Creationist threatens academic science standards group with words of Jesus

by Gopher 129 Replies latest social current

  • hooberus
    hooberus
    So what originally looked to be obviously designed (face on Mars/Life) turned out to look less and less designed as it was examined. Today, we recognize such intelligent design arguments as 'god of the gaps' reasonings - unseen beings are postulated to explain the current gaps in our knowledge. They are not scientific and do not lead to useful theories or results. They do not end up teaching us any more about our universe. In fact, they can slow scientific progress as they did in the days when Creation was assumed as fact. As time goes on, these 'gaps' get smaller and smaller until the role of such a postulated invisible being is miniscule.

    While I do agree that the closer one examines the face on mars the more that object looks to be not a product of design. However, I think that life is more like the Mt. Rushmore example. The closer one looks the more it appears to be designed. Look for example at structures such as the bacteria cell. The closer one looks at this remarkable object the more it seems it was designed. (for example the flagellum motor). I think that in may areas the gaps have gotten wider, for example the gap between blindenss and vision with its its complex structures and processes (even in "simple eyes").

  • rem
    rem

    Hooberus,

    The discussion of the testability of each theory can become quite technical and I believe we've gone over it before. I'm not sure that I will have time to get into it.

    Interestingly, though when it comes to the nested heirarchies observed in nature it goes beyond what is expected by an intelligent creator - even to the point of being absurd (why give bats an extremely inefficient body plan compared to birds?). What we see in nature does not match what human designers do. This isn't necessarily evidence against, but it does go against the only example of intelligence we have evidence of.

    Every example of human creation that we know of involves horizontal 'borrowing' of ideas. The only constraint is when the idea is unavailable due to geographical or other reasons. An example is automobiles:

    There are many types of automobile and there is no one strict nested heirarchy you can make of all of them based on all of their components (Auto type, engine type, design type, down to the nuts and bolts). The reason is because with intelligence there is idea borrowing to make more efficient creations. (Trucks may have v8 engines made by a particular company, but unrelated cars can have them too and those cars may also have belts from another company that puts them in boats).

    This is not so in nature. If a human designed a bat, and he had the option between using a bird bodyplan and a mammal body plan, there would be no question which he would choose. The bird body plan is much more efficient for a creature who will be flying most of the time. The only reason someone wouldn't do the 'right' thing is if they were not able to (constrained by nested heirarchy), or they were purposely trying to build inefficient things (which is not what humans think of as a sign of great intelligence).

    So, from what we see in nature (there are many many examples of 'bad' design due to nested heirarchy constraints), if an intelligent designer really did design life as we see it today, he was constrained in some way, or he was not very intelligent. Interestingly with natural selection nested heirarchies are the only way things could be! (excepting rare instances of horizontal DNA transfer via viruses)

    It would be interesting to see if there are any examples of nested heirarchies in the history of human design. I suspect there might be a few isolated instances (and it would be generally regarded as a 'bad' thing, as in 'not intelligent'), but nothing on the scale of every living thing on earth.

    The discerning person should start to put two and two together at this point.

    rem

  • Abaddon
    Abaddon

    Isn't it great a thread about a Creationist using threatening language results in two people of broadly the same opinion behaving in a similar fashion?

    And these people want to be given equal time in school; would parent really want people who condemn and insult others to be an example to their children?

    Heathen:

    Lovely, once again a creationist resorts to ad hom attacks.

    So, you're totally lacking any real knowledge about evolution, but have decided on this basis it is false (despite lack of proof for your theory of creation).

    What adds to the hallarity of your position is you consider you can look down on fellow creationists because they believe something different, despite your own beliefs being equally flawed.

    I suppose you believe Intelligent Design is a wonderful theory (despite the fact it proves itself wrong)?

    That's rhetorical sarcasm; you don't have to reply - there's little point in talking to you as you don't want to engage in the issue but would rather hurl insults and show-off your ignorance on the subject.

    Mr. Kim;

    Ok! I have been asked to play your little game and not to be so harsh. After all, "children don't always do as they are told."

    You were the one playing games; I was just asking questions. And who asked you? Is this why you were talking about "te human side of me". Do you have MPD, or hear voices?

