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SECTIONS

Critique of Intelligent Design

Evolution vs. Creationism

The Art of ID Stuntmen

Faith vs Reason

Anthropic Principle

Autopsy of the Bible code

Science and Religion

Historical Notes

Counter-Apologetics

Serious Notions with a Smile

Miscellaneous

Letter Serial Correlation

Mark Perakh's Web Site

The Art of ID Stuntmen

More on Signature in the Cell
 
In the continuation of his critical review of S. Meyer's opus Signature in the Cell, Professor Shallit shows that Meyer, as is typical of Discovery institute pseudo-scientists and quasi-philosophers, does not shy away from direct falsehoods and misrepresentations of facts, along with a shameless praise for the convincingly refuted output by Dembski, Wells and other Discovery institute's "luminaries."
author(s):
Shallit, Jeffrey ;
published: Jan 20, 2010


Steve Fuller shows us what he's made of
 
With a deep feeling of sorrow Talk Reason has learned about the death of a prominent mathematician, professor at Rutgers University, and contributor to Talk Reason, Norman Jay Levitt, zichrono levrakha. In this post Nick Matzke writes about the despicable malicious attack upon the memory of Levitt by one Steve Fuller, whose efforts to undermine genuine science were so eloquently debunked by Norman Levitt.
author(s):
Matzke, Nicholas ;
published: Oct 29, 2009


The Roots of ID
 
John Lynch shows how the Discovery Institute misrepresents the history of the "intelligent design" toolbox. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Lynch, John ;
published: Jun 02, 2009


A few more words about a creationist's Review of WIDF Anthology
 
A review by an ID advocate of the WIDF anthology is an example of how ID proponents pretend that their dreams are reality.
author(s):
Perakh, Mark;
published: Feb 22, 2009


Berlinski and the windmill
 
University professor Paul Gross reviews an anti-science opus by the notorious pro-ID advocate David Berlinski.
author(s):
Gross, Paul R. ;
published: Nov 11, 2008


IDists are from Mars...
 
One more example of ID creationists' ridiculous misinterpretation of plain facts, this time related to the views of the co-author (independent of Darwin) of the natural selection theory, Alfred Russell Wallace.
author(s):
Matzke, Nicholas ;
published: Nov 06, 2008


Zombie Jamboree in Texas
 
Glenn Branch of the National Center for Science Education writes about creationists in Texas plotting to undermine science education in public schools.(Off-site link.)
author(s):
Branch, Glenn ;
published: Oct 30, 2008


Von Neumann, Berlinski, and evolution
 
Professor Theobald addresses, in this post, a quote-mining effort by David Berlinski, who brazenly misrepresented the views of the famous American scientist of Jewish-Hungarian descent, John von Neumann, regarding the latter's view of evolution. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Theobald, Douglas L. ;
published: Aug 24, 2008


Luskin has lost it (on Altenberg)
 
Nick Matzke, quoting the unmistakable factual evidence, repudiates the outrageously mendacious and hopelessly ignorant utterances by the notorious ID fanatic Casey Luskin who abjectly distorted the events at the "Altenberg 16" meeting in Austria, trying falsely present them as allegedly testifying to a non-existent "crisis in evolution theory." Discussion of this post can be seen at the Panda's Thumb blog, dated July 16, 2008.
author(s):
Matzke, Nicholas ;
published: Jul 20, 2008


Missing The Wrist
 
The renowned science writer Carl Zimmer reveals the egregious ignorance of Casey Luskin, the notorious ID advocate, who in his usual manner tried to cast shadow on one of the recent high-quality research data regarding the "links" between fish and tetrapods as evidenced by new finds of fossils. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Zimmer, Carl;
published: Jul 17, 2008


Patsy Jindal
 
The conservative writer John Derbyshire addresses the recent signing by Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal (widely viewed as a possible vice-presidential candidate on John McCain's ticket) of a crypto-creationist bill promoted by the Discovery Institute's propaganda machine. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Derbyshire, John ;
published: Jul 11, 2008


Dueling Blurbs: Collins vs. Coulter
 
Richard Hoppe reveals the emptiness of William Dembski's endless stream of publications, each new one showing the ever decreasing level of substance, and obvious delusion of his acolytes and admirers, like the notorious ignoramus Anne Coulter, who now compares Dembski to a renowned football player; this comparison is perhaps a proper evaluation of Dembski's acclaimed intelligence as being on the level of a football player's feet.
author(s):
Hoppe, Richard B. ;
published: Jun 15, 2008


Science Equals Murder
 
John Derbyshire quotes Ben Stein. This amazing utterance from the host of the pseudo-documentary Expelled! requires no commentaries; it speaks for itself. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Derbyshire, John ;
published: May 03, 2008


A Blood Libel on Our Civilization
 
The conservative writer John Derbyshire critically reviews the pseudo-documentary Expelled! No Intelligence Allowed, specifically discussing the role played by the comedian Ben Stein. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Derbyshire, John ;
published: Apr 28, 2008


Expelled bombs after its enthusiastic debut in Ames, Iowa
 
The Discovery Institute has written a glowing account of the debut of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed in Ames, Iowa, the home of Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez, the pro-ID astronomer at Iowa State University. Prof. Hector Avalos, also of Iowa State University, tells a different story based on his eyewitness account, and it does not bode well for Expelled nationwide.
author(s):
Avalos, Hector;
published: Apr 22, 2008


Look, ma! I can quote-mine historians too!
 
