Galileo

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Posts by Galileo

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  360

  Why Evolution Should Be Taught

  by hamilcarr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why evolutionary biology is a crucial part of the curriculum .... .

  optimism in evolution.

  by olivia judsonlondon.

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  Galileo

  The distinction is made and more often then you want to admit.

  I could just as easily point out that if macroevolution was a fact, beyond any reasonable doubt.... then why aren't Jewish boys born without foreskin. The Jews have been circumcising on the 8th day for how many years? Why do I still have to shave/wax my legs, underarms and bikini?.....

  I love it when Creationists put their ignorance on display. This is a more effective demonstration of the intellectual vaccuum that is the creationist brain trust than any rebuttal by an evolutionist could be. Please, Creationists, continue with your dissertation on evolution. I'll get you started: Why don't we see monkey's giving birth to pine cones or human's birthing dolphins? How about sharing "The Atheists Nightmare"?:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfv-Qn1M58I&feature=related
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  57

  Proof, proof, gimme some proof!!!

  by Slappy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  atheists clamor for proof of godas existence.

  give us hard, physical proof they say, and then weall believe.

  if evolution truly happened, how did that one apersona that evolved from monkeys learn to speak and write?

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  Galileo

  First off, I'm sorry you think I've been snide. I've actually gone out of my way not to be. Honestly, I'm trying to have sympathy for you because I was once where you are now, so I'm biting my tongue.

  http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=229 Maybe that wasn't the exact article you would have had me to read, but it was first one I came across in Google.

  That certainly wasn't a bad article, but I would suggest next time maybe reading more than just the first article on Google. One thing that wasn't made very clear in that article is that scientists didn't just happen to find the fused chromosome. It was known for a long time before that chromosome was found that Apes had 24 Chromosome pairs and humans had 23. This seemed strange if humans and apes had a common ancestor. Darwinian evolution predicted that at some point two pairs must have fused into one. Scientists tested this hypothesis, and it was proven correct. This sort of thing has happened time and again with Darwinian evolution. Unlike the bible, which states that plants were created before the sun and that epilepsy is caused by demonic posession, Darwinian evolution has been established more firmly the more we learn about life.

  ERV insertions, although a harder concept to grasp, is in my opinion much stronger evidence for evolution than the fused 23rd chromosome pair in humans. I would encourage you to research this until you understand it.
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  57

  Proof, proof, gimme some proof!!!

  by Slappy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  atheists clamor for proof of godas existence.

  give us hard, physical proof they say, and then weall believe.

  if evolution truly happened, how did that one apersona that evolved from monkeys learn to speak and write?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  Galileo

  I want to know what is so damn convincing about evolution that one would rather believe 'that' than in God.

  This is a false dichotemy. As has been pointed out many times, the vast majority of those that accept evolution also believe in god. Not the vast majority of accomplished scientists, granted, but there are still some, such as the brilliant Kenneth Miller, who so deftly demolished Michael Behe's "irreducible complexity" hypothesis in the Dover trial. Dr. Miller is a devout Catholic. I myself was just the opposite, I stopped believing in any god after doing extensive research on the history of the bible, but it was still years before I became convinced of evolution.

  You mentioned that you thought evolution says humans came from monkeys. This statement is indeed one that shows great ignorance of even the most basic understanding of evolution. You are speaking of Lamarckian evolution, an idea that is older than Darwin and an idea that Darwin proved wrong. Darwinian evolutionary theory teaches that in the distant past both humans and monkeys had a common ancestor.

  As for strong evidence for evolution, here are a couple of my favorites, although I doubt you will take the time to actually look into them:

  Endoginous Retroviral (ERV) insertions.

  The fused 23rd chromosome in humans.

  I could make a much longer list, but those two should keep you busy and baffled for quite some time, if investigated properly.
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  57

  Proof, proof, gimme some proof!!!

  by Slappy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  atheists clamor for proof of godas existence.

  give us hard, physical proof they say, and then weall believe.

  if evolution truly happened, how did that one apersona that evolved from monkeys learn to speak and write?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
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  Galileo

  Matthew and John were both disciples of Jesus, Luke was not a disciple

  Yes but there is no evidence that any of these men wrote the gospels that later came to bear their names, as I already alluded to.
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  57

  Proof, proof, gimme some proof!!!

  by Slappy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  atheists clamor for proof of godas existence.

  give us hard, physical proof they say, and then weall believe.

  if evolution truly happened, how did that one apersona that evolved from monkeys learn to speak and write?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Galileo

  Slappy, Pseudo gave you some good advice. Reading up on some biblical scholarship rather than biblical apologism can help you understand where us skeptics are coming from. Something else to research is how and when the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John got their names, since they are all anonymous.
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  360

  Why Evolution Should Be Taught

  by hamilcarr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why evolutionary biology is a crucial part of the curriculum .... .

  optimism in evolution.

  by olivia judsonlondon.