    Why Abaddon, you must be careful what you wish for. I will be glad to take your sarcasim under advisement. I will be glad to specify about you and I will keep it simple and use easy words. don't forget to slam back and make youself feel good and by all means, impress everyone. ( you were told this when you were younger, remember?)

    Still all talk and no trousers; and still no answers to questions.

    Are we having fun yet? You seem to go on and on and say nothing. Why? Is it perhaps you have ears and do not hear? You also have eyes and you do not see! Or are you trying to tickle the ears of anyone that will listen? You must need a lot of attention. Do you enjoy it? You remember who GOD is, don't you? Take your time and please slow down and enjoy yourself like you ALWAYS do.

    Still all talk and no trousers; and still no answers to questions. I'd ask you to define 'God', that's normally good for a laugh, but you're affectations are tiresome.

    Unlike you and other people like YOU, I have nothing to prove. I am rich in many ways and I thank almighty GOD for the good things in my life.

    Oh stop lying to yourself; I can endure people lying to me, but when they are lying to themselves it is quite ridiculous. If you have nothing to prove why are you in this thread? Silly person; think before opening your mouth.

    You on the other hand have cursed and tormented the Holy Spirit! Woe be to you frail earthling man. For what you have said and done over the last four years and seven months; has a price tag on it. But why should you care? You have made your choices in many public and private ways. Your actions speak for you and the record is clear as to the clarity of your heart. Wonder what is in your future? I understand that you have some decisions to make?

    ___________________________________________________

    I must share with you a sign from the sky above. It was made just for you. It has the sign and meaning that people like you know and respect. It has something special made just for you and your kind. Enjoy it with the love that you have given to so many others...............

    Ah, here we go; I thought this would happen, and this is wonderful proof of the dangers that people like you and the person this thread was triggered by represent.

    Now you are off, condemning people, so consumed by your own purity that you fail to realise by doing so you prostitute your own religious beliefs on the alter of intolerance. You judge, despite scriptual admonition against such arrogance. You set yourself up in public as a pure person, just as the Pharasees that Jesus despised did. You are a "superfine apostle" who fails to realise the admonition in scripture to judge a tree by its fruits applies to you as much as to everyone, and whilst you label yourself Christian, you lack any fruit of Christianity. Hypocrite. Why not get the rafter out of your own eye first?

    hooberus:

    Your example is wonderful!

    First of all it indicates the foolishness of developing a theory looking at facts (literally) from one angle and before a study been made.

    This results in "it looks like a face; it must be made, the chances of it looking like a face by random are minute".

    This is almost identical to some forms of creationism; "it looks like it was designed, it must be made, the chances of it looking designed by random are minute".

    If one investigates the face on Mars, one realises the image is a result of shadows being interpreted by our brain - which is so good at seeing faces it sees faces even when there aren't any, e.g.;

    8-)

    It's not on other images of the same place. It just looks like a face in that photo.

    Likewise, creationistic theories were developed by people looking at the facts from the angle of a pre-scientific society before any study of origins had been made.

    These same theories, despite their poor provenance and failure to match the evidence we have around us, are clung to by some people, just as some people still believe the face on Mars is real, even if you show them concrete evidence to the contrary.

    Your example also indicates your entire argument is presuppositionaistic in nature. You ASSUME that if there is a possibility that something might be true it should be taught (i.e. all options given in the face on Mars example must be considered). What you fail to consider is that this standard would allow other religious or pseudo-religious theories of origin into the classroom that YOU would think of as supersticious and unscientific as I consider your beliefs.

    And you would protest about it in all liklihood! I really don't think you'd like Zoranistic Creation Science taught alongside Christian Creation Science.

    Likewise, one would have, using your theory, to allow for every form of revisionistic history to be taught, no matter how illogical or unsuported it might be. Physics lessons would have to include speculation about how aliens get here at super-luminal speeds, as teaching that c is absolute would be in violation of the principle you're advancing.

    The way it works is that people are taught what there is evidence for. This might change over times as new evidence is found and techniques and theories advance.