In the absence of evidence or solid logical arguments, Creationists have long resorted to the strategy of quote-mining, the purposeful misrepresentation of scientists' opinions by selective or distorted quotation of their words, to buttress their claims. With the Creationists behind the movie Expelled hard at work to demonstrate that "Darwinism" was a necessary pre-condition for the Holocaust and Hitler's primary inspiration, it was only a matter of time before historians suffered the same fate. Enter David Klinghoffer, the Discovery Institute's hired hit-pen and journalistic hatchet job expert.
author(s):
Bottaro, Andrea;
published: Apr 17, 2008


Expelled Exposed
 
A detailed analysis of the fallacies and distortions of truth in the pseudo-documentary movie Expelled! A must read for everybody interested in finding out the facts and how they are twisted in Ben Stein's claims. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Expelled, Exposed;
published: Apr 16, 2008


Expelled: Now with added anti-Semitism
 
Ironically, among the "anti-Darwinists" featured in some way in Ben Stein's pseudo-documentary "Expelled!" there is a rabid anti-Darwinian anti-Semite from Poland. Ben Stein does not seem to mind. What a sight: Ben Stein embracing an anti-Semite because the latter also happens to be anti-evolutionist. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Lynch, John ;
published: Apr 13, 2008


Ben Stein: Front Man for Creationism's Manufactroversy
 
The "Expelled" pseudo-documentary featuring Ben Stein is compared to the Big Tobacco propaganda denying the detrimental effect of smoking upon human health. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Tarico, Valerie ;
published: Apr 13, 2008


Expelled producers accused of copyright infringement
 
The creators of the severely criticized anti-evolution "Expelled" film are accused of plagiarism; the copyright holders threaten the company that produced the propaganda piece in question (featuring comedian Ben Stein) with legal actions. Remembering how Dembski recently similarly plagiarized a Harvard-issued video for his paid lectures, as discussed on the ERV blog and elsewhere, there seems to be a consistent pattern of behavior of creationists in pursuing their propagandistic agenda. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
NCSE, Staff;
published: Apr 10, 2008


Lying for Jesus?
 
Professor Dawkins tells the factual story, based on his first-hand experience, about the infamous expulsion of Professor Myers from the screening of the piece of mendacious propaganda - the film "Expelled," and about the film itself, which, in his view, is a boring and inept production by talentless and less than honest religious fanatics. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Dawkins, Richard;
published: Mar 25, 2008


Expelled!
 
This post speaks for itself without an explanatory blurb. A vivid demonstration of the unbounded hypocrisy of creationist filmmakers and a hilarious story to boot.
author(s):
Myers , PZ ;
published: Mar 21, 2008


El Pais: Lo que Darwin no sabía"What Darwin Didn't Know"
 
The ID advocates are busy trying to spread their mendacious propaganda beyond the USA. In particular, they recently organized an expedition to Spain. Now they brag that their expedition was a great success. Unfortunately for them, the facts rather testify to the inglorious failure of their effort, as follows from the publications in the Spanish press surveyed by Pim van Meurs in this post.
author(s):
van Meurs, Pim;
published: Mar 13, 2008


Flunked, Not Expelled: Gaming the Movie Ratings
 
Speaking of brazen antics, Glen Davidson over on the AtBC forum blew the whistle by posting the "Expelled Challenge" FAQ. Apparently, these folks are running scared that their project will be little more than one step up from "direct to video" projects, and are coordinating mass attendance of students and their parents from literalist-Christian schools. They are providing what amounts to a kickback to school administrators for movie ticket stubs from attendees who go to the "Expelled" movie during its first two weeks in the local theater. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Elsberry, Wesley R.;
published: Jan 16, 2008


Dembski's and Wells's shenanigans: Just a reminder
 
As soon as the new book by Dembski and Wells was released, the Discovery Institute's propaganda machine orchestrated a stream of 5-star reviews of that book on the Amazon website. In this post readers are reminded of insidious shenanigans used previously by Dembski and Wells in their hysterical fight against their detractors, so that the 5-star reviews in question deserve to be ignored as shameless propaganda by the fanatical anti-science gang.
author(s):
Perakh, Mark;
published: Dec 26, 2007


The DI and the smoking gun that wasn't
 
Dr. Hector Avalos, who has first-hand knowledge of the story of Guillermo Gonzalez's tenure denial by Iowa State University, tells what in fact happened and how it did. Dr. Avalos's narration reveals the underhanded maneuvers typical of the behavior of the ID advocates at the Discovery Institute.
author(s):
Avalos, Hector;
published: Dec 18, 2007


DI—Expelled for Plagiarism
 
Pseudo-mathematician Willliam Dembski's behavior was shown more than once to be not exactly within the norms of a decent scientific discourse (see, for example [Creative Ideas of IDists as reviewers]. Abigail Smith (who recently revealed elementary errors in Michael Behe's book, thus forcing Behe to grudgingly admit his flop - see [The Open Letters File] - demonstrates in this post an egregious example of Dembski's plagiarist behavior - his appropriation of material produced by Harvard without any attribution to its source, blatantly manipulating it to serve his purposes and using it in a paid lecture. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Smith, SA;
published: Nov 21, 2007


Viewpoint discrimination - Where are the ID proponents now?
 
ID proponents are quick to argue 'viewpoint discrimination' whenever their attempts to introduce their scientifically vacuous ideas fail. However, in those not uncommon cases when a scientist, even a deeply religious one, is muzzled by creationists because of even a minor deviation from their creationist dogma, the "viewpoint discrimination" becomes not only acceptable, but prosecuted vigorously, as the case of Professor Colling illustrates.
author(s):
van Meurs, Pim;
published: Sep 16, 2007


Dr. West, meet Dr. Tinkle, Creationist eugenicist
 
In this essay, the canard propagated by the ID advocates, according to which eugenics was a derivative of "Darwinism," is shown for what it really is.
author(s):
Bottaro, Andrea;
published: May 17, 2007


Shermer and Dembski in Bridgewater
 
Professor Rosenhouse reports on a debate between notorious ID advocate Dembski and editor of Skeptic magazine Shermer, which took place at a small college affiliated with one of the Christian churches.
author(s):
Rosenhouse, Jason ;
published: Feb 18, 2007


Creating a Martyr: The Sternberg Saga Continues
 
In this essay the real story of Richard von Sternberg's alleged persecution by Smithsonian scientists is revealed, showing that all accusations of "persecution" have been either dramatically exaggerated or simply invented by ID advocates. The ill-conceived but stubbornly pursued story of Sternberg's fake martyrdom is just another testimony to the underhanded manner Discovery Institute's pseudo-scientists utilize in their fight against decent science.
author(s):
Brayton, Ed ;
published: Dec 19, 2006


Dembski as the David Seville of Information Theory: Now, That's a Video to Look Forward To
 
