The Sarah Palin Church Video

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With the return the Creationism to national politics brought by vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, the atheists have already jumped into the fray. Less than a week after her nomination, Richard Dawkins, atheist superstar par excellence and one of creationism’s most vocal critics, distributed a video of Palin titled: "US VP Candidate Sarah Palin Exposes Herself as a Religious Nut". Palin gave a commencement address at her old church in Alaska whose pastor claims “that the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq were part of a 'world war' over the Christian faith, one in which Jesus Christ had called upon believers to be willing to sacrifice their lives.”

Here are the unedited videos - you decide:

The Sarah Palin Church Video Part One



The Sarah Palin Church Video Part Two

Is Pope Benedict the American Pope?

Transcript of today's show:

Pope Benedict made his first papal visit to the US this April. Is this Pope an ally to creationists? Last year we reported on Vatican holy cards, praised by creationists, that declare that humans are not a casual and meaningless product of evolution. And yet, Time magazine portrays this new pontiff as celebrating America’s separation of church and state -- calling him the "American Pope".

[source: Time magazine]


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from an article published in April 2007 in the Daily Mail:

Pope Benedict has aired his views on evolution fo the first time - and says he partially believes Darwin's theories.

The Pontiff said science had narrowed the way life's origins are understood and said Christians should take a broader approach to the question.

However, he did not adopt a strictly scientific view of the origins if life, believing instead that God created life through evolution.

He said he "would not depend on faith alone to explain the whole picture".

As well as praising scientific progress, the Pope's views, published in a new book 'Schoepfung unt Evolution' (Creation and Evolution), did not endorse the creationist, or 'intelligent design' view of life's origins.

[read full story]

from a comment posted on the Daily Mail in response to the above article:

As we understand more and more about DNA, Scientists are proving that there is intelligent design behind the creation of human beings. Darwin's theory was exactly that, a theory, but because people choose not to believe in God or Creation, they have adopted his theory as fact.

Darwin's theory is increasingly becoming flawed with more and more medical and scientific evidence proving we are created by an intelligent design, although some Scientists won't tell you this truth, why, what are they afraid of?



quoted from Pope Benedict XVI:

Ultimately it comes down to the alternative: What came first? Creative Reason, the Creator Spirit who makes all things and gives them growth, or Unreason, which, lacking any meaning, strangely enough brings forth a mathematically ordered cosmos, as well as man and his reason. The latter, however, would then be nothing more than a chance result of evolution and thus, in the end, equally meaningless. As Christians, we say: I believe in God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in the Creator Spirit. We believe that at the beginning of everything is the eternal Word, with Reason and not Unreason. [more]

Judgment Day in Texas

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Like the PBS documentary about Intelligent Design, Judgment Day was equally harsh for Texas Child Protective Services. The Texas State Supreme Court upheld an appellate court’s ruling that the 450 girls forcibly removed from a Mormon cult in Texas be returned. The court ruled that the Fundamentalist Mormon’s polygamist and other sexual practices were protected by the separation of Church and State as set forth in the U.S. Constitution.

The order signed by Texas District Judge Barbara Walther, responding to a state Supreme Court ruling last week, allowed parents in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to pick up their children from foster care facilities around the state almost immediately.

In exchange for regaining custody, the parents are not allowed to leave Texas without court permission and must participate in parenting classes. They were also ordered not to interfere with any child abuse investigation and to allow the children to undergo psychiatric or medical exams if required.

However, it does not put restrictions on the children's fathers, or require parents to renounce polygamy or live away from the sect's Yearning For Zion Ranch in West Texas. "We're really grateful to get the order signed," said Willie Jessop, an FLDS elder.

The FLDS denies any abuse of the children. Church officials have always maintained that they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs. The FLDS, whose members believe polygamy earns glorification in heaven, is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

Walther's order does not end a separate criminal investigation. Texas authorities last week collected DNA from jailed FLDS leader Warren Jeffs as part of an investigation into underage sex with girls, ages 12 to 15. He has been convicted in Utah as an accomplice to rape and is jail in Arizona awaiting trial on separate charges.

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Is Pope Benedict a Creationist?