    If you object to this, go live in a cave in the cold and dark, believe diseases are caused by evil spirits, and wipe your bottom with leaves, as you are objecting to progress and improvement in knowledge and technology.

    If there is evidence of a supernatural origin, please provide it. So far you and your fellow creationists have failed to provide any proof of a supernatural origin.

    Please also remember that argument from design is flawed as it is inextricably self-falsifying in that it never explains how the designer was designed. It is a theory that requires what it says CAN'T happen to happen in order to happen.

    If both strands of possible origins end up with a assumption of either a naturalistic environment with conditions that allow the sequence of events required to put us here today, or a supernatural environment with conditions that allow the sequence of events required to put us here today, one must turn away from the debate of origins to find the answer - something I know, have known, and causes great amusement whenever people start discussing the subject as even though I like playing the game, I know it's more about the playing than any possibility of either side being able to prove their point to the satisfaction of the other

    Look at the world around you hooberus; just as you see god in design, you may see god in the world around you. I don't; all the theories that explain our existence using a concerned caring god either test as false, fallacious or fanciful as they do not match with the evidence we see NOW, let alone any supposed historical evidence.

    Again, if you have evidence to the contrary, provide it... or else explain why a caring god would allow events that obviously the observers then found convincing evidence to happen in the past, but does not allow these events (when they would spread world-wide in hours) now. Ineffable plans are not allowed, as a caring god would not expect us to be blindly trusting; the exercise of freewill and the expectation of blind trust are not compatable.

  • Mr. Kim
    Mr. Kim

    Abaddon,

    as you wish.....more fun and games...

  • rem
    rem

    hooberus,

    The closer one looks the more it appears to be designed.

    I disagree. This is exactly what scientists have done since the time of creation-believing naturalists. The closer they looked, the less designed things started to look.

    As far as the flagellum motor and the eye, there are naturalistic explanations for such features that involve 'scaffolding'. Interestingly, scaffolding structures are exactly what we see in fetal development as well. Structures that finally evolved into their final form probably had a completely different function than what we see today. Anyway, the point is that it is not science to look at a specific feature and say "I can't think of how that could have evolved naturally - god must have jumped in and tweaked this feature." That's an argument from ignorance and is the basis of the 'god of the gaps' type theories.

    I think that in may areas the gaps have gotten wider, for example the gap between blindenss and vision with its its complex structures and processes (even in "simple eyes").

    I think this is just the normal phenomenon of the more you know the more questions there are (the more you know how little you know). Take the 'missing link', for example. Creationists love to harp on the fact that the 'missing link' has not been found. Well, really, if you think about it the more transitional fossils you find, the more 'missing links' there are. The body of knowledge is becoming more complete, but our focus becomes tighter and the resulting 'gaps' start to look larger as we 'zoom in' on on them.

    In reality, the gaps are much smaller today than they ever have been, but they can seem just as large to some as the original gaps seemed in Darwin's theory over a hundred years ago. Just as those gaps were filled in, today's gaps will be, but new gaps will always crop up. That is science. If there were no gaps, there would be no more use for science, and using the god-did-it explanation for such gaps does not encourage the progress of science.

    For a real scientist the idea of shutting down thought and a search for a natural explanation for an unexplained phenomenon or feature is nonsensical. Simply stating god-did-it is a non explanation.

    rem

  • SixofNine
    SixofNine
    I know for a fact that the Christ is real.

    Actually, you don't. Evidence is very unclear as to whether there was actually a person known as Jesus the Christ, whether there were several "christ" types rolled into one story, or whether it is all myth making. "Christ" certainly didn't make a dent on history during "christ" lifetime, if indeed he was just one person.

    You know that Christ is real to you, Mr. Kim, but that tells the rest of us nothing. You sometimes post things that would lead reasonable people to believe that you are nutty as a fruitcake, so you aren't exactly faith inspiring.

  • Phantom Stranger
    Phantom Stranger

    Actually, under one of the definitions of "fact", he does...but he probably didn't know it...

    fact
    n.