  1. 
  2. 
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  Galileo

  Your dismissing comments towards compromise is the exact reason why this will never be anything more then an untaught chapter in public school science textbooks around the US for several decades to come.

  How can there be a compromise? ID is not science. You want to teach unscientific religious views in a science class. If you succeeded, than what would stop astrologers from demanding their compromise, and devoting equal time to astrology when astronomy is being studied? What would stop numerologists from demanding their equal time in math class?

  The fact that you seem to be missing is that their is a massive amount of data confirming the theory of evolution. There is no data confirming ID. Creationists are not being targeted for exclusion. They are being treated the same way as everyone else that has a hypothesis that turns out not to be supportd by objective evidence.
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  19

  Something for the agnostics and atheists - Divine Spark still there

  by Octarine Prince in

  1. social
  2. current

  click for something heartwarming

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  Galileo

  This is an incredible story. It brought a tear to my eye. No need to turn it into a debate over the existence of God in my opinion. Thanks for sharing this. It made my day.
• 
  360

  Why Evolution Should Be Taught

  by hamilcarr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why evolutionary biology is a crucial part of the curriculum .... .

  optimism in evolution.

  by olivia judsonlondon.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Galileo

  fd,

  You just don't get what I am saying.

  It's funny how the ignorant accuse the knowledgeable of not understanding. I think we all get what you are saying. They are standard creation apologist logical fallacies based on a lack of education about the subject you are defending. Many of us, including myself, used similar arguments when we were Witnesses. After educating ourselves about evolution we realized these arguments are nonsense and don't hold up under scrutiny. You are the one that doesn't understand what we are saying, and in fact cannot, because you clearly don't know enough about evolution to form a coherent argument.
• 
  360

  Why Evolution Should Be Taught

  by hamilcarr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why evolutionary biology is a crucial part of the curriculum .... .

  optimism in evolution.

  by olivia judsonlondon.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Galileo

  In order to clarify the discussion for the easily riled, we are talking macro, not micro-evolution here.

  This is a very common statement amongst crationists. Macro-evolution is micro-evolution plus time. If any creationst wishes to assert that there is some boundary beyond which a "kind" cannot evolve, than it is up to them to propose what universal mechanism it is that stops evolution at that point. No such mechanism has ever been found, or to my knowledge, even seriously proposed.

  It is the equivalent of someone claiming that water cannot erode a rock. When a geologist takes him to a deep canyon eroded by a river, the erosion denier says "That isn't proof that the river created the valley. No one has been around for ten thousad years to observe the entire process, so therefore my claim is as valid as yours!"

  So the geologist sets up an experiment where a stream is diverted over a rock bed. After ten years, both return to see a six inch gully is cut where the stream has been flowing. "Ah," says the erosion denier "but that's MICRO erosion! I always believed that. But a river can never erode more than four feet total of rock! That would be MACRO erosion! Anyone that can cross the street at a green light can see that macro-erosion is impossible!"

  We have evidence of "macro" evolution in the fossil record. We have it in genes. We have it in DNA. We see evidence of it in vistigial legs on whale calfs, vistigial tails on humans, vistigial organs throughout the animal kingdom. If the creationists wish to assert that "micro" evolution happens but "macro" evolution doesn't, than it is up to them to counteract the mountains of evidence from all the earth sciences.
• 
  360

  Why Evolution Should Be Taught

  by hamilcarr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why evolutionary biology is a crucial part of the curriculum .... .

  optimism in evolution.

  by olivia judsonlondon.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Galileo

  I just got caught up on four pages of this thread. Wow. I'm speechless. I really have nothing to add at present, but I'd like to ask: Brother Apostate, are you joking with that garbage? No, seriously, are you joking? Are you intentionally trying to make creationists look like total irrational idiots with those ridiculous articles? Is your entire personna a charicature of a semi-literate creationist nutjob? Because, if so, well played sir. Well played.