In this double post Wesley Elsberry gives due credit to a new "achievement" by William Dembski, this time as a cheap jester obsessed with the flatulence-related version of his crappy "humor." In the second part of this post Elsberry quotes an email from renowned evolutionary biologist Kenneth Miller to Dembski, wherein Miller shows the miserable character and dishonesty of Dembski's foolish animation. One year after their debacle in the Dover trial, ID advocates still continue trying, in vain, to somehow alleviate the disastrous for them impact of their defeat at Dover, in particular engaging in throwing mud at Judge John Jones and whining desperately about his anti-ID decision. Discussion of these posts can be seen on PT here and here.
author(s):
Elsberry, Wesley R.;
published: Dec 19, 2006


The “Vise Strategy” Undone: Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District
 
Professor Barbara Forrest shares her experience as an expert witness at the Dover Kitzmiller vs DASD trial. She reveals many details not known hitherto and shows how the behavior of leading proponents of intelligent design reveals not only their scientific but also moral bankruptcy. This article appears in Skeptical Inquirer, Jan/Feb 2007, p. 40. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Forrest, Barbara ;
published: Dec 13, 2006


Weekend At Behe’s
 
Timothy Sandefur applies his legal expertise to demonstrate how legally uninformed and preposterous the recent attack by the Discovery Institute's stuntmen upon Judge John Jones is. An additional point can be added to Sandefur's analysis: a comparison between the texts of Judge Jones's famous decision in the Kitzmiller vs. DASD and the "finding of facts" submitted by plaintiff's attorneys shows that in fact the similarities between the two documents amount to approximately between about 60% and 70% rather than 90.9% alleged in DI's claim (see http://fdisk.net/~welsberr/jp_sbys_r5k2.html ), this percentage being rather common in legal practice. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Sandefur, Timothy ;
published: Dec 12, 2006


Just so stories
 
Pim van Meurs dissects the assertion often repeated by ID advocates who maintain that explanations of the evolution of various biological systems are "just so stories." Discussion of this essay is found on the Panda's Thumb blog.
author(s):
van Meurs, Pim;
published: Nov 27, 2006


PZ Myers is such a LIAR!
 
Professor Myers demonstrates another shenanigan by ID advocates who falsely accused him of lying while in fact it was ID promoters McGrew and Cordova who either lied or displayed a familiar incompetence. (Off-site link)
author(s):
Myers , PZ ;
published: Nov 07, 2006


Whose head is ugly? Jonathan Wells and Lysenkoism
 
This is a review of chapter 16 (titled "American Lysenkoism") in Jonathan Wells's recently released book Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design. This review is a part of the set of reviews written by the Panda's Thumb blog's team, covering all chapters of Wells's book, which will all appear on Panda's Thumb shortly. Wells's book is a collection of often incoherent, sometimes fraudulent, and usually misleading, anti-evolution and pro-ID pseudo-arguments.
author(s):
Perakh, Mark;
published: Aug 24, 2006


Ann Coulter and Charles Darwin. Coultergeist
 
This is one more critical view of Ann Coulter's notorious best-selling drivel, complementing the essays by Mike Argento and James Downard ([1], [2], [3]) on this site.
author(s):
Coyne, Jerry ;
published: Aug 02, 2006


Secondary Addiction Part III: Ann Coulter on Evolution
 
The last four chapters of Ann Coulter's latest bestseller, Godless: The Church of Liberalism (thus a third of her book) are devoted to roasting "Darwiniac cultists" for their evolutionary delusions. As explored in the first two parts, Coulter's ebullient confidence is inversely proportional to her knowledge. In the third part of an ongoing investigation of how Coulter could come to believe the things she does, James Downard looks into the background for one of her baldest assertions: the supposed bankruptcy of Archaeopteryx as a bird-reptile intermediate.
author(s):
Downard, James;
published: Jul 25, 2006


The DEMBSKI ALERT
 
While William Dembski has proudly proclaimed his role as a contributor to the evolution chapters of Ann Coulter's new book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism, when push comes to shove it turns out he is singularly unwilling to take responsibility for any of the many mistakes she has made. Follow James Downard as he ventures into the curious world of Dembski/Coulter "scholarship" and learn just how much "descent" one encounters at Dembski's website "Uncommon Descent."
author(s):
Downard, James;
published: Jul 23, 2006


Secondary Addiction Part II: Ann Coulter on Evolution
 
One third of Ann Coulter's latest bestseller, Godless: The Church of Liberalism, is devoted to assailing "Darwiniac cultists" for promoting what she is certain is the false science of evolution. As explored in the first installment at Talk Reason, Coulter's breezy confidence turns out to be a gooey meringue atop layers of stunning technical ignorance caused by indolence when it comes to investigating the issues, along with a giddy reliance on marginal secondary reading. In the second part of an ongoing analysis of what Coulter (didn't) know and how exactly she manages (not) to know it, James Downard discovers what can happen when Coulter tries to join two fields about which she knows literally less than nothing: paleontology and biology.
author(s):
Downard, James;
published: Jul 09, 2006


Secondary Addiction: Ann Coulter on Evolution
 
One third of Ann Coulter's latest bestseller, Godless: The Church of Liberalism, is devoted to raking "Darwiniac cultists" over the coals for promoting what she is certain is the false science of evolution. Unfortunately her roasting process was hampered by the fact that she forgot to get her fire lit first. Compulsively addicted to secondary sources, Coulter fails to comprehend even those, and exhibits consistent laziness when it comes to checking whether her meagre tinder could ever ignite. In the first part of a series that will examine all the antievolutionary assertions in her book, James Downard explores how Coulter fumbles issues relating to Michael Behe's Irreducible Complexity claims.
author(s):
Downard, James;
published: Jun 29, 2006


Coulter mangles Dover case
 
Mike Argento, whose witty essays related to the Dover trial are well known (several of them were reproduced on Talk Reason - see the Index of Authors and click on "Argento, Mike") pounces, in this article, upon the best-selling drivel of an ignorant and dishonest anti-evolution and extreme religious fanatic.
author(s):
Argento, Mike ;
published: Jun 23, 2006


Cordova Steps In It
 
Longing for fun? Just read this post: one of Dembski's most notorious acolytes asserts that biological entities possess redundancy, which points to design. This creationist pupil of Dembski seems not to notice that his assertion is contrary to one of the pillars of ID - the concept of Irreducible Complexity (IC) propagated by one of the "leading lights" of ID, Michael Behe of Dover trial fiasco fame. The concept of IC has been tirelessly promoted by Dembski, who insists, with Behe, that it is IC (which is the absence of redundancy) that points to design.

