CADRE Comments

Darwin, Design and KNME By Joe Renick Executive Director Intelligent Design Network, New Mexico Division As Published in the Albuquerque Tribune The recent "flap" over KNME censorship of the outstanding science documentary "Unlocking the Mystery of Life" is just one more indication of the deep and pervasive naturalistic bias held by major institutions in our culture against any evidence that might suggest that a transcendent intelligence was responsible for the creation of the cosmos and of life. The design-like features observed in biology such as the genetic code, information content of DNA, and the staggering complexity of the biological cell, have thus far eluded explanation on the basis of physics, chemistry and chance alone. These features, by their very nature, challenge Darwinism. There seems to be much more going on in the biological cell than chemistry and chance. Design and Darwinism claim to provide fundamentally different explanati...

Dr. Walker Responds to my Email re: 1 Cor. 15:3-11 In an earlier post , I posted an email from Dr. Price regarding which other scholars agree with his view that 1 Cor. 15:3-11 is an interpolation. One of the scholars he mentioned was Dr. W. Walker, who has indeed written a book entitled Interpolations in the Pauline Letters . So, I sent an email to Dr. Walker asking about his views on 1 Cor. 15:3-11. Dr. Walker graciously agreed to let me post his response on my blog, but wanted me to make clear that because he has not looked into the matter in sufficient detail, he is not prepared at this point to argue that 1 Cor. 15:3-11 either is or is not an interpolation. Here is the email: Apart from reading Bob Price's article in the Journal of Higher Criticism, I haven't really looked into the possibility that 1 Cor 15:3-11 might be an interpolation. I may have told Bob that I found his article more or less persuasive, but I am not prepared, on the basis of my own ...

An Illustration of the Problem of Evil from I, Robot This past weekend, I finally saw I, Robot , a movie starring Will Smith, which is loosely (actually, very loosely) based on the collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov. If you haven’t seen it, the movie concerns a police detective named Spooner who lives in the year 2035 when robots are plentiful and do most of the world’s menial chores. Spooner gets a call from a holograph of Dr. Alfred Lanning, chief roboticist at U.S. Robots, in which the holograph informs Spooner that Dr. Lanning (the real one, not the holograph) had just committed suicide. The story then follows Detective Spooner's efforts to prove that Lanning’s death was not a suicide, and in the process he must face hordes of killer robots who (which?) openly violate the first law of robotics. I don’t want to give away the plot as I thought the movie was enjoyable and if you haven't seen it, it is worth $2.00 at a video rental place. At one point, Spooner ...

An Email Exchange with Dr. Robert M. Price on a Purported Pauline Interpolation In a post I wrote back in September, I discussed my reasons for rejecting the argument that 1 Corinthians 15:3-11 is an interpolation. Therein, I referred to some of the arguments of Dr. Robert M. Price. A full presentation of his argument can be found here . To my surprise, I received an email from Dr. Price regarding that post. The exchange, in my opinion, was productive (to me and I hope the readers) and cordial. I will italicize Dr. Price’s emails for ease of reading. Beginning of Exchange. I am sorry to say that the recent treatment of my article on the interpolation 1 Corinthians 15:3-11 provides a grossly inadequate, strawman account of the piece, making it much too easy for the apologist to disregard what he or she thinks I am saying. Most of my argument is not even summarized. The point about the clash between Galatians and 1 Cor. 15 over Paul's independence vis a vis hi...

Inauguration Prayer Stands Judge makes the right decision A US court rejected an atheist's request to bar prayer at President George W. Bush's inauguration next week, saying he had failed to show sufficient evidence that the ceremony would harm his constitutional rights. * * * In his ruling, Judge John Bates said Newdow "has not met his burden of establishing that the extraordinary remedy of preliminary injunction relief is warranted under the present circumstances." "Newdow's alleged injury remains somewhat tenuous, not concrete," Bates wrote, adding that a last minute interdiction of prayer at Bush's inauguration would cause "considerable disruption" in a "carefully-planned" national event. Judge Bates has it absolutely right. To obtain a preliminary injunction in most jurisdictions requires a showing of irreparable harm from allowing the action to proceed. The harm that Michael Newdow, the atheist who broug...

Celebrate the Cause of the Cause With great and unending respect for Martin Luther King, Jr. Today, in America, is Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., deserves the praise of all Americans for raising the collective consciousness of the American people about the injustices of racism. I was not even ten years old when Dr. King was assassinated, but I remember reading the headlines and asking my mother why someone had killed him. My mother told me that some people just hate other people on the basis of their skin color and that was wrong. Dr. King knew it was wrong and worked to bring an end to that wrong. He had a dream of a nation in which "one day out in the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood." It was a dream of unity and peace between races. That was Dr. King's cause, and we should celebrate it. But Dr. King's cause did not ari...

Jesus Myth Book Reviews Bede and I have, respectively, reviewed two leading Jesus Myth books, The Jesus Mysteries , by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, and The Jesus Puzzle , by Earl Doherty. We have also reviewed books that respond -- some more than others -- to the Jesus Myth. They are available on Bede's Library in his " Did Jesus Exist? " section. Bede introdues the section as follows: Though dead in scholarly circles - even among moderate and liberal ones - the idea that Jesus never existed has visceral appeal to many with negative attitudes towards Christianity. Presently, the Jesus Myth’s most forceful proponent is Earl Doherty with his book The Jesus Puzzle. There are various scholarly popular treatments such as The Jesus Mysteries. Both these books and some responses to the Jesus Myth are reviewed below.

Celsus, Sexism, and the Empty Tomb I have previously posted about how the prominence given by the Gospels to women witnesses to the empty tomb and resurrection appearances of Jesus counts towards their credibility. More recently, I noted evidence that this was not a mere academic concern, because Origen defends the resurrection against just such charges brought by the pagan philosopher Celsus. In his response to J.P. Holdings’ article, “ The Impossible Faith ," Richard Carrier argues that Celsus made no such charge (you can read Holding's preliminary reply to Carrier, here ): For example, the oft-cited passage from Origen, Contra Celsum 2.59-60, does not show Celsus objecting to Mary's testimony because she was a woman, but because she was not of sound mind, hence Celsus dismisses the testimony of Thomas and Peter on exactly the same grounds. So Carrier says that gender was irrelevant to Celsus’ attack on the resurrection accounts. This contention is absu...

N.T. Wright v. J.D. Crossan: The Resurrection of Jesus I was fortunate enough to have lunch with Dr. William L. Craig this afternoon. Great guy. He mentioned an exciting upcoming forum . The New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is hosting the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum. The forum highlights a debate between N.T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God , and J.D. Crossan, The Historical Jesus . It's being called, " The Resurrection - Historical Event or Theological Interpretation? " Two more distinguished scholars, especially on this subject, would be hard to find. But they found others that are at least as distinguished and invited them too. The forum will also include commentary by William L. Craig, Gary Habermas, Craig Evans, Alan Segal, R. Douglas Geivett, and Ted Peters. It is being held March 11-12, 2005. I am looking into attending. So far my schedule looks open.

A Great Quote Something to ponder. This quote was in my morning paper from Joseph Casey who found the decision by KNME to refuse to air "Unlocking the Mystery of Life" to be disappointing. "Nothing will keep man in everlasting ignorance longer than contempt prior to investigation." Anyone know who said it? I'd love to give credit where due.