Edinburgh Coursera lecture equating evolution and creationism as equally “faith based” vanishes from the web, but the science-bashing continues

Three days ago I put up a post showing a short lecture by philosopher S. Orestis Palermos that was part of a University of Edinburgh Coursera course on Science and Philosophy. His lecture basically equated evolutionary biology with creationism, dismissing both as “pseudoscience”. (The course was also sponsored by—to its eternal shame—the John Templeton Foundation.) […]

A relatively new anti-creationist book

It’s a slow news day here at WEIT, and my brain is equally slow. Let me just call your attention to a new review of an anticreationist book by Darren Naish at his Sci Am site Tetrapod Zoology. The review is new but the book has aged a bit: it’s the 15-month-old God’s Word or Human Reason?: An […]

The University of Edinburgh and the John Templeton Foundation royally screw up evolution and science (and tell arrant lies) in an online course

Reader Simon sent me this video, which is a short (8-minute) lecture that’s apparently part of an online Coursera course on Science and Philosophy sponsored by the University of Edinburgh, the EIDYN Research Center run by Edinburgh’s Department of Philosophy, and the John Templeton Foundation. The presenter of this talk on creationism and evolutionary biology, S. […]

EPA administrator Scott Pruitt disses evolution, espouses theocracy, doubts whether carbon dioxide causes global warming, asserts that God gave us the right to have all guns

Politico has just revealed that Scott Pruitt, the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), espoused some pretty bizarre and goddy views on an Oklahoma radio show in 2005. Granted, that’s 13 years ago, but have his views changed? Given his faith, probably not, and they were posted on his campaign website when he ran […]

Ken Ham to speak at Oklahoma university after all; university president defends free speech

As NewsOK (Oklahoma) reports, and as verified by creationist Ken Ham on his Answers in Genesis (AiG) website, Ham’s invitation to speak at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO), previously withdrawn by the student government, has now been reinstated. (See my posts about this here and here, where I defend his right to speak on campus.)  It […]

Ken Ham de-platformed at an Oklahoma University

Lots of religious sites have picked up the news that evangelical Christian and Ark-Park magnate Ken Ham has been deplatformed at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO), but what they report is pretty similar to what more mainstream media say (for the latter, go here, here, and here; for Answer in Genesis‘s take, go here). […]

I get creationist email: an optometrist extols the perfection of the eye (with Egnor lagniappe)

I woke up to find the email below in my inbox. I’ve eliminated identifying information except for the person’s profession and faith, which seem relevant. The writer purports to “believe in evolution”, but it seems he/she really doesn’t. Hi Jerry, I really enjoyed your book on evolution.  I am an [age redacted] Optometrist (raised Jewish) […]

Louisiana public school sued for extreme and repeated Christian proselytizing of students

When I travel and talk about evolution, say in India, I’m sometimes asked about the teaching of creationism in American public schools. When I reply that it’s illegal, but some schools do it anyway, people are incredulous. In India, for example, I’ve never heard of public schools dragging creationism into a science class. When I’m […]

An open letter to Charlotte Allen, an ignorant, evolution-dissing writer

Dear Ms. Allen, I have become aware of your recent article, “St. Charles Darwin“, in First Things (“America’s most influential journal of religion and public life”). The point of your article appears to be twofold: to defend A. N. Wilson’s execrable hit-piece that masquerades as a book-length biography of Darwin (I reviewed his book here), and, second, to […]

Creationism rears its head in India

UPDATE: Reader Snowy Owl has pointed out that pushback against Singh’s anti-evolution comments have also appeared on Indian websites and newspapers (h/t: Snowy Owl). Here are two articles defending evolution: The Hindu: “What Darwin actually said about man and apes.” (I left a comment.) Flipboard: “If the minister’s pen, with RSS support, blots the page […]