One does not have to spend much time reading about intelligent design creationism (IDC) to come across the “Mount Rushmore” argument. IDC advocate William Dembski even begins an article with it as follows: Intelligent design begins with a seemingly innocuous question: Can objects, even if nothing is known about how they arose, exhibit features that …
Monthly Archive: September 2005
Sep 29 2005
It’s the Rael thing – 3
In two previous posts (here and here), I discussed how the Raelian theory of how life was far more comprehensive than that of intelligent design creationist theory. So all the arguments used by IDC (intelligent design creationist) advocates for inclusion of their theory in science curricula apply even more strongly to Raelian theory. Furthermore, while …
Sep 28 2005
It’s the Rael thing – 2
In an earlier post, I introduced the basic Raelian idea of how the various life forms on Earth were planted here after being created by the Elohim genetic engineers living on their distant planet. (See Robert T. Pennock’s excellent book Tower of Babel, pages 233-242.) The Raelians have a pretty comprehensive theory that in the …
Sep 27 2005
It’s the Rael thing
In earlier postings on the issue of so-called ‘intelligent design creationism’ (IDC) I said that supporters of IDC assert that methodological naturalism and the ability to make predictions, which are the characteristic features of scientific practice, should be abandoned and that what should be the deciding factor in evaluating competing theories is to see which …
Sep 26 2005
Justice as fairness and limits to religion
In response to an earlier posting, Jake took issue with my assertion that a secular society in which religion stayed in the private sphere was least likely to create friction amongst different religious beliefs. He invoked the first amendment to the US constitution to imply that it would be unconstitutional to prevent Christianity from the …
Sep 23 2005
The pledge of allegiance and political divides
I love history because when one looks into the historical roots of current events, one uncovers all kinds of interesting bits of information. This is true about the pledge issue. In addition to the (by now) well-known fact that the phrase “under God” was not part of the original pledge at all and was only …
Sep 22 2005
The Pledge of Allegiance back in the news
There seems to be no battles that the public and the media enjoy more than symbolic ones that have little or no effect on the actual lives of people. Among these are battles over the public display of the ten commandments, the burning of the flag, school prayer, and the inclusion of the words “under …
Sep 21 2005
When does “looting” become legal?
The events following Katrina have raised disturbing questions about what to do about “looting” in situations such as those. One grants that looting just for the sake of personal enrichment or to take advantage of another person’s weakness is wrong on both legal and moral grounds. But what about looting for survival? If people are …
Sep 20 2005
Why we should leave Iraq immediately
(Text of the talk prepared for the Camp Casey meeting held on Friday, September 9, 2005 at Church of the Savior, Lee Road, Cleveland Heights.) I suspect that most of us who are here are people who opposed the war on Iraq from the beginning. So I will not spend time making the argument that …
Sep 19 2005
Reflections on the Camp Casey event
Last Friday evening (September 9) I moderated the event where the traveling members from Camp Casey spoke. It was gratifying to see an overflow crowd at the event, suggesting that there is real concern that something has to be done about the stalemate that is now in Iraq. The main speakers at this event were …
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