Who’s Got the Magic? A Review of Robert Pennock’s “The Tower of Babel”
Read morereview of Robert Pennock’s book “The Tower of Babel.” In criticizing Phillip Johnson’s “intelligent design creationism,” Robert Pennock raises a particularly worrisome legal consequence of Johnson’s view. According to Pennock, Johnson insists “that science admit the reality of supernatural influences in the daily workings of the world.” But what if the same reasoning that Johnson is trying to import into
0Cultural Context Yet Again
Read moreI am always torn when it comes to criticism of my thinking. On the one hand, my inclination is to let it pass in silence. I have had my say, and now it is the turn of others. I am never quite sure that anyone gains if one spends time with charge and counter charge. On the other hand, it
Disbelieving Darwin and Feeling No Shame
Read moreScience, we are told, is tentative. And given the history of science, there is every reason for science to be tentative. No scientific theory withstands revision for long, and many are eventually superseded by theories that flat contradict their predecessors. Scientific revolutions are common, painful, and real. New theories regularly overturn old ones, and no scientific theory is ever the
Intelligent Design is not Optimal Design
Read moreI was recently on an NPR program with skeptic Michael Shermer and paleontologist Donald Prothero to discuss intelligent design. As the discussion unfolded, it became clear that they were using the phrase “intelligent design” in a way quite different from how the emerging intelligent design community is using it. The confusion centered on what the adjective “intelligent” is doing in
Arguing for Evolution
Read moreOn August 11, 1999, the Kansas State Board of Education voted six-to-four to remove references to cosmology and evolution from the State’s education standards and assessments. The Board’s decision does grave disservice to the students and teachers of the State of Kansas, as well as to science and religion everywhere. Students need to study the empirical evidence and concepts