Re: God made pre-humans into people, Vatican newspaper says

Minun olisi pitänyt tietää, olisi pitänyt tietää,
olisi pitänyt tietää KUKA SINÄ OLET, chris thompson:
On May 9, 8:26 pm, r norman <r_s_norman@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Fri, 09 May 2008 18:48:07 -0500, rich hammett

<bubbaric...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Minun olisi pitänyt tietää, olisi pitänyt tietää,
olisi pitänyt tietää KUKA SINÄ OLET, Vend:
Scientific mormon? What is that?

At least the entire biology department at BYU.

It might sound like a funny joke but the fact is that Brigham Young
University has a very good and very traditional biology department
that teaches good hard science, just like every other major
university.

For example, here is their course description for evolution:

Biol 420. Evolutionary Biology. (2:2:0) F, W, Sp Prerequisite: Biol
240, 340. (Molecular Biology and Genetics)
Intensive examination of evolution as the conceptual cornerstone of
biology.

Biol 421. Evolutionary Biology Laboratory. (1:0:3) F, W, Sp
Prerequisite: Biol 240, 340; Biol 420 or concurrent enrollment.
Methodology and evidence used in evolutionary biology: comparative
anatomy, DNA and protein techniques, radiometric and non-radiometric
dating, fossil data, etc.

Nothing to laugh at here, folks.

I have no issue with BYU-- they have an excellent reputation. But I am
not sure if I would agree that this is the "scientific Mormon"
position. The scientists there take the scientific position, to be
sure, but I think the official Mormon position is at least in the gray
zone.

By coincidence, I got this in my e-mail today:

Intelligent Design fails as a pretense to science that tries to set religion
and evolution at odds
By Steven L. Peck
Article Last Updated: 05/09/2008 11:06:03 PM MDT
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_9213639

The movie "Expelled" is, once again, unfortunately bringing to the
foreground the creationist flanking maneuver of so-called Intelligent
Design.
First, I want to be clear where I'm coming from. I am a biology
professor and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I
take particular delight in being raised a Mormon who was taught that
education and knowledge are among our highest ideals.
Many are surprised to find that I am also an evolutionary biologist. I
am also a member of the Society for the Study of Evolution, the United
States' leading evolutionary science organization, and have published papers
in its journal Evolution. I have published numerous scientific papers on the
topic of evolution and believe that it is the best explanation for the
diversity of life we see around us.
Evolution is at the heart of the biological revolution that has
transformed everything from genetics, and medicine, to drug discovery and
managing antibiotic resistance. As the great 20th century biologist
Dobzhansky said, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of
evolution."
As a biologist, I could not agree more. BYU has a number of faithful
evolutionary biologists and evolutionary science is taught at Brigham Young
University just as it is at any other accredited university. Intelligent
Design has no place in BYU's science curriculum.
Let me be blunt. I find nothing of value in Intelligent Design for both
scientific and religious reasons. Intelligent Design posits that
evolutionary theory cannot explain the origin of biological complexity. This
is nonsense. Evolution is the best explanation for complexity. The purveyors
of Intelligent Design argue that complex structures like the eye cannot be
explained by bouts of mutation and selection; they call this irreproducible
complexity. However, the truth is the eye has been explained exactly in
those terms, by many evolutionary thinkers.
The argument is tantamount to saying that skyscrapers are impossible to
build because there is no crane large enough to construct one. In fact, the
crane was part of the building as it was raised and finally was dismantled
when no longer needed. In the evolutionary history of life, this happened
again and again. We see the remnants of these "cranes" all over the place.
The history of life is full of things being used and retooled, then lost. A
whale's leg being turned into flippers, for example.
My next complaint about the Intelligent Design fiasco is its pretence to
science. Exactly what makes it a science is not clear. It offers no testable
hypotheses. It has established no research program. The theory of evolution
has offered testable hypotheses that have been confirmed again and again.
The theory of evolution says that we should find certain things in the
fossil record, the genetic code of our genes, the distribution of plants and
animals on the earth. We find those things.
Do not be detracted by supposed missing transitional forms.
Fossilization is a rare process and we expect to find few transitional
forms. But consider the recent lovely fossils coming out of China detailing
the evolution of flight in birds from bird-like reptiles.
My last complaint about Intelligent Design is that it sets religion and
science against each other. It puts forward a false dichotomy in students'
minds that suggests that evolution and faith are incompatible. It makes
people of religious faith suspicious of science. When students genuinely
think that science and religion are incompatible, one of two things
typically happens. They embrace science and, since it is incompatible to
religion, religion is abandoned. The other is that they maintain their faith
but remain inappropriately suspicious of science and dismiss its methods and
findings, inclining themselves to superstition and pseudoscience.
I have to wonder if the reason science education in the U.S. is falling
behind that of other countries is because misinformed people of faith have
been dissing science to the point that many students are choosing other
paths.
Faith and science need not be enemies. I embrace both fully and without
reservation. My religious convictions are part of who I am. My science and
faith reciprocate and inform one another. They are part of the way I
understand my place in the universe.
Intelligent Design does nothing to promote the search for understanding
and cooperation between these two vital ways of knowing. It is a darkening
of the mind on every level, both religiously and scientifically. Please do
not let it be taught to my children as a science. It is bad for both
religion and science.

Faith and science need not be enemies. I embrace both fully and without
reservation. My religious convictions are part of who I am. My science and
faith reciprocate and inform one another. They are part of the way I
understand my place in the universe. Intelligent Design does nothing to
promote the search for understanding and cooperation between these two vital
ways of knowing.
--- * STEVEN L. PECK is an associate professor in the Department of Biology
at Brigham Young University. E-mail: steven peck@xxxxxxx

--
-to reply, it's hot not warm
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
\ Rich Hammett http://home.hiwaay.net/~rhammett
/ He always pictured himself a libertarian, which to my
\ way of thinking means ``I want the liberty to grow rich
/ and you can have the liberty to starve''. It's easy to
\ believe that no one should depend on society for help
/ when you yourself happen not to need such help.

.

Quantcast