutionnews.org/index.php?p=953&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments
Cornell Students Protest President Rawlings' Speech Condemning ID Tue, 25 Oct 2005 01:32:38 +0000 The IDEA Club at Cornell sent me this today about the anti-ID statements made by Cornell President Hunter Rawlings during his recent state-of-the-campus-address. I first learned about this press release after reading about it in this article in the Cornell Daily Sun.FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Hannah Maxson Email: idea@cornell.edu Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, October 22 - The Intelligent Design Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Club at Cornell is deeply concerned with President Hunter Rawlings' blatant disregard for the facts concerning Intelligent Design in Friday's State of the University Address. In a speech usually reserved for current university business, he spent over two thirds of his time blasting the emerging Intelligent Design theory as anti-scientific and religious in an unscrupulous, unknowledgeable manner. Intelligent Design (ID) is a scientific theory which holds that certain features of the universe and living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, and are not the result of an undirected, chance-based process such as Darwinian evolution. It follows the principles of the scientific method, scorns the biases of either religion or naturalism, and attempts to follow all the available evidence to a valid conclusion. ID is testable and falsifiable, and so far its predictions have repeatedly been shown accurate. The IDEA Club at Cornell holds that the problems with Neo-Darwinian evolution can no longer be ignored, and it is time for true research and debate about the issues surrounding the beginnings of life to take place at universities across the country. Attacking ID as a non-scientist and without addressing its scientific claims, Rawlings states that it is religion masquerading as science and is a religious belief at its core. This gross misstatement is a disservice to unbiased discourse, besides being an insult to people of faith throughout America. Ad hominem attacks and confusing people's religious beliefs with their scientific research is not befitting a university president. We would hope Rawlings will instead follow Cornell's often lauded commitment to a free and open exchange of ideas. Item Category: CSC News & Views Item comments: http://www.evolutionnews.org/index.php?p=951&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments
Neumayr on Dover Science Reporters Who Don't Like Science and a Civil Liberty Union that Doesn't Much Like Civil Liberty Fri, 21 Oct 2005 23:32:10 +0000 George Neumayr of the American Spectator has a good column about the Dover trial: The ACLU has gone from defending teachers to prosecuting them. In a federal courtroom this week, the ACLU argued that science teachers in the school district of Dover, Pennyslvania, are not free under the Constitution to question evolutionary theory. He discusses various journalists' reactions to it:[...] Read more! Item Category: CSC News & Views Item comments: http://www.evolutionnews.org/index.php?p=945&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#comments