Transcript of today's show:

In our continuing coverage of Pope Benedict's US visit, the Holy Father has sent confusing signals about creationism and Catholicism. While the Pope and President Bush find common ground in opposing abortion and gay marriage, the Pope's new book ‘Creation and Evolution‘, does not endorse creationism or intelligent design. But this did not stop the Pontiff from firing his Chief Astronomer, Father George Coyne, for not supporting intelligent design.


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Pope Benedict, speaking recently to the Italian Ecclesial Congress:

"At the roots of being a Christian, there is no ethical decision or lofty idea, ... but a meeting with the person of Jesus Christ. The fruitfulness of this meeting is apparent ... also in today's human and cultural context, correlation between its structures and the structures of the universe ... excites our admiration and poses a great question. It implies that the universe itself is structured in an intelligent fashion, in such a way that there exists a profound correspondence between our subjective reason and the objective reason of nature. It is, then, inevitable that we should ask ourselves if there is not a single original intelligence that is the common source of both the one and the other."

Pope Benedict, in his book Creation and Evolution:

"Science has opened up large dimensions of reason...and thus brought us new insights. But in the joy at the extent of its discoveries, it tends to take away from us dimensions of reason that we still need. Its results lead to questions that go beyond its methodical canon and cannot be answered within it. The issue is reclaiming a dimension of reason we have lost."

What does a creationist, FedEx, and McCain’s search for a vice president have in common?

Transcript of today's show:

A secret list of 20 potential running mates was revealed by presidential hopeful John McCain today. Mike Huckabee, who wants to revise the U. S. Constitution to reflect more Biblical values, could help increase McCain's appeal among cultural conservatives. But McCain has repeatedly praised Frederick Smith, CEO of Federal Express, as an excellent VP choice from the business sector.

[source: Associated Press]

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Mike Huckabee, on the campaign trail in January:

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."


Video clip of CNN report on Huckabee's above comment

comment posted at One News Now:

McCain should remember that a Christian serves God first - and that alone accounts for McCain's perception that he's "his own man." In other words, he won't bow to popular opinion but will stand by the commands of Jesus. [see complete story]

The Discovery Institute accuses PBS of airing false facts

Transcript of today's show:

A day after PBS aired a documentary on the court trial that indicted intelligent design as "creationism in disguise", advocates of the theory are crying foul play. [See our previous show]. A report published on the web claims that the documentary contains at least ten blatant misrepresentations. The report, which offers detailed rebuttals to the false information, calls the film nothing more than "inaccurate propaganda".
[source: The Discovery Institute]

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from the blog WindowView Press:

Public Broadcasting (PBS) on November 13, 2007, aired their best shot at dogmatizing evolution in the name of countering the concept of Intelligent Design (ID). The television show is based on the Kitzmiller versus the Dover Board of Education trial that was concluded by the decision written by Judge Jones in 2005. The trial is over, the debate is just beginning. NOVA, in the episode entitled “Judgement Day - Intelligent Design On Trial” shows examples of evolution without critique, but in cases where examples of ID are illustrated, the show adds a negative or a rebuttal spin. As a scientist with a doctorate, as the author of this piece you are now reading, I’ve learned to be more the detective, more discerning, than what PBS has done with their programming. If I were to give ID a chance to be known for what it is, I’d engage in a more objective review. Which NOVA did not do … to the detriment of us all.... [more]

from Pharyngula, the blog of biologist PZ Myers:

[The Discovery Institute's rebuttal] misses the point of the program entirely. If you've seen it, think back. What was the story it told? It has two parts. First, it made the case that Intelligent Design is not science…. Second, it showed that Intelligent Design is religion in disguise…. These are the premises that were tested in the court case, and these were the ideas illustrated in the documentary. The Discovery Institute "rebuttal" doesn't even touch these issues; their objections don't address the thrust of the court decision, which was accurately portrayed. The story is very simple, and this is all we need to say: Intelligent Design is not science, and Intelligent Design is a religious idea. That's the message, and that's the decision of a major court case, and that's what the scientists have been saying for years. And now, in the desperate gasp of the creationists, they've failed to even touch these conclusions.

from the blog Uncommon Ground:

P.Z. Myers points out that the Discovery Institute has its predictable “rebuttal” of Judgment Day. Their eight-point rebuttal is, as he says, picking nits. But I think he's wrong about it missing the point of the program entirely.