(An analysis of the problem of redundancy vs. IC was offered in Perakh's article printed in Skeptical Inquirer [September-October 2005 issue] and also reproduced on this site [see http://www.talkreason.org/articles/Suboptimal.cfm, as well as several other posts by Perakh on this site]).

author(s):
Rosenhouse, Jason ;
published: Jun 21, 2006


Something rotten in Denmark?
 
One more case in the endless chain of William Dembski's hilarious gaffes. The Isaac Newton of information theory, a world expert in math statistics, a great philosopher and design theorist, seems to be ignorant of the concept of normalization with which high school students are normally expected to be familiar. The comments to this essay found on the Panda's Thumb blog are as telling as the essay itself.
author(s):
Bottaro, Andrea;
published: Jun 20, 2006


Creationist amorality
 
A telling example of typical creo dishonesty (in this example in its Muslim version): how Harun Yahya steals stuff from other sources and alters it to prevent its reproduction elsewhere. (Off-site post.)
author(s):
Myers , PZ ;
published: Jun 19, 2006


Design detectives fooled by urban legend
 
Andrea Bottaro addresses the most recent hilarious display of ID's main "philosopher and mathematician" Dembski's egregious lack of judgment, which makes him the butt end of jokes and derision. The comments to this essay found on the Panda'sThumb blog vividly demonstrate the precipitous fall of the remnants of Dembski's already low credibility, as well as the abject madness of some of his half-witted acolytes, to whom he delegated the management of his blog.
author(s):
Bottaro, Andrea;
published: May 23, 2006


Forrest Mims: 'crazy kook', says Pianka
 
Nik Matzke adds more thoughts about the shameful attack of ID advocates upon Professor Eric Pianka. Dembski and Mims well represent the crazy crowd which is hysterically cursing Eric Pianka for something the latter apparently has not said nor done.
author(s):
Matzke, Nicholas ;
published: Apr 07, 2006


Now in the "Do As We Say, Not As We Do" Dept.
 
The pseudo-mathematician William Dembski, whose shenanigans have been described more than once on this site, is at it again: in a post on one of his websites he writes that he has reported to the Department of Homeland Security about the activity of Professor Eric Pianka, who allegedly suggested the annihilation of 90% of earth population by artificially-started pandemics. This allegation originated with another ID advocate, Forrest M. Mims III. The attendees of the meeting where Pianka allegedly made his suggestion deny that he ever made such. A good example of ID advocates' hatred of science and scientists. Hopefully the Department of Homeland Security is not so stupid as to take ID advocates' assertions for anything but a piece of slander which is so often encountered on pro-ID websites (see, for example http://www.talkreason.org/articles/Resp_to_slanderers.cfm or http://www.talkreason.org/articles/creative.cfm).
author(s):
Elsberry, Wesley R.;
published: Apr 06, 2006


Gross not satisfied with Collins' perspective on ID
 
University professor of life sciences, Paul Gross, demolishes the feeble arguments that favor "acceptance" of ID as a potentially legitimate scientific endeavor. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Gross, Paul R. ;
published: Mar 14, 2006


Pennock's Dover response
 
Professor of philosophy Robert Pennock, who was one of the key witnesses for plaintiffs at the Kitzmiller vs DASD trial, provides in this essay his view of the post-trial behavior of ID advocates who are trying to mask the devastating (for them) outcome of the trial behind empty rhetoric. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Pennock, Robert T. ;
published: Mar 13, 2006


Creative Ideas of IDists as reviewers
 
This is a brief commentary on William Dembski's underhaded tricks, wherein he anonymously advertized his own book while hurling mud on a book critical of his views. This post is accompanied by comments posted to the Panda's Thumb weblog.
author(s):
Perakh, Mark;
published: Mar 25, 2004


The True History of the Wedge
 
The infamous "The Wedge" document, with its plan for how to subvert science and lead to an overwhelming "cultural revolution" which would replace the scientific foundations of a society's progress with an obscurantist theistic darkness, appeared on the web in 1999. Until now, it was not known how that "highly secret" document was leaked. In this post PZ Myers reveals the story of "The Wedge" becoming widely known, to the embarrassment of the ID crowd, revealing their real motivations and goals. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Myers , PZ ;
published: Feb 01, 2006


Discovery Institute tries to "swift-boat" Judge Jones
 
Kevin Padian and Nick Natzke of NCSE dissect the unseemly attacks by Discovery Institute's defenders of ID upon Judge John Jones and upon his decision in Kitzmiller vs DASD. They conclude that the decision in question has inflicted a devastating blow upon the ID movement and specifically upon Discovery Institute's gang of pseudo-scientists. Their assault upon Judge Jones's decision betrays their sense of a crushing defeat so they desperately try to contain the damage by impugning the judge and attempt to denigrate his decision. Padian and Matzke assert that such tactics will not work.
author(s):
Padian, Kevin ; Matzke, Nicholas ;
published: Jan 08, 2006


Why is it Unconstitutional to Teach Intelligent Design?
 
