What I Read Online – 08/30/2012 (a.m.)

• Bill Nye the Anti-Science Guy | Proslogion

  • He recently made a short video that has become extremely popular (the one posted above). It’s gotten more than 2,000,000 Youtube hits, and I have seen it all over Facebook and my E-MAIL inbox. When I watched the video, my first thought was, “How can someone who knows so much science be so confused as to what science is all about?” As I continued to watch the video, I wondered “How can someone who knows so much science be so misinformed when it comes to creationism?”
  • The fact is that those who go against the scientific consensus are often the ones who are responsible for propelling science forward, or at least correcting false notions that had been promulgated by science. To tell people to stop going against the scientific consensus, then, is one of the most unscientific things you can do.
  • I don’t know whether or not Mr. Nye has ever left the United States, but if he has, he must have been very selective about where he went, because denial of evolution is worldwide.
  • Of course, that is also false. There are scientists doing scientific research every day who are creationists. There is an even longer list of scientists who are not necessarily creationists but who have doubts that evolution is the end of the story when it comes to origins. These scientists clearly believe in science, but they are not 100% behind evolution.
  • The fact is, however, that students who have been taught young-earth creationism excel in their advanced studies of biology (see here, here, and here, for example). The idea that these students could excel in their advanced biological studies while missing out on the fundamental idea in biology is just nonsense.
  • If that’s really the case, then why worry? If there is no evidence for anti-evolutionism, and if it won’t exist in a couple of centuries, why all the fuss? Scientists believed in spontaneous generation for 2,000 years or so, and science progressed quite nicely over the same timeframe. If there are only going to be a mere 200 years before all of us anti-evolutionist nutjobs are gone, why worry? Why implore parents to keep their children in the dark when it comes to the serious scientific flaws with evolution? Why censor students? Why not encourage the debate so that the weakness in the anti-evolution side can be shown?

• New Zealand Parliament – How a bill becomes law

  • How a bill becomes law

     

    There are several stages that a bill passes before becoming an Act of Parliament. These stages ensure that a bill is subject to public debate and scrutiny. Some of these stages also provide an opportunity for a bill to be changed.

     

    • Introduction
    • First reading
    • Select committee
    • Second reading
    • Committee of the whole House
    • Third reading
    • Royal assent.

     

    The term ‘reading’ dates from the time when bills were read aloud in the House of Commons in Great Britain. Only the title is read aloud in the New Zealand House of Representatives.

• How Important is Complementarianism? A Response to Carl Trueman | Denny Burk

• A Message That Might Save Your Marriage – Justin Taylor

• The Anti-Conan – Reformation21 Blog

• AlbertMohler.com – Atheists in the Pulpit — The Sad Charade of the Clergy Project

• The Rise of New Calvinism, the Internet, and Two Other Factors – Justin Taylor

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.