Basically, the Discovery Institute's Center [for Science and Culture] was in the business of marketing--not research. It had a product to sell - intelligent design -- and was focused on doing whatever it could to sell that idea. (Conservatism's Unintelligent Design, Greg Anrig, Jr.)

The Discovery Institute's “rebuttal” isn't intended to rebut the arguments against intelligent design. It's intended to rebut arguments that they aren't very good at marketing. They aren't in the business of doing science. They're in the business of marketing, and they're trying to protect their business – ineffectively.... [more]

from a comment posted on the blog Darwinian Fundamentalism:

John Stuart Mill had some very good advice for evaluating arguments:

"He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side; if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion…. Nor is it enough that he should hear the arguments of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. This is not the way to do justice to the arguments, or bring them into real contact with his own mind. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them; who defend them in earnest, and do their very utmost for them. He must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form; he must feel the whole force of the difficulty which the true view of the subject has to encounter and dispose of, else he will never really possess himself of the portion of truth which meets and removes that difficulty. ... So essential is this discipline to a real understanding of moral and human subjects, that if opponents of all important truths do not exist, it is indispensable to imagine them and supply them with the strongest arguments which the most skillful devil's advocate can conjure up."

A church-state controversy erupts in New Jersey

Transcript of today's show:

In New Jersey, high school student Matthew LaClair [pictured left] secretly tape-recorded a teacher to prove that he was preaching a pro-Christian, anti-science message to students. The recording affirms this allegation, but reaction to it has been mixed. Defenders of the teacher cite his First Amendment freedom of expression. Others argue that the First Amendment does not allow teachers to promote their private religious convictions in the classroom. [source: New York Times]


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from The New York Times Opinion Page:

The vast majority of Americans deplore such proselytizing in public classrooms. But the truly disturbing aspect of all this, described earlier this month by Times reporter Tina Kelley, is not that one teacher so blatantly crossed the church-state boundary but that so few school officials and community residents seemed bothered by his behavior.

One teacher, who asked not to be named, said Mr. Paszkiewicz “had the right to say what he said, he was not preaching, and that’s something I’m very much against.” The school’s principal says action was taken against Mr. Paszkiewicz but won’t say what. At the same time, he describes Mr. Paszkiewicz as an “excellent teacher,” and says he remains in the classroom. And the town’s electronic bulletin board, KearnyOnTheWeb.com, contained many postings supporting the teacher.

The only reason anyone knows about Mr. Paskiewicz’s behavior is that one student, Matthew LaClair, 16, had the courage to speak up in September. Before doing so, he taped Mr. Paszkiewicz for eight classes because he feared officials would not believe him. He has since received one death threat, lost many friends, and says he can “feel the glares” when he goes to school.

Mathew’s father, Paul LaClair, a lawyer, says he is considering legal action unless the school corrects Mr. Paszkiewicz’ misstatements concerning science and straightens out the constitutional issues regarding separation of church and state for the entire student body.

In recent years, the divide between religion and the classroom has been narrowed as conservative courts have ruled in favor of tuition vouchers for religious schools, ruled that religion clubs can meet in public schools and allowed federal money to be spent on computers and other instructional equipment for parochial schools. But even groups like the Rutherford Institute, which provides legal help in religious freedom cases, says that Mr. Paszkiewicz appears to have crossed the line against outright preaching in the public schools.... [more]

from Blog from the Capital:

One of the reasons school boards have policies and the Department of Education has guidelines is to instruct teachers on how to conduct themselves properly and legally *without having to be prompted by a teenager.* If Paszkiewicz indeed said the things he's alleged to have said, they are inappropriate *even if no student in the class is discomforted.* Teachers may not simply do whatever they like so long as nobody complains. But when one does -- and especially as a minor -- he surely deserves the protection of the school and the school board in question from discrimination and harassment.... [more]

from The Lippard Blog:

The website KearnyontheWeb.com is an online forum for people in Kearny, New Jersey, where U.S. History teacher and Baptist youth pastor David Paszkiewicz has used his Kearny High School classroom (apparently for years) to evangelize students with his own brand of Christianity and conservative politics. I've already commented on how some Kearny High School students have made a poor case defending Paszkiewicz, now I'm afraid the adults of Kearny are no better.