Professor Rosenhouse surveys the outcome of the Kitzmiller vs. DASD case. While the entire decision by Judge Jones is exciting reading, this survey may be handy for those readers who would like to have rather a more succinct (but still fairly complete) report on the main points of the decision. Originally posted on CSICOP site.
author(s):
Rosenhouse, Jason ;
published: Jan 02, 2006


West on the legal and ethical propriety of Judge Jones
 
Pim van Meurs continues the discussion of John West's attack on Judge Jones's decision (the previous posts about West's diatribe are How West got Lost and Pandas and Part Three). A discussion of this and the two preceding posts related to West's screed can be seen at the Panda's Thumb blog.
author(s):
van Meurs, Pim;
published: Dec 31, 2005


Pandas and Part Three
 
Timothy Sandefur continues the analysis, started by Pim van Meurs, of West's attack on Judge Jones's decision in the Kitzmiller vs DASD case. As a lawyer, Sandefur points to the legal aspects of West's utterly faulty diatribe.
author(s):
Sandefur, Timothy ;
published: Dec 30, 2005


How West got Lost
 
Pim van Meurs dissects the article, by John West of the Discovery Institute, wherein West blatantly misrepresented Judge Jones's decision in the Kitzmiller vs DASD case, distorted facts, resorted to ad hominem attacks on the judge, and desperately tried (in vain) to show the alleged lack of proper substantation for Jones's decision. The style of West's diatribe shows that many ID advocates have lost their nerve in the wake of their defeat in Dover.
author(s):
van Meurs, Pim;
published: Dec 29, 2005


Religious Freedom And Other Crimes Against Humanity
 
Timothy Sandefur discusses the outrageous utterances of Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics And Religious Liberty Commission, who threatens Judge Jones with curtailing his career because of his decision in Kitzmiller case, and claims that Christians in the USA suffer from a "reign of terror" allegedly mainatined by anti-religion forces.
author(s):
Sandefur, Timothy ;
published: Dec 27, 2005


Mirecki affair
 
There is no good reason not to accept the Mirecki beating incident at face value, that an academic who publicly expressed sentiments which mocked religion and were skeptical of intelligent design was publicly violently assaulted, at least in part because of those sentiments, and that the reaction from conservatives associated with fundamentalist Christianity has been at best one of denial and at worst outright celebration. Until now, the 'culture war' has seldom become a hot war. Let's hope the Mirecki incident isn't a harbinger of things to come.
author(s):
Harbison, Gerard ;
published: Dec 26, 2005


The Galvanic Response
 
Wesley R. Elsberry responds to a quote from William Dembski.

Dembski believes that Christians should take a stand and send their money to "intelligent design" advocates in the wake of the adverse ruling in the Dover, Pennsylvania court case. Elsberry takes the view that Christians should, as a matter of principle, deny funding to groups that use deception as a primary tactic and, in fact, actively disassociate themselves from people with a track record of lying.

author(s):
Elsberry, Wesley R.;
published: Dec 24, 2005


Caught in their own Wedge
 
Pim van Meurs offers an analysis of certain points in Judge Jones's decision in the Kitzmiller vs. DASD trial and reveals the fallacies propagated by some ID advocates in the wake of that important legal defeat of ID creationists.
author(s):
van Meurs, Pim;
published: Dec 23, 2005


Kitzmiller et al versus Dover Area School District
 
Ed Brayton and Burt Humburg provide a succinct but quite comprehensive report on the Kitzmiller vs. DASD case. This is posted on the online version of Skeptic magazine and will appear in the next issue of the printed version of that journal. (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Humburg, Burt ; Brayton, Ed ;
published: Dec 22, 2005


Bring On the Chiquitas!
 
Richard Hoppe dissects the preposterous quasi-debate between "conservative" journalist Cal Thomas and his "liberal opponent" Bob Beckel wherein both, in a touching display of unity, enthusiastically suggested "an open debate" between scientists and the proponents of intelligent design, as if this were some new idea and as if such (fruitless) debates have so far never taken place. In fact both Thomas and Beckel have demonstrated an abject lack of understanding of what the real issues are and where the "debate" stands at this time. The discussion of this post can be seen on the Panda's Thumb blog.
author(s):
Hoppe, Richard B. ;
published: Dec 07, 2005


Closing argument
 
This is the closing argument by plaintiff's attorney, Eric Rothschild, at the Kitzmiller vs. DADS trial in Pennsylvania. Rothschild eloquently and convincingly reveals the absence of substance in intelligent design pseudo-science and its religious roots, making it just a feebly disguised version of the discredited old-fashioned creationism whose teaching in public school was decreed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the USA. (Off-site link, PDF format.)
author(s):
Rothschild, Eric ;
published: Nov 09, 2005


On the beach with Stephen Jay
 
Professor Bottaro points to a ridiculous assertion by a Canadian pro-creationist journalist who quoted somebody by the name of Pivar (who claims to have been a close friend of the late Stephen Jay Gould -- the latter reportedly used to spend weekends in Pivar's beach house). According to Pivar, Gould would have never signed the famous "Steves' declaration" because Gould allegedly rejected natural selection as a creative mechanism of evolution. Bottaro provides direct quotes from Gould's writing showing that Pivar's assertions are contrary to Gould's factual views, and that the Canadian journalist's triumphal conclusion of an allegedly strong blow upon evolution theory affected by Pivar's assertions is just an example of a wishful thinking. A discussion of this essay can be found at The Panda's Thumb.
author(s):
Bottaro, Andrea;
published: Oct 27, 2005


Blogging the Dover Trial
 
The ongoing Kitzmiller vs. DASD trial in Dover, PA, has been widely reported in the mass media. As our readers may know, a group of parents has sued the Dover Area School Board. They protest DASD's attempts to inject intelligent design into science classes curriculum. In this essay Ed Brayton discusses certain arguments presented at that trial and some commentaries by observers of the trial. In particular, Brayton demonstrates the fallacy of the position evinced on a blog maintained by the Discovery Institute by its member Jonathan Witt. Brayton examines two claims regularly heard from ID apologists. First, that ID is testable and falsifiable because certain arguments for ID are testable and falsifiable. Second, that ID makes positive statements based on an inference from our experience with human designers. He points out the distinction between natural designers and supernatural designers and uses the ID advocate's own words to show that the designer must have been supernatural, which debunks both arguments at once.
author(s):
Brayton, Ed ;
published: Sep 28, 2005


The evolution wars enter the "No Spin Zone"
 
Jason Rosenhouse demonstrates how TV show host O'Reilly and the former editor of Proceedings of The Biological Society of Washington von Sternberg competed in front of their TV audience in misrepresenting the story of the publication of a pro-ID review paper by S. Meyer in that magazine and of the following alleged "persecution" of Sternberg by those vile mainstream scientists and the Smithsonian Institution.
author(s):
Rosenhouse, Jason ;
published: Sep 09, 2005


Response to slanderers
 
In this brief commentary, Mark Perakh responds to the piece of calumny posted on a site maintained by Willam Dembski wherein Perakh was accused of falsely presenting his publication record. Perakh provides here a link to the newly posted OCR copy of his list of publications which was compiled more than 20 years ago, when it already comprised over 200 items, despite not including many published items which were outside Perakh's research work.
author(s):
Perakh, Mark;
published: Aug 29, 2005


What else could be expected from Dembski?
 
