Latest Challenges to the Teaching of Evolution

I wish I could get very excited as easily as that.

That's tough Ed. I am completely oblivious to this news along with the vast bulk of the human race. I would guess than no more that 0.01% have ever given it a second thought. I suspect that you only ever do when you come on here.

It's an affectation.

Did you get my 'storehouse for nuts' joke first time through?

Do you rule out the possibility of advanced civilisations having existed long before these things you are getting heated about and foundering and being recycled in the inner core of the earth. Why do rich seams of gold only appear in a few locations?

Lecture Series To Challenge Darwinian Evolution
(By ERIN MAGUIRE, The Philadelphia Bulletin, October 10, 2009)

The questions of “Where did we come from?” and “Where are we going?” have intrigued man since the beginning of time. The International Institute for Culture (IIC) lecture series “Evolution: The Untold Story” will provide a forum for Intelligent Design based answers to these queries at the Villanova Conference Center in Radnor on Oct. 24 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Leading Catholic scientists, ethicists and cultural analysts will present information that supports the event’s theme: “Latest Scientific Discoveries Challenge Darwinian Evolution’s Fitness to Survive.” The IIC is a non-profit educational and research center dedicated to Catholic cultural renewal.

Michael Behe, Ph.D., professor of Biological Science at Lehigh University and author of Darwin’s Black Box (1996) and The Edge of Evolution (2007), will begin the talks with his speech, “Why random mutation and natural selection are not capable of building the complex, coherent, molecular machinery recently discovered in the cell.”

“Life is a lot more complicated than what we’ve been led to believe,” Mr. Behe said. “And the standard story of evolution we’ve been led to believe is not the entire story.”

Mr. Behe espoused Darwinian evolution as an associate professor of chemistry, but later had a drastic conversion when he researched the theory.

“I was shocked. I thought there would be reams of evidence for Darwinian evolution,” he recalled. “But there were no real explanations. I was angry that much of our view on the way the world works is based on sociology " what we’re expected to believe versus hard scientific evidence.”

Through his research, Mr. Behe concluded, “So far, Darwinian evolution has not been able to account for the complexity of the cell.”

Hugh Miller, research chemist, and co-author of the paper “Recent C[arbon]-14 dating of fossils including dinosaur bone collagen,” will also challenge generally accepted thinking in his speech titled, “Removing the Darwinian fig leaf: what modern carbon dating reveals about the true age of the dinosaur.”

John Sanford, Ph.D., founder of Sanford Scientific, Inc., Feed My Sheep Foundation, and author of Genetic Entropy (2005) will provide countercultural mathematical evidence of man’s de-evolution. His talk is called, “Taking an axe to the primary axiom: mathematical proof that man is devolving, not evolving and why random mutation and natural selection are powerless to stop it.”

The notion of Darwinian evolution as it relates to Catholicism is also central to the event.

Hugh Owen, historian, writer and director of the Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation, will discuss how the Vatican weighs in on evolution in his speech, “Catholics engage in the Great Debate. Rome considers the evidence and articulates guidelines.”

John Haas, Ph.D., president of both the IIC and National Catholic Bioethics Center, will speak about “The importance of the evolution dialogue to Catholics and the implications for our children.”

“Fundamentally, the belief in strict Darwinian materialist evolution offers a world-view in which God cannot be acknowledged,” Mr. Haas explained. “The belief in the ‘survival of the fittest,’ when applied to man and his personal choices, can lead to an approach to the moral life where the notion of ‘might makes right’ substitutes for the nobility of human nature as manifested in the strong being willing to sacrifice themselves on behalf of the weak.”

Regarding the impact of Darwinian evolution on Catholics, Mr. Haas said, “Materialist evolutionary theory is one of those largely unquestioned ‘cultural coordinates’ which undergirds many of our ideas about the nature of human beings, human relationships and the social order. These are often radically at odds with a Catholic vision and can even, at times, contribute to a loss of faith.”

Conversely, the speeches would hopefully demonstrate the harmony between purposeful creation and science, Mr. Haas said; “There is fundamentally no opposition between science and religion.”

Following Mr. Haas’ speech, Brian Gail, speaker and author of Fatherless (2009) will facilitate a response to all the lectures in a discussion titled, “What do we do with this information? What is the impact on us as Catholics and on our children?”

Timothy Murnane, event organizer who presented “Intelligent Design " scientific advances confirm Catholic teaching on creation” at an IIC lecture last year, emphasized the need for this lecture series now.

“It is important for young Catholics to hear both sides of the story to assist them in their own accountability in faith decisions,” he said. “I believe Darwinian evolution will be discredited this generation. We want to reach as many decision makers and educators as possible.”

Hugh Miller, research chemist, and co-author of the paper “Recent C[arbon]-14 dating of fossils including dinosaur bone collagen,” will also challenge generally accepted thinking in his speech titled, “Removing the Darwinian fig leaf: what modern carbon dating reveals about the true age of the dinosaur.”

“What do we do with this information? What is the impact on us as Catholics and on our children?”

Their theory that Faith can shape our culture is laughable -- avarice, Wall Street, gargantuan corporations (like WalMart), technology, and politics have shaped our culture.

Technological and scientific advances occurred despite religion, not because of it. That's a myth of the uneducated.