CADRE Comments

Creation, Evolution, and Evidence: The Question of Causation It is difficult to say anything at all about the creation/evolution debate and have people actually hear you. What I mean is this: that many people have already done whatever reading and evaluating has seemed right to them, and when they read another piece (such as this) they are often reading to see whether they should line up with you or against you, rather than checking the validity of what you say. I've also seen it happen that naturalistic evolutionists suspect political motives rather than a pursuit of knowledge. But in an environment like that, where does that leave the evidence? In my line of work (programming), the data is of key importance. In scientific discussions about evolution, it seems that too often the data -- the evidence -- is not really the driving force of the conversation. Today I will only raise a question about the evidence and where it can take us: What exactly should we expect the evidence...

Advice to Evolutionismists -- Michael Ruse Gets it Partially Right Today's Boston Glove has a very interesting article on the question of why so many people are rejecting the Darwinistic view of evolution. Entitled Evolutionary War , the article discusses a new book by Michael Ruse, "both a staunch supporter of evolution and an ardent critic of scientists who he thinks have hurt the cause by habitually stepping outside the bounds of science into social theory," entitled The Evolution-Creation Struggle which will be released later this month. In the article, Michael Ruse is noted as claiming that . . . . . . loading values onto the platform of evolutionary science constitutes "evolutionism," an outlook that goes far beyond the scientific acceptance of evolution as a means of explaining the origins and development of species. Provocatively, Ruse argues that evolutionism has often constituted a "religion" itself by offering "a world picture, a story...

The Nature of Miracles This is a continuation of a response to Michael Martin's article, "Why the Resurrection is Initially Improbable," Philo, 1, no. 1 (Spring-Summer 1998): 63-73. Mr. Martin's article is being reprinted this spring in a book by Prometheus Press. For those interested in reading the remainder of the response to Martin, further installments will be published on this blog. The entire response is also available here . Miracles and Nature Martin begins his detailed discussion on the improbability of miracles with the assertion that a miracle is "traditionally" defined as a violation of a law of nature. This is possibly traditional in skeptical circles, but not in Christian ones; a fair review of the subject of miracles – especially in an article about Jesus’ resurrection – calls for a look at Christian views as well. The great majority of the recorded miracles of Jesus are miracles of healing. A miralce of this type is better classified no...

Assessing the probability of miracle claims This is the first part of a response to Michael Martin's article, "Why the Resurrection is Initially Improbable," Philo, 1, no. 1 (Spring-Summer 1998): 63-73. Mr. Martin's article is being reprinted this spring in a book by Prometheus Press. For those interested in reading the remainder of the response to Martin, further installments will be published on this blog. The entire response is also available here . In his introduction Mr. Martin outlines an argument which begins plausibly enough: that a miracle claim is initially improbable, and in light of this, miracle claims should be disbelieved unless the evidence is strong. I agree that miracles of that kind are not events we see every day and that miracle claims should be met with skepticism at first. But are all miracles equally unlikely? Mr. Martin acknowledges that miracle claims should be assessed relative to our background knowledge and to the probability of alte...

National Geographic Gives Fairer Review of Intelligent Design A couple of months ago, National Geographic Magazine ran an article on Darwinian Evolution entitled "Was Darwin Wrong?" (available on-line only in abstract) that basically took the position that Darwinian Evolution was a proven fact. In fact the first word of the article was answering the title with a large "No." At that time, I commented in a short essay entitled "Some Scientists Support Textbook Disclaimers" that the Natinoal Geographic article: . . . proceeds to give the usual Darwinian evidence supporting evolution by natural selection, including conversations by the author, David Quammen, with a couple of scientists who are devotees of the present scientific paradigm. Of course, there is no counter to this article. There is no article by scientists who disagree with the Darwinian paradigm. There is no discussion in the article itself of the views of these scientists or discussions with th...

Revealing Revelations NBC's Revelations opened to strong ratings. I also gave a somewhat positive review of the first installment, here . Unfortunately, the last two episodes focused less on questions of faith and skepticism, and more on Satanists and the sexual tension between the Nun and the Skeptical Scientist. Frankly, I do not think that Satanists pose all that much threat to the civilized world. Nor do I think it is Satanists who will usher in the "end times." And when the Skeptical Scientist suggests that the Nun change into something less conspicuous to avoid their pursuers, does it have to be a "sexy" red dress? That's all that was available in all of Rome? And the use of scripture by the Nun and other religous characters to prove we are in the end times is less than convincing. There is the old "war and rumors of war" bit. And the Skeptical Scientist meekly seems unable to point out that there have always been wars and rumors ...

Inspiration of Scripture: Christ as the Key This post is a continuation of previous discussions of different views of inspiration. What I look for in "inspiration" is that the text is a carrier of God's Spirit, capable of making us born again of the Spirit. As Jesus said, "The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life." I know there are all kinds of things to be said about whether this or that part of any given text was original, and they're useful conversations in their ways. But we don't worship a book. There are several places where the Bible names its own main point. The point is never itself, but Christ. The information is useful, but it is also the means to conveying God's Spirit and new life. This conveying of new life only works because the content is Christ crucified and risen. "He (Jesus) opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, this is what it says: The Christ will suffer and ris...

The Deciphering of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri and their Impact on Christianity National Geographic has an article out entitled "Papyrus Reveals New Clues to Ancient World" which details how some ancient papyri found in a dump in Egypt is being read thanks to new techonology. Classical Greek and Roman literature is being read for the first time in 2,000 years thanks to new technology. The previously illegible texts are among a hoard of papyrus manuscripts. Scholars say the rediscovered writings will provide a fascinating new window into the ancient world. Salvaged from an ancient garbage dump in Egypt, the collection is kept at Oxford University in England. Known as the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, the collection includes writings by great classical Greek authors such as Homer, Sophocles, and Euripides. Using a technique called multi-spectral imaging, researchers have uncovered texts that include • parts of a lost tragedy by Sophocles, the 5th-century B.C. Athenian playwright; • sections ...

Many "Crimes" of Christianity Refuted CADRE member Bede, a historian, has blogged on his site about the alleged crimes of Christianity. As many people know, Christianity is blamed for a number of the ills that have fallen humanity ranging from the dark ages to the repression of women to sponsoring or approving of slavery. In an essay by Kyle J. Gerkin entitled "Objection #7: Church History Is Littered with Oppression and Violence (2001)" , he discusses these crimes beginning his essay stating: "This objection is a statement of fact, which cannot be avoided." Well, Bede does a great job of "avoiding" the question by listing ten crimes and errors addressed by Mr. Gerkin and posting links to responses refuting each and every one. Bede's blog posts links to refutations for each of the following alleged "crimes" of Christianity: 1. Christianity has opposed the rise of science. Refuting article: "The Mythical Conflict between Science...

Were These People Just Stupid or What? James Taranto from The Best of the Web from the Wall Street Journal pointed out this little gem from The Courier-Journal of Louisville , Kentucky: More than 700 people joined religious leaders and Democratic politicians at two rallies yesterday to denounce Christian conservatives' use of a Louisville church as a platform to advocate prohibiting filibusters against judicial nominees . Speakers called both the assault on filibusters and the injection of religion into politics "un-American" threats to religious freedom and to constitutional checks and balances. The larger of the two rallies, designed to counter a telecast from Highview Baptist Church last night, took place at Central Presbyterian Church near downtown Louisville. More than 600 people came to hear Baptist, Episcopal, Jewish and ecumenical leaders from around the country criticize what they described as an effort to paint dissidents as anti-religion. Did it occur to any ...