This is Mark Perakh's reply to William Dembski's arrogantly dismissive response to Perakh's essay "Skeptic on Dembski". Simultaneously posted to The Panda's Thumb, where the discussion is conducted.
author(s):
Perakh, Mark;
published: Aug 21, 2005


Of Frauds and Fingerprints
 
In this essay Wesley Elsberry one more time shows the fallaciousness of William Dembski's arguments in the latter's incessant attempts to find the confirmations of his pseudo-scientific "theory" of intelligent design in various fields of human activities. (The discussion of this essay is found on The Panda's Thumb in the thread of August 2, 2005 initiated by Elsberry's entry).
author(s):
Elsberry, Wesley R.;
published: Aug 12, 2005


There "They" go again!
 
In this essay Russell Durbin reveals egregious distortions of the history of the ID vs evolution debate by the Head of the Discovery Institute, Bruce Chapman. An extensive discussion of this essay is found on Durbin's thread of July 31, 2005 on The Panda's Thumb blog.
author(s):
Durbin , Russell ;
published: Aug 10, 2005


Response to Dembski's Accusations
 
In this essay (which is accompanied by extensive discussion on the Panda's Thumb weblog) Professor Jeffrey Shallit demonstrates once again the typical Dembskian evasiveness in dealing with critique and the emptiness of his usually irrelevant and sometimes clownish responses.
author(s):
Shallit, Jeffrey ;
published: Jul 14, 2005


Mustafa Akyol and Friends in Kansas
 
In this article in the Kansas newswpaper The Pitch, columnist Tony Ortega discusses the "trial of the century" in Kansas, where a group of creationists on a Board of Education held a kangaroo court "hearing" aimed at changing the school curriculum by inserting into it anti-evolution "arguments." (Off-site link.)
author(s):
Ortega, Tony;
published: May 08, 2005


A Response to Berlinski
 
In this article Dr. Elsberry addresses the recent op-ed piece by David Berlinski in a California newspaper. In that paper Berlinski, among other things, falsely accused Talk Reason of deliberately misspelling William Dembski's surname in a derogatory manner and of allegedly viewing such a misspelling as "clever beyond measure." In fact, Talk Reason has never resorted to the mentioned misspelling of Dembski's name and likewise never expressed any approval of such a misspelling as being "clever beyond measure," or in any other way. Berlinski's groundless accusations amounted to slander. In subsequent messages to Talk Reason (posted under this essay), as well as in his comments posted to the Panda's Thumb weblog, Berlinski not only did not apologize for his groundless accusations but tried to evade the question in point by using irrelevant semantic acrobatics obviously aimed at obfuscating the matter under discussion. Readers should draw their own conclusions regarding Berlinski's intellectual integrity. Comment: While originally David Berlinski asked not to post his letters (see discussion), in a subsequent letter he gave his consent to make these letters public.
author(s):
Elsberry, Wesley R.;
published: Apr 11, 2005


Dembski's continuing contradictions
 
Pim van Meurs reveals, in this essay, (which also contains extensive quotations from Douglas Theobald) the unseemly way William Dembski dodged answering critical comments by Wesley Elsberry and Mark Perakh on Dembski's recent mathematically loaded article. Perakh's critique of Dembski's paper is here and Elsberry's critique is at the Panda's Thumb blog.
author(s):
Theobald, Douglas L. ; van Meurs, Pim;
published: Mar 27, 2005


Clotted rot for rotten clots
 
Dr. Musgrave's essay shows the falsity of the incessant claims by ID advocates (Behe, Dembski, Colson, Alonso, etc.) who repeatedly asserted that (1) Russel Doolittle's interpretation of Bugge et al's experimental data was in error, and (2) that after Behe pointed to Doolittle's error, the latter conceded being wrong. Both claims were, in fact, unsubstantiated, but the ID advocates, led by Behe, have for too long been exploiting these false assertions as arguments allegedly supporting Behe's Irreducible Complexity concept. Ian Musgrave's essay ends any possible uncertainty in the matter. Referring to the original sources, Musgrave shows that Doolittle's position was basically correct while Behe's repudiation was to a considerable extent fallacious. Bugge et al's data in no way support Behe's irreducible complexity. Behe and his cohorts' attempts to cast shadow on Doolittle's position amounted to a deliberate misrepresentation of facts. Also, Musgrave's essay in fact shows that Mark Perakh's references (in his book Unintelligent Design and in a number of posts and articles) to Behe's unsubstantiated remarks in regard to Doolittle's position were correct while their rebuttal by such ID supporters as Nelson Alonso (on the ARN website) were egregiously false. This essay was first posted to Panda's Thumb weblog.
author(s):
Musgrave, Ian;
published: Mar 27, 2005


Bill Dembski and the case of the unsupported assertion
 
While ID 'scientists' vociferously object to being labeled creationists, they share one notable feature with the creation scientists of the 80s: their frequent use of discredited sources.
author(s):
Inlay, Matt;
published: Feb 19, 2005


ID's irreducible inconsistency revisited
 
In this essay an article by William Dembski, titled "Irreducible Complexity Revisited," as well as its discussion on the ARN website are critically discussed. The main thesis of this essay is the revelation of a striking inconsistency of Dembski's discourse which plainly contradicts his earlier thesis. Also a brief discussion is presented of an article by a leading young earth creationist, Henry Morris, where he repudiates Dembski's attempts to hide the religious roots of ID behind a quasi-scientific facade.
author(s):
Perakh, Mark;
published: Feb 01, 2005