The adults posting at KearnyontheWeb.com are noteworthy (just like the students) for a complete failure to address the issues raised by Paszkiewicz's actions--they ignore the content of what he's been teaching, they ignore the fact that he lied about what he had done until confronted with the recordings, and they ignore the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Instead, they accuse Matthew LaClair of having set the teacher up, invent new "crimes" like "premeditated entrapment" that they accuse LaClair of having committed by recording the class, and say that he should have been suspended, expelled, or jailed for creating this issue and "embarrassing the town." They say that LaClair, by protesting the Bush administration by refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, "practically spits on our 'Pledge of Allegiance'" and "is free to leave this country if he does not agree with what we stand for!" They claim that Paszkiewicz is "the best teacher to hit town in years" and "A PROUD AMERICAN [who] IS 100% RIGHT!"... [more]

from the Crime & Federalism blog:

Matthew LeClair, a junior at the school, taped the classes, for fear no one would believe what he and his classmates were hearing. The school board is not saying what it has done in response to the teacher's proselytizing, but it does say it has "corrected" the teacher. The student has received at least one death threat. The boy's father is a lawyer, and some townspeople think that the teacher was baited into turning the lectern into a pulpit.

It is one thing to explain the role that religious belief has played in the behavior of the American people. The Great Awakening, for example, had vast social and political consequences. It is quite another thing to try to create an awakening of one's own in a high school history class.

The next time someone does a story about what's wrong with American education, I suggest the situation in Kearney be studied. When we start talking about dinosaurs in an advanced placement course on the Constitution, we're in deep, deep trouble.... [more]

Brits protest eccentric millionaire for pushing Creationism in his privately funded schools

Transcript of today's story:
Protests were held recently outside the office of Sir Peter Vardy, a British multimillionaire who has funded several state schools and colleges accused of promoting creationism in their curriculum. The protests are a reaction to a new Vardy school, the All Age Academy, where students as young as four years old would be taught creation theory. British parents are outraged. Sir Vardy shows no sign of changing his plans. [source: The Guardian]

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Sound Off: Science & Faith. Our point/counterpoint regulars Shelley (the voice of science) and Peter (the voice of faith), comment on the story.

The Voice of Science: Shelley Greene, Ph.D., comments:
Which is it Mr. Vardy? Are you funding creationism or not? Plenty of reports reveal that he is denying altogether that his schools include creationism in their cirricula. Politaholic dishes up some news on this on his blog, summing it up thusly:

Peter Vardy was on Radio 4 this morning. He denied that creationism was being taught in any of the schools he has funded. They are not, he said, teaching anything "wild and wacky". He said that he believes in "a creator God" but denied that he is a creationist in the commonly understood sense of the word. But in the past the Guardian has reported that Emmanuel College at Gateshead has hosted a creationist conference and that "senior staff have given a series of lectures at the college urging teachers to promote biblical fundamentalism and giving tips and techniques making pupils doubt the theory of evolution."

Read the full blog post here, and a story by the British Humanist Association here.

The Voice of Faith: Peter Williamson, M.Div., comments:
Why are british parents outraged? Sir Peter is funding a private, parochial school. Attendance at such schools is optional. The appropriate protest on parents' parts is to put their children into a school whose cirriculum is more compatible with the family's values. Sir Peter is doing nothing out of the ordinary in having a hand in what is taught in his schools and what is not. When a college endowment is received, it's always accepted that the funding entity has a great deal of influence upon what is being funded.

The US Department of Education makes a quick come back

Transcript of today's show:

Here is a follow-up to a recent story we aired. After being accused of discriminating against evolutionary biology students by excluding them from a science grant program, the Department of Education quickly back-pedaled. They claimed that the omission was an inadvertent typographic error and immediately issued a revised list. The new list now includes evolutionary biology, which once again, takes its place as a legitimate subfield of science. source: US Department of Education

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Sound Off: Science & Faith. Our point/counterpoint regulars Shelley (the voice of science) and Peter (the voice of faith), comment on the story.

