A Look at Creation “Science” — Part III

February 25th, 2007 Bones

THIS IS THE THIRD OF A CONTINUING SERIES examining what is being passed off as science on creationist websites.

This article examines a specific false claim made on numerous creationist websites in an attempt to discredit radiocarbon dating. A list of some of the websites repeating this false claim appears at the bottom of this article.

Some creationists feel a need to discredit radiocarbon dating because it is incompatible with their belief in a young earth. In trying to discredit the radiocarbon method, they often resort to distortions, misrepresentations, faulty science, and outright lies, all compounded by poor scholarship.

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Don’t Mess With Mama

February 22nd, 2007 Placozoan

We’ve seen it so many times on TV: the arrogant scientist or evil corporation meddles with Forces We Cannot Understand (TM) and Mother Nature lashes back with earthquakes, tsunamis, or volcanic eruptions. This time, it looks like it may actually be true, at least minus the pejorative adjectives. But the results are a lot less photogenic than Hollywood would like–450 hectares of mud.

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“The Democrats have opened a new front…”

February 1st, 2007 Black Ops

“…IN SUPPORT OF THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON SCIENCE,” as our own Dr. S. neatly put it. How’s that? Well, for those of you who had it all figured out, that the Repubs were raiding the budget to enrich Halliburton, KBR, thus giving Chris Mooney et. al. stuff to write about, comes this latest news on the budget front. Those science-loving lefties running Capitol Hill have proposed maintaining NASA’s 2007 budget at 2006 levels. That’s opposed to the science-hating Republicans, who wanted to increase it by $400 million. Got that? Good.

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Precambrian Embryos Shed Light on Metazoan Evolution

October 16th, 2006 Placozoan

NOT TOO LONG ago the idea of studying fossilized embryos half a billion years old would have seemed ridiculous, but advances in technology have made this practical. This week in Science Dr. Hagadorn and coworkers present the results of their studies of Precambrian embryos from the Doushantuo region of China using a battery of methods including X-ray computed tomography (CT), electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and thin-layer petrography.

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“Let There Be Light”

October 10th, 2006 Heinz Kiosk

MOST CREATIONISTS have a very homo-centric view of the universe. They believe that God created the universe specifically to create a home for humankind on Planet Earth. When we examine the universe how reasonable does that belief seem?

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Is God a Moral Relativist?

September 28th, 2006 Heinz Kiosk

INTERNET DEBATES about the validity of the theory of evolution are common. On American-dominated websites, newsgroups, and bulletin boards the debate is usually between Christian biblical literalists (of various stripes) on one side against Christians who interpret the relevant biblical passages less literally, atheists, and agnostics on the other side.

A common argument used by those who reject evolution runs follows: “If the Bible isn’t literally true, then there are no absolute moral standards, because absolute morality comes from God. That would be really terrible, so the Bible must be true and evolution must therefore be false.”

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Intelligent Design Creates Crises of Science and Faith, by Steven B. Case

September 15th, 2006 Desty Nova

STEVEN B. CASE’S opinion piece is a must-read. (If registration is required, go to BugMeNot for an username and password.)

How can you argue the following point he makes?

Irreducible complexity implies that God resides in the “gaps” of our knowledge. Science students who are introduced to the idea that God is only present in what we don’t understand, i.e. the mysteries of the universe, are left with difficult issues to resolve. If God is found in the mysteries, as their understanding of the natural world grows, then God (the mysteries) gets smaller. Read the rest of this entry »

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Preach the Controversy!

August 21st, 2006 Jemmy Button

“THERE IS AN INVISIBLE, INTANGIBLE, ODOURLESS ELEPHANT standing in this room, and that is why you are feeling cold: True or False?”

So the Professor wrote on the chalkboard not five minutes into the first session of an “Introduction to the Philosophy of Science” course in an icy lecture hall. It was enough to persuade me I had made a serious error in my selection of a freshman elective course. Maybe I really should have gone for Music Appreciation instead, which now sounded more intellectually engaging.
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Keyesian flakeonomics

August 21st, 2006 Black Ops

IS THERE ANYONE WHO DOESN’T have a finger in this pie? This half-baked Hitler-Darwin concoction, that is. First it was Harun Yahya, now Coral Ridge Ministries is following in the footsteps of their apparent ideological soulmates, with their own production of…well, exactly the same thing. Okay, maybe it’s not so obvious with that short blurb, but bear with us.

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That’s Doctor Idiot to you, pal…

August 18th, 2006 Black Ops

WHILE DARWIN CENTRAL has usually concerned itself with the bloviations of politicians who say silly and stupid things about science, we should stop and note that this is, in fact, very much a two-way street. You don’t have to look very hard to find scientists saying silly and stupid things about political matters — hell, you’ve got a 50-50 shot with any random Pharyngula post — but today we at least have something fresh.

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