Wedging Creationism into the Academy
 
Proponents of Intelligent Design theory spare no effort to gain purchase within academia. A case study of the quest for academic legitimacy for a nonscientific enterprise. (Off-site link)
author(s):
Forrest, Barbara ; Branch, Glenn ;
published: Jan 19, 2005


War of reviews
 
In this essay Mark Perakh surveys the negative reviews (posted to Amazon.com) of four recently published books critical of intelligent design. This survey shows that most of the negative reviews do not in fact review the contents of the books in question but are posted mainly to push down the books' rating. This survey also documents certain insidious devices used by the proponents of intelligent design in their effort to denigrate the books of their opponents.
author(s):
Perakh, Mark;
published: Oct 15, 2004


The Ever-Imminent Collapse of Evolution
 
In this brief essay Wesley R. Elsberry offers a critical discussion of a recent escapade by William Dembski who, in his habitual manner, again predicts the imminent death of Darwinian biology within the next five years -- a prediction which, as usual with all such assertion by the ID advocates, is ridiculoulsy lacking any factual basis and reflects the fantasy typical of the nebula labelled Intelligent Design.
author(s):
Elsberry, Wesley R.;
published: Jul 25, 2004


Arguments out of context: Analyzing a rhetorical trick used by William Dembski
 
Understanding the rhetorical techniques used by ID proponents in making their case is as important as understanding the modern biological science. In this essay, Jason Rosenhouse shows how design proponent William Dembski removes anti-ID arguments from their proper context. Thus, he presents arguments made against ID's philosophical or cultural aspects as if they were responses to the scientific claims of ID.
author(s):
Rosenhouse, Jason ;
published: Apr 22, 2004


How Intelligent Design advocates turn the sordid lessons from Soviet and Nazi history upside down
 
"Intelligent design" advocates (IDAs) are quick to cry "Foul!" when they find themselves at the short end of a sharp piece of rhetoric. But they are just as quick to use invidious comparisons that are intended to discomfit their critics. This article documents several such cases. For example, the intelligent design advocate William A. Dembski has compared biologists critical of "intelligent design" to the former Soviet regime. Specifically, Dembski has compared his critics to Trofim Denisovich Lysenko and his cronies in the Soviet hierarchy during Stalin's reign. Every reasonable person must take umbrage at this comparison. Elsberry and Perakh present here views aimed at revealing the insidious and underhanded nature of the attack made by Dembski and some of his colleagues.
author(s):
Perakh, Mark; Elsberry, Wesley R.;
published: Apr 20, 2004


More about "heresy" in science
 
This essay is complementary to Andrea Bottaro's post where the routine assertions of ID advocates that they cannot publish their work in professional scientific media because of the alleged censorship maintained by the so-called orthodox Darwinian establishment are shown to be unsubstantiated. The author of this essay, who, unlike biologist Andrea Bottaro, is a physicist, tells a story from his own experience, illustrating a simple fact: the only condition for unorthodox theories and controversial data to be published in scientific media is their being supported by evidence, and the sole reason the concepts and asseverations of intelligent design advocates are not being published in professional journals is that they fail to provide evidence supporting their claims.
author(s):
Perakh, Mark;
published: Apr 18, 2004


Getting away with "heresy"
 
ID advocates often claim that a stifling censorship system prevents any idea contrary to darwinian "orthodoxy" from being published in the mainstream scientific literature. In this essay Andrea Bottaro debunks this accusation by telling the story of remarkably unorthodox, non-darwinian findings published in the elite science journal Nature, and how they spurred an ongoing research effort into the mechanisms of mutation in bacteria.
author(s):
Bottaro, Andrea;
published: Apr 15, 2004


Dembski's Curious Incompetence With Quotations
 
In this brief essay Jeffrey Shallit demonstrates a peculiar feature of William Dembski's discourse. Misquotations are common in Dembski's output, and when erroneous references in his publications are revealed, he routinely ignores the suggestions to correct the errors and continues using the same false references time and time again. Shallit convincingly shows the shoddiness of Dembski's research and his stubborn disregard for even friendly advice if such advice entails a revelation of his obvious errors. A conclusion that naturally follows from Shallit's analysis is that anything Dembski asserts must be thoroughly checked, since his references and quotations are often unreliable.
author(s):
Shallit, Jeffrey ;
published: Apr 13, 2004


Desperately Evading the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design: A Review of Dembski's The Design Revolution
 
In this essay Jeffrey Shallit elaborates on the theme briefly discussed in one of our previous posts. In agreement with that previous post, Shallit demonstrates that William Dembski, in his book The Design Revolution: Answering the Toughtst Questions About Intelligent Design, in fact very studiously eschews discussing most of the questions raised by many critics of Intelligent Design. Instead, Dembski indulges in either repeating, often verbatim or almost verbatim, his earlier affirmations or ignores the critique leveled by experts in regard to his output. Sometimes he surreptitiously modifies his earlier arguments to slide out of the predicament caused by critics' revealing obvious defects in his discourse (without acknowledging the critique).
author(s):
Shallit, Jeffrey ;
published: Apr 11, 2004


The Design Revolution? How William Dembski Is Dodging Questions About Intelligent Design
 
In this brief essay, the author points out the peculiar features of William Dembski's behavior. (William Dembski is one of the leading advocates of intelligent design concepts, affiliated with the Discovery Institute in Seattle, WA; there are several articles on this site discussing Dembski's output.) In his latest book, whose subtitle promises "answering the toughest questions about intelligent design," Dembski in fact evades answering most of the questions posed by his critics (whose names do not even appear in the index of his book). The author of this esssay demonstrates that such behavior is typical of how Dembski conducts disputes. This essay also reveals inconsistencies in Dembski's persistent asseverations about the imminent demise of the evolutionary biology, and concludes that Dembski's prediction of the forthcoming "Design Revolution" is nothing more than falsely attributing to his dreams the status of facts. (Also available in PDF.)
author(s):
Perakh, Mark;
published: Mar 10, 2004
updated: Mar 21, 2004


The Imminent Demise of Evolution: The Longest Running Falsehood in Creationism
 
This item contains documentary evidence of the perennial predictions by creationists (which started even before the publication of Darwin's The Origin of Species and continue in our days) all of them incessantly foretelling the imminent collapse of Darwinism, the alleged stampede of scientists from evolution theory, and the triumphant victory of creationism. It provides for funny reading in view of the factual perfect health of the modern synthesis which incorporates Darwinian ideas, is being bolstered by the ever growing amount of evidence, and is supported by the overwhelming majority of scientists with no signs of their exodus from evolutionary biology.
author(s):
Morton, G.R. ;
published: Mar 10, 2004


The Wedge at Work: How Intelligent Design Creationism Is Wedging Its Way into the Cultural and Academic Mainstream
 
With the simplest of metaphors, Phillip Johnson describes the "wedge" strategy adopted in order to advance "intelligent design" theory, the most recent--and most dangerous--manifestation of creationism. Yet the simplicity of the metaphor is deceptive. In reality, the wedge strategy is being aggressively and systematically executed by the Discovery Institute's (DI) Center for (the Renewal of) Science and Culture (CRSC) through an extensive, constant, and sometimes dizzying range of activities which, as Johnson says, are intended ultimately to "affirm the reality of God." This religious goal, advanced chiefly by means of CRSC's anti-evolution agenda--and by politics--is the heart of the wedge movement. In her essay, Dr. Barbara Forrest provides an incisive analysis of the notorious Wedge strategy and shows the real insidious essence hidden under its thin veneer of allegedly reasonable arguments.
author(s):
Forrest, Barbara ;
published: Dec 30, 2003


Harun Yahya and Holocaust Revisionism
 
Harun Yahya's prolific diatribes against evolution and materialistic science are being disseminated in many countries. On this site there are articles (Harun Yahya and Islamic Creationism and Harun Yahya: An Invitation to Dogmatism) discussing Yahya's literary output. Among Yahya's creations there also is a book devoted to Holocaust denial. In the Islamic world Holocaust denial finds many sympathetic ears, as it fits in well with the anti-Semitic propaganda which regrettably is a regular staple of many media outlets and even speeches by prime-ministers and other political and religious leaders of many Muslim countries. In the West, including the USA, Holocaust denial belongs in the small and largely disrespected fringe. Apparently being aware of this, Harun Yahya's cohorts, while spreading Holocaust denial canards in Turkish without compunction, attempt to hide that part of their activity when addressing the Western audience. The article by Michael Hopkins documents one such attempt by Yahya's group to deceive the Western audience by falsely denying the fact of publication of the mentioned infamous book.
author(s):
Hopkins, Michael ;
published: Dec 09, 2003


Scientists Respond to the Orchestrated Assault of IDists on Professor Gross
 
Science Insights, which is an organ of The National Association of Scholars (NAS), has recently published an essay by professor of biology Paul Gross (vol 7, No 4, 2003, reproduced in this posting as its first section). A group of ID advocates, consisting mainly of fellows of the Discovery Institute (including William Dembski, Phillip Johnson, Robert Koons, David Berlinski, and others), responded to Gross's essay with a series of rebuttals bearing signs of a concerted effort aimed at discrediting Gross's thesis and casting shadow on his character. In this posting readers will find letters by several scientists, who offer arguments in support of Gross and of his position. (None of these letters has been solicited by Professor Gross). Also posted is the response from Dr. Gross himself to the ID advocates' orchestrated assault. All this material (except for the letters from Perakh and Elsberry) was first published in Science Insights, vol. 7, No 5, November 2003 and is posted here with permission from the authors.
Correction on November 25, 2003: In the above abstract it is asserted that all the material placed in this post was previously published in Science Insights. Talk Reason regrets to admit that in fact this statement is incorrect. The material in question was indeed originally submitted to Science Insights and was supposed to be published there before its posting on Talk Reason. When this material was posted on Talk Reason, our team assumed that it was already made public in Science Insights, when in fact the publication in Science Insights occurred only two day later. The inadvertent premature publication of this material on Talk Reason (which was not intended to deny the priority of Science Insights) also resulted in publication of letters wherein Dr. Gross's supporters replied to the letters critical of Dr. Gross's initial essay two days before those critical letters were made public by Science Insights. We would like to assert that Science Insights did not play any role in the described unfortunate occurrence. Sci Insights did not leak any material prematurely and the authors of the letters posted here accessed the texts of critical letters via independent means (in which Talk Reason was not involved). We apologize herewith to both NAS and Sci Insights for the described unfortunate occurrence, and to the authors of the letters critical of Dr. Gross for inadvertently making public some of the contents of their letters two days before their appearance in Science Insights.
author(s):
Gross, Paul R. ; Perakh, Mark; Bottaro, Andrea; Dunkelberg, Pete; Rosenhouse, Jason ; Shallit, Jeffrey ; Young, Matt; Elsberry, Wesley R.;
published: Nov 19, 2003
updated: Dec 04, 2003


Texas Citizens for Science Responds to Latest Discovery Institute Challenge
 
The Discovery Institute is notorious for deliberately confusing and misrepresenting aspects of science to achieve their goal of wedging intelligent design into public education, intellectual discourse, and pop culture. Rather than use the traditional bottom-up approach of legitimate science, the Discovery Institute uses a top-down approach to quickly force their views upon an unsuspecting audience. In this case, their audience is the Texas State Board of Education, and their goal is to weaken and misrepresent the evolution content in high school biology textbooks that are being adopted in Texas this year.
author(s):
Schafersman, Steven ;
published: Sep 22, 2003


Creationism and Intelligent Design
 
Summary of strategies used by groups which oppose the teaching of evolution in schools, their terminology, and recommendations for defending science education. (Off-site link, in PDF format)
author(s):
Pennock, Robert T. ;
published: Oct 09, 2003


Dr. Dembski's Compass
 
In his recent Introduction to the forthcoming book "Uncommon Dissent", Bill Dembski muses once again about "Darwinists" and their sneaky tricks. Among these is the "Myth of Victory Past", that evolutionists allegedly use to first ignore, and then dismiss as