News to Note, January 14, 2012

1. The Story of Us

“Mankind the Story of All of Us” likely to be more “story” than “history.”

2. Cold Edits

Why the octopus doesn’t have to come in from the cold

3. Super-Sized Ants

Supersoldier ants said to “illuminate evolutionary processes”

4. Clock in the Rock

Rockin’ around the clock’s assumptions

5. Molecular Time-Travel

“Molecular machine’s evolutionary trajectory”1 is an imaginary marvel.

And Don’t Miss . . .

• The Smithsonian Magazine announces Evotourism, a travel-information service to “help you find and fully enjoy the wonders of evolution.” It promises to direct people to “discoveries that figure in the science of evolution” and offers “eye-opening evidence of the process of natural selection.” This promise blurs the distinction between observable variation within created kinds mediated through natural selection and other processes—completely consistent with God’s revelation that He created kinds of organisms to reproduce after their kinds—and the unbiblical, unobservable evolution of one kind of organism into another. The site provides “videos and photographs to make the [evolutionary interpretation of] findings clear.” But since it is important to learn to discern between observable facts and worldview-based interpretations, we recommend you bring along your Bible, a set of The New Answers Books, and perhaps a copy of our Museum Guide! And don’t forget to use your web access to locate the Creation Destinations described on this website. God’s Creation is full of wonders in spite of sin’s curse. Many beautiful places formed in the aftermath of the global Flood. We should apply God's Word to what we see wherever we go. Even “secular propaganda can easily be turned into learning opportunities, as we learn to separate truth from error. With some preparation, you and your family can enjoy a purpose-filled vacation as you gain a better appreciation for the Creator who made all things.”2
• The Alliance Defence Fund has filed a lawsuit against the University of Louisiana–Lafayette on behalf of the renowned linguist Dr. John Oller. Dr. Oller, a tenured professor internationally recognized for his expertise on communicative disorders, autism, and linguistics, has since 1981 openly argued that “linguistic and genetic complexities cannot happen by chance.” Since 2005, his university colleagues have reportedly mocked and criticized his views, censored his textbooks, and removed him from all teaching positions in the department. One of his colleagues allegedly wrote to a student, “Personally, I have found him (Oller) to be quite uninformed and biased in his ideas. Remember, as someone told you, he is also someone who believes in Creationism, in the fact that the world is only several thousand years old and in the inerrant truth of every word of the Bible.” The complaint in Oller v. Roussel asserts “the university penalized Oller for his speech and denied him opportunities to instruct students and share the content of his scholarship, in violation of the First Amendment, the university’s own Academic Freedom Policy, and its rules governing faculty assignments.” While we watch the outcome of this case and pray that Dr. Oller’s academic freedom will triumph, we should also look at ourselves and be sure those who know us could bestow on us the “compliment” Dr. Oller’s hostile colleague apparently wrote of him—that we believe in Creation, a world only 6,000 years old, and the inerrancy of God’s Word. Read more at Ken Ham’s Blog.
• Lifeway’s survey of 1000 American Protestant pastors hit the press this week. Despite finding “Pastors overwhelmingly believe that God did not use evolution to create humans and think Adam and Eve were literal people,” the study reveals many of these same pastors do not understand the contradiction between their belief in millions of years and trust in God’s Word. “Earth's age is the only issue in this survey on which pastors are almost evenly divided,” LifeWay Research president Ed Stetzer said. “But to many of the pastors, belief in an older earth is not the same as belief in evolution. Many pastors who believe God created humans in their present form also believe that the earth is older than 6,000 years.” Yet Dr. Georgia Purdom comments, “People still don’t get the connection between millions of years and evolution and inconsistency when it comes to biblical authority.” As research by Dr. Terry Mortenson makes clear, belief in uniformitarian geology and millions of years entered Christendom not as a result of scientific discoveries but as a reinterpretation of history expressly rejecting the history recorded in God’s Word.3 Thus, when pastors accept a literal Adam and Eve and reject evolutionary ideas but accept the idea the earth is millions of years old, they are still compromising Scripture and refusing to take God at His Word. Read more on this issue at Ken Ham’s blog.