The Voice of Science: Shelley Greene, Ph.D., comments:
It's been said that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Even though the Department of Ed. quickly made a correction, I still suspect a testing of the “creationist waters” with this kind of foolishness. I remain convinced that the omission was intentional, and the Department of Ed tried to sneak it by under the radar. Fortunately, we do have functional radar systems, paying attention to potential shenanigans. Gotta watch these guys. This is an Administration, after all, that saw fit to arm the hero of Desert Storm with hand-drawn representations of Iraqi WMD installations to the United Nations to make the case for war. Why the drawings when satellite surveillance is so good I can see my house and mailbox in Weather.com's satellite imagery?

The Voice of Faith: Peter Williamson, M.Div., comments:
This speculative blame of the Department of Education' motives in this matter is as politically motivated as the purported wrongdoing itself. I sense a degree of desperation on the part of those who are so eager to exaggerate and possibly, completely fabricate, the intentions of the Department and administration. The error has been corrected, promptly and with grace. Let us be appreciative and let lie the need to blame.

Christian clergy: leave science to the scientist and religion to the churches

Transcript of today's show:

Over 10,000 Christian church leaders have signed a letter that rejects the evangelical notions that Christians must choose between religion and science. On Sunday, February 11, one day before Charles Darwin's birthday, churches across the US participated in Evolution Sunday, celebrating that the Bible and evolution theory can co-exist. Advocates of Intelligent Design theory claim that Evolution Sunday is the height of hypocrisy. Evolution Sunday simply declares that science remain science and religion remain religion, different but compatible forms of truth. [source: The Clergy Letter Project]

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Sound Off: Science & Faith. Our point/counterpoint regulars Shelley (the voice of science) and Peter (the voice of faith), comment on the story.

The Voice of Science: Shelley Greene, Ph.D., comments:
Evolution Sunday is in fact a celebration of the separation of church and state. It is encouraging to see such a large number of Christians willing to think for themselves, and to embrace the idea of inclusion in place of fundamentalist 'either/or' thinking. Is there not room in God's vast creation for Darwin theory to exist?

The Voice of Faith: Peter Williamson, M.Div., comments:
Frankly, I am appalled and outraged to learn of this letter being passed around and signed so carelessly by Christians. This amounts to a flat-out rejection of the Word of the Bible. Are these Christians jumping on a liberal bandwagon or simply lacking the courage to voice and live by their convictions?

Russia defends evolution

Transcript of today's show:

A district court in Russia has thrown out a lawsuit brought last year by a teenage student who claimed her rights were violated by her school’s mandatory teaching of evolution. The lawsuit took a heavy toll on Maria Shraiber, whose grades plummeted due to pressure from anonymous death threats and clashes with teachers. Earlier this year, she fled Russia for the Dominican Republic and is not likely to return before resolution of the suit, which her father promises to appeal. [source: MosNews.com]

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Sound Off: Science & Faith. Our point/counterpoint regulars Shelley (the voice of science) and Peter (the voice of faith), comment on the story.

The Voice of Science: Shelley Greene, Ph.D., comments:
I’m personally embarrassed that a former dictatorial state is more clear-headed about evolution than we here in the US. So solid and respected are scientific truths in Russia, that as I read this story, I found myself rooting for Maria as a voice of dissent, something that is becoming increasingly difficult in the Putin era.

The Voice of Faith: Peter Williamson, M.Div., comments:
Contrary to ideas we may have had, post-Soviet Union Russia has not offered religious freedom to its people. This story is a grim reminder that the old apparatchiks still control religious expression and will not tolerate dissenting points of view. The Russian Orthodox Church is one the oldest and most established Christian Orthodoxies in the world, yet they are powerless against the secularists who hold judicial power and the courts themselves. This summary dismissal is shameful. Young Miss Shraiber was denied the justice every human being deserves, and the cold, callous injustice system of Russia has left her life in shambles.