Group Of Intellectuals Negating Godless Atomism + Generic Atheism

James McGrath has launched a new movement dedicated to defeating “godless atomism” called Group Of Intellectuals Negating Godless Atomism + Generic Atheism.

All around the world, children are being indoctrinated with a godless philosophy in what should be science classrooms. Instead of learning true chemistry that agrees with sacred Scripture, children are being taught atomism. This has become possible because very few parents and concerned citizens today are aware that atomism is in fact not a true science, but a philosophy with its roots in the teachings of Greek philosopher Democritus. His teachings gave rise to Epicureanism, which shows they are fundamentally antithetical to religion, piety, and ethical behavior.

I have decided to commit myself to the movement and get a second Ph.D. in another field that isn’t chemistry, and charge groups $5,000 to come and talk about the subject. [Copied from my main blog]

Parity

Larry Moran of Sandwalk pointed out that today, for the first time in 30 years, the Canadian dollar was equal in value with the US dollar. I remember discussing that, back when it happened. Maybe not when the Canadian dollar first slipped below the US dollar, but soon enough after. It was something that the adults were talking about. It was something that made me feel both a little offended and somehow less secure. Strange thoughts for a seven-year-old, and while it wasn't a topic of conversation that I raised, I clearly remember discussing it with my friends.

While it may not be the best thing for the Canadian economy, it somehow has a feel of a wrong set right. The child, waiting for this one little thing to be set back right in the world, has finally seen the wish fulfilled.

Google Ads

Google Ads select ads based on the content on your page. In general, you could rationalise that into being a good thing - you're actually helping your readers find the products that they want (though, of course, if you really believe in that then you probably should go for one of those 'pay per post' services...you're getting paid to post about products you actually believe in, or something like that). Regardless of how you think about it, sometimes it can go very wrong. Last time I looked (over there, in the corner...No! No! Don't look!) there was an ad for a creationist website called Y-Origins Connection: Intelligent Design for Everyone. (Just take my word for it, don't look because I told you, only look if you would have looked anyway - you aren't supposed to draw the attention of people to your ads who would otherwise not be interested.) So, alongside my criticism of Dembski, I am advertising for creationists. Lovely.

Dembski and the flagellum

In Darwin’s Black Box, Behe takes evolutionary biology to task for failing to explain the evolution of biochemical pathways within the cell. From this he developed the idea of “irreducible complexity” - that there are systems that are too complex to have arisen by (known) evolutionary processes. From there, he makes the jump to an “intelligent designer“…in other words, failure to come up with an evolutionary explanation is proof of God. Of the the central “icons” of intelligent design is the bacterial flagellum. Despite the fact that far more is known about the evolution of the flagellum than was known a decade ago (when Behe wrote his book), ID proponents still cling to it as a pillar of their anti-evolutionary arguments. In his talk at OU on Monday, one of Dembski’s main criticisms of “Darwinian evolution” was the fact that it failed to provide a “complete, fully articulated path” of evolution for “molecular nano-machines”.

[Read the rest at Dembski and the flagellum]

Dembski at OU

I saw William Dembski talk last night at the Meacham Auditorium in the University of Oklahoma Student Union. The title of his talk was: Why Atheism is no Longer Intellectually Fulfilling: The Challenge of Intelligent Design to Unintelligent Evolution. He spoke for over an hour, dancing around a number of topics, but the theme that seemed to jump out post at me was: I wrote a book. Not only did the cover of The Design Inference flash across the screen at least three times, he also showed a screen shot of the OU library webpage card catalogue entry for the book. (I suppose he was trying to refute the assertion that intelligent design proponents don’t publish their ideas in peer-reviewed math and science journals. The truth is, there is no research into intelligent design. There is no research programme, although Dembski did lay out a ten-point plan; skipped it in the talk, flashed through it in the Q & A. Not holding my breath for that to come to fruition).

[Read the rest at Dembski at OU: Why Atheism is no Longer Intellectually Fulfilling]

Oddly fascinating

I recently discovered a blog called Religion Clause, subtitled: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof... --US Const., Amend. 1". Written by Howard M. Friedman, an Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Toledo, the blog presents summaries of cases and rulings related to the religion clause. Unlike most blogs, Friedman simply presents the information, he doesn't say "this was a good ruling" or "I disagree with that ruling". He simply presents the facts.

I find it oddly fascinating. In many cases I have no context in which to interpret the information - it is simply data. It's almost like reading a string of numbers and trying to decide if you should try to figure out what they mean, or simply enjoy their beauty. Read enough rulings an motions and I think you learn something, but I'm not sure what I have learned.

It is, I must say, oddly fascinating.

Puzzled...and bummed

My WordPress blog was suspended for a ToS violation. Huh? I have no idea how I am supposed to have violated the ToS. I have no idea what I did wrong. And that has me incredibly bummed. Just when I was starting to get a little traffic to the site...it's gone. Together with four months of blog posts (apparently you can't get your content back when your account is suspended).

I have no idea what next. Is there an appeal process? Will I at least find out what I did wrong? It really feels like a part of myself was ripped out. I put a lot into those posts. Oh well...it's a free service. Sucks.

Update: It's back. Yay. Apparently it was deleted "by mistake". I should be annoyed, but I'm too relieved.