Posted by Henry Neufeld on November 27, 2004 | Comments (118) | TrackBack (1)

Thanks to everyone for your welcoming comments.  I want to start by giving an overview of my own positions and the topics on which I believe I can make a profitable contribution here.

I’m called a theistic evolutionist.  I have significant problems with that designation, though I find it necessary to use it at times.  First, I accept the biological theory of evolution.  It’s not a doctrine, it’s not a philosophy, it’s not my religion; I accept it as a valuable and overwhelmingly well-documented and supported scientific theory.  Second, I am a theist, in that I believe in a personal God.  The second does not impact the first.  There would be no difference in my formulation of any scientific statement about evolution and that of an atheist.  There is no such thing as a theory of “theistic evolution,”  there is only the theory of evolution.  But because there are those who assume that the debate over creation and evolution is one between theism and atheism, it is necessary to make that designation.

So what am I doing here?

Continue reading  “Opening Shot”

Posted by Ed Brayton on November 24, 2004 | Comments (16) | TrackBack (0)

I am happy to announce that The Panda’s Thumb has a new contributor, one that I think will bring quite a different perspective to the evolution/creationism debate. Up until now, all of our contributors have been scientists, academics or interested amateurs like myself. Now we have our first contributor from the theological side of things.

Henry Neufeld is a writer and Bible teacher with his BA in Biblical Languages from Walla Walla College, College Place, WA, and his MA in Religion, concentrating in Biblical and Cognate languages from Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI. His MA project focused on developing a consistent model for understanding imagery shared between ancient near eastern cultures, particularly in creation myths.  He is president of Pacesetters Bible School, a non-profit religious educational organization dedicated to taking Biblical scholarship to the people in the pews.  He is co-author of When 3 to 8 Gather and I Want to Pray (both under revision for a second edition) and author of What’s in a Version?  He recently founded Energion Publications, a small publishing company whose mission is to publish challenging material on religious topics, and also maintains the web site Energion.com which publishes articles on the same topics.  Henry is married with two step-children, and lives in Pensacola, Florida where he is a member of a United Methodist congregation.

Henry has been a friend of mine for something going on 11 years now. He is in fact one of the very first people I encountered when I began participating in online bulletin boards and such, in the Compuserve Religion Forum. I am thrilled that he will be bringing his perspective here as a Christian and a Hebrew scholar. I have long believed that the evolution/creationism debate is far too often framed as Christianity v. atheism, when that simply is not the case. Evolution is accepted by most of the mainline Christian denominations, and some of our most powerful and eloquent spokesmen on behalf of evolution and sound science education are Christians. Ken Miller, Glenn Morton, Howard Van Till, Keith Miller and our own Wesley Elsberry come to mind. I am glad that Henry Neufeld has accepted my offer to patronize our little establishment and lend us his always challenging and well-reasoned views on this important subject. Welcome, Henry.

Posted by Reed A. Cartwright on November 23, 2004 | Comments (66) | TrackBack (0)

I had originally conceived of the idea to compare and contrast anti-evolutionist responses to National Geographic’s recent piece on evolution.  The point was to hopefully demonstrate similarities between “young-earth” creationism and “intelligent-design” creationism.  With limited time available to do this, I think I’ll just provide a collection of links and let the readers for now draw their own conclusions.

• National Geographic: Was Darwin Wrong?

• Answers in Genesis: National Geographic is wrong and so was Darwin

• Christianity Today: Were the Darwinists Wrong?

• tothesource: Has Darwin become Dogma?

• Discovery Institute: National Geographic Ignores The Flaws in Darwin’s Theory

Posted by Timothy Sandefur on November 23, 2004 | Comments (5) | TrackBack (1)

Now you, too, can add a disclaimer to your science textbook! Amaze your friends!

Posted by Ed Brayton on November 23, 2004 | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)

The long-awaited decision of the Dover Area School District in Pennsylvania regarding evolution and intelligent design has finally been released to the public (press release found here). It’s a policy that virtually guarantees legal action that the school district will lose. Let’s take a look at the statement. After noting that their biology classes will be using the Prentice-Hall textbook Biology as their primary textbook, they said:

The district also received as a donation 60 copies of Of Pandas and People and the book is now listed as a reference book in the curriculum.  It is not a required text, but in an effort to present a balanced curriculum the book is made available to all students who wish to review the book.

The Biology curriculum was also updated to include the following statement:

“Students will be made aware of gaps/problems in Darwin’s Theory and of other theories of evolution including, but not limited to Intelligent Design. The Origins of Life is not taught.”

Continue reading Dover School District Wades Into Troubled Waters at Dispatches from the Culture Wars

Posted by Wesley R. Elsberry on November 21, 2004 | Comments (27) | TrackBack (0)

The “Powerpoint” radio show from Atlanta, Georgia this evening was about evolution and “intelligent design”. The guests included Barbara Forrest, Casey Luskin, David Schwimmer, and John Calvert. It was an interesting discussion, to say the least.

I called in to make a comment, in response to an assertion by John Calvert that “intelligent design theory” was being used in science, referencing “design detection” methods in archeology and life sciences.

Continue reading  “Falsehoods on the Air”

Posted by Mark Perakh on November 21, 2004 | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)

To solve the controversy over the alleged Bible code promoted by Doron Witztum, Eliyahu Rips and Yoav Rosenberg (WRR) and fiercely supported by scores of their followers and epigones of both Judaic and Christian varieties, several experiments have been suggested starting almost immediately after WRR’s paper was published in Statistical Science (in 1994).  Perhaps the most significant effort in that direction was made when, in 1998, a committee was formed comprising both proponents and opponents of the Bible code, all distinguished scholars who could not be suspected of lack of impartiality in judging the experimentally revealed data.

Continue reading  “Why the "impartial" committee keeps under wraps the results of the Bible code experiment?”