News to Note, April 7, 2012

1. Transitional Tale Told by Toes

Transitional tale told by toes (and metatarsals) is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

2. Promethean Hypothesis from Cooking Fire

Promethean hypothesis picks up steam from residual cooking fire.

3. BioLogos Desires Compromise

BioLogos begs pastors to build their churches on a “BioLogos narrative” of compromise instead of the unchanging Word of God.

4. Are Animals as Smart as Some Say?

Are animals as smart as some say?

5. Popular Blogger and Cover Story of Newsweek

Popular blogger says of Jesus: “The cross itself was not the point.”

And Don’t Miss . . .

• The “15 More Places Every Kid Should See Before 15” has edited its data and published a final list of travel recommendations. Curiously, despite being a clear winner in terms of votes received,1 the Creation Museum does not appear on the Budget Travel list. The vote tally is still linked from the article, however, revealing 7656 votes with an astounding 2112 comments. When an interested museum supporter asked Budget Travel about this, the e-mailed reply explained, “The debate around the Creation Museum showed us that it was not something everyone would agree that every kid should see, and so did not fit the ‘universal appeal’ criterion for the final editorial list.” We are certainly aware many evolutionists fear exposing children to the sort of critical thinking encouraged by a visit to the Creation Museum. And while we never discourage parents from taking their children to museums such as the number two choice on Budget Travel’s list—The Field Museum of Chicago, home of “the biggest Tyrannosaurus rex fossil ever dug up”—we do suggest they go armed with a bucketful of discernment, perhaps including some background preparation with DVDs such as Buddy Davis’s A Jurassic Ark Mystery, Ken Ham’s DVD Dinosaurs, Genesis, and the Gospel, Dr. Tommy Mitchell’s Jurassic Prank: A Dinosaur Tale, and a copy of the Museum Guide to help sort fact from speculative fiction. For more information, see Forbid Them Not and Ken Ham’s blog: Australia-founded Travel Organization and Our Cincinnati Area.
• Battle rages as activists scramble “to scuttle a bill they say would gut science education in Tennessee by allowing public schools to cast doubt on widely-accepted scientific principles, including biological evolution and climate change.” As we explained last week,2 despite ranting by the ACLU, the NCSE, and other active acronyms accusing the bill’s sponsors of attempting “to introduce religious beliefs such as creationism or ‘intelligent design’ as science,” the bill specifies it “shall not be construed to promote any religious or non-religious doctrine.” Ironically, Larisa Desantis, organizer of a petition asking Governor Haslam for a veto, is convinced there is nothing controversial about “existing scientific theories” concerning these topics. Desantis says, “As a science teacher I would say there is no controversy over evolution or climate change in the scientific literature.” Odd. If there is no controversy, then what is all the fuss about? The ACLU’s published analysis of the legal climate surrounding these “non-controversial” topics certainly seems to recognize the “origins” controversy. The ACLU has confirmed that “scientific critiques” of “any explanation of life” (even evolution!) are legally discussable,3 so they seem to believe controversy exists and is legally fair game for discussion. Opponents prophesy Tennessee’s children will enter the dark ages of scientific illiteracy—an unlikely outcome of being taught to critically analyze information. Surely these voices for evolution don’t have so little faith in their own ideas that they think schoolchildren encouraged to examine them critically will, like the child seeing the emperor parade in the fable, notice there are some problems! Read more about it—including Louisiana’s experience since passing a similar bill-- in To Teach What Needs to be Taught. Also, check the accuracy of what you’re now also hearing about the Scopes trial, which took place in Tennessee in 1925, by reading our ARJ review Inherit the Wind.