News to Note, February 9, 2013

1. How Can We Say a Feathery Dinosaur is a Bird?

How can we say it’s a bird?

2. Carbon-dating Neanderthals in Spain Overturns Long-held Beliefs

Carbon-dating of Neanderthals in Spain overturns long-held beliefs.

3. Could a Sudsy Pond Bring Forth Life?

Could a sudsy pond bring forth life?

4. New Solar Cell: Evolutionary Advancement or Intelligent Design?

New solar cell design touted as a product of evolutionary understanding.

5. Clergy Letter Project Founder Misrepresents Creationists

Clergy Letter Project founder inaugurates his “no name-calling” policy by misrepresenting creationists.

And Don’t Miss . . .

• The Boy Scouts of America, under pressure from gay rights activists and President Obama, has been reconsidering its position banning homosexuals from being scouts or scout leaders. On Wednesday, under a storm of protest from those opposed to lifting the ban, the organization decided to delay its decision until May. Scouts pledge to be “morally straight.” And over two-thirds of scout troops are affiliated with religious organizations. Many anticipate that if the ban is eventually lifted, there will be a mass exodus of members as many of those affiliated with churches seek alternative youth organizations. And the problem with lifting the ban is not only the obvious issue of allowing pro-homosexual factions to redefine morality. Many favor keeping the ban as a common sense protection designed to create the safest possible environment for children. The United States Supreme Court has already, in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000), affirmed the right of private organizations like the Boy Scouts to exclude those whose views conflict with the organization’s message. What is ultimately at issue, however, is biblical truth, the basis of true morality. Read more about this clash of worldviews in Steve Golden’s in-depth analysis at Will the Boy Scouts Move Their Tents Toward Sodom? and in Ken Ham’s blog.
• Are our bodies poorly designed? Have you heard that you have evolutionary leftovers that you’d be better off without? Well don’t let this week’s article in the UK’s Daily Mail full of such claims make you wish for a refurbishment just yet! Body parts you’ve heard maligned (and some you probably don’t even know you have) do a lot more for you than you may realize. Get the scoop on them and learn a little more about the wonderful way God designed the human body in yesterday’s lead AiG article, “Organ Recital: A Parade of Presumed Design Flaws Devoid of Truth.”
• Yesterday’s February 8th edition of the journal Science1 published a study intended to identify the ultimate mammalian ancestor, as the New York Times reports, in a front-page above-the-fold article, “Rat-Size Ancestor Said to Link Man and Beast” In essence, Maureen O’Leary’s research team analyzed a computer database of anatomical features in living and fossilized mammals. From it they manufactured “a hypothetical placental ancestor.”2 They even published pictures of the reconstructed beastie. This is surely evolutionary forensics at its imaginative best. The researchers have given us a picture of what they think a mammalian ancestor would have looked like if molecules-to-man evolution had really happened. But it didn’t. And there is no objective testable scientific support for the evolutionary scenario that the researchers are attempting to analyze. The biblical record and observable biology agree that animals really do reproduce after their kinds and do not evolve into new more complex kinds. Watch this website next week to learn more about their findings and their conclusions.