    1. Knowledge or information based on real occurrences: an account based on fact; a blur of fact and fancy.
      1. Something demonstrated to exist or known to have existed: Genetic engineering is now a fact. That Chaucer was a real person is an undisputed fact.
      2. A real occurrence; an event: had to prove the facts of the case.
      3. Something believed to be true or real: a document laced with mistaken facts.
    2. A thing that has been done, especially a crime: an accessory before the fact.
    3. Law. The aspect of a case at law comprising events determined by evidence: The jury made a finding of fact.
  • hooberus
    hooberus

    Abaddon said:

    hooberus:

    Your example is wonderful!

    First of all it indicates the foolishness of developing a theory looking at facts (literally) from one angle and before a study been made.

    This results in "it looks like a face; it must be made, the chances of it looking like a face by random are minute".

    This is almost identical to some forms of creationism; "it looks like it was designed, it must be made, the chances of it looking designed by random are minute".

    Actually my "mars face" example is an example of looking at the facts on origins from an open minded perspective.

    My example does not imply that "it looks like a face; it must be made, the chances of it looking like a face by random are minute", but instead implies three basic options as to how the face came into being.

    Here is my example again:

    Lets say a science class is dicussing the origin of the "face on Mars"

    Our options are:

    1.This is a rock formation with a purly naturalistic origin.

    2. This is a rock formation that was created by a creator.

    3. Some combination of the above (for example it was created by a creator then eroded somewhat by naturalistic processes).

    None of the above options are directly "religious" and students should be provided information and interpretation from the facts of science for each of them. Only teaching option #1 to students (and teaching it in a dogmatic way) while excluding the other two options from discussion does not serve to give an orgins education.

    My example is an excellent framework with which to study the possibilites and set up hypothesis for investigation of the origin of the face on mars.

    If one investigates the face on Mars, one realises the image is a result of shadows being interpreted by our brain - which is so good at seeing faces it sees faces even when there aren't any, e.g.;

    8-) It's not on other images of the same place. It just looks like a face in that photo.

    I realize this, and as I have said before I don't believe that the face on mars was the product of creation, my use of the "mars face" example was simply to show that options should not be excluded before making a scientiffic investigation especially when one is limited to three basic types of origins.

  • hooberus
    hooberus

    Abaddon said:

    Your example also indicates your entire argument is presuppositionaistic in nature. You ASSUME that if there is a possibility that something might be true it should be taught (i.e. all options given in the face on Mars example must be considered).

    Given the importance of the subject of biological origns and the fact that there are only three basic options with the possiblity of one of these being true, then yes all basic biolological origns options should be discussed. I am not saying that all creation accounts or even any should be discussed in classrooms but only the possibility of creation by a creator.

    What you fail to consider is that this standard would allow other religious or pseudo-religious theories of origin into the classroom that YOU would think of as supersticious and unscientific as I consider your beliefs. And you would protest about it in all liklihood! I really don't think you'd like Zoranistic Creation Science taught alongside Christian Creation Science.

    Adaddon, if you will read my earlier posts here you will see that I have not advocated teaching any directly "religious" theories of origin into the classroom. Nor have I advocated teaching any form of religious creation account in public schools. (see my human evolution example on this page.)

    even rem agreed (though he believes that in practice this might be difficult).

    I agree that theoretically you probably could have a discussion about intelligent creators without religious overtones. In practice, though, I'm not sure this is possible.

    The use of the terms "created" and "creator" when considering options (such as in the mars face example as well as the human origins example) does not directly imply a "religious" creation account being taught.

    Likewise, one would have, using your theory, to allow for every form of revisionistic history to be taught, no matter how illogical or unsuported it might be. Physics lessons would have to include speculation about how aliens get here at super-luminal speeds, as teaching that c is absolute would be in violation of the principle you're advancing.

    The discussion here is that of origins, to which there are only three basic types of options. No one observed man being created, just as no one observed man decending from an ancient population of fish. Thus biological origins were not directly observed by any human scientist, and must be infered from evidence. This is far different from other types of history which has been observed. For example the Titanic was observed by 750 people as sinking, hense there would be no need to present every form of theory as to what happened to the Titanic (such as abducted by aliens etc).

  • czarofmischief
    czarofmischief

    Mr. Kim works for the New World Order. He knows much that you do not.

    CZAR

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