News to Note, January 7, 2012

1. Shark Hybrids

“Evolution in action”

2. Tiptoes and Trunks

The “sixth” key to a balanced view of foot evolution . . . or design!

3. Sweet Food For Thought

Honey-the fuel for hominid evolution?

4. Dino-wacky

Just subtract switches.

5. Embryos or Spores?

Barking up the wrong multicellular tree

6. Warp Factor Evolution, Lieutenant

Bulletin: salmon evolve at warp speed . . . into salmon!

And Don’t Miss . . .

• Remember the deadline for submission of extended abstracts for the 2013 International Conference on Creationism is January 31, 2012. The ICC has contributed peer-reviewed material to develop creationist models in a number of areas. The Seventh International Conference on Creationism (ICC) will meet in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on August 4–7, 2013. The theme will be “Developing and Systematizing the Creation Model of Origins.” Read more about the requirements to submit a paper at News to Note, December 31, 2011: Year in Review and see the Official 2013 ICC Web Site at www.creationicc.org for more details. We join the sponsors, Creation Science Fellowship, Inc., in encouraging creation scientists to be part of this event.

• “The central question of the culture wars . . . is . . . whether the Enlightenment was a good thing.” So writes Molly Worthen, a teacher of religious history, in a book review for the New York Times. Quoting liberally from The Anointed—even echoing some of its factual errors—Worthen credits The Anointed’s authors with carefully avoiding “monolithic stereotypes” but refers to “ersatz ‘experts’” like “the most influential expert in their pantheon, James Dobson,” who depends on “anointing power of the evangelicals who buy his best-selling books on child-rearing” as well as “lightweights” and “self-styled experts like Ham [Answers in Genesis president Ken Ham].” And like The Anointed, Worthen adds to the stereotype by saying these “amateur experts . . . often style themselves ‘Doctors’ (usually on the basis of a dubious honorary degree).” This blatant stereotype conveniently ignores the facts—like the fact that Ken Ham, while possessing the Australian equivalent of a master’s degree in addition to 35 years of additional study and experience, never “styles” himself “Doctor,” despite the honorary doctorates he has received. Furthermore, Answers in Genesis has a number of full-time and adjunct staff with earned doctoral degrees in a number of disciplines. Despite the accusation that some biblical young-earth creationists rely on “a knack for finding evidence in today’s headlines rather than in the record of the past,” the sign in the photo selected (taken from AiG’s Creation Museum) to illustrate Worthen’s Times’ review speaks the real truth: “God’s Word is the key to the past, present, and future.” Yet Worthen puzzles, “Why would anyone heed ersatz “experts” over trained authorities far more qualified to comment on the origins of life?” We counter with another question: Why would any Christian—understanding he is a fallible human being—think any human being is “more qualified to comment on the origins of life” than the omniscient Creator of the universe and Savior of man?

  For more information see Exposing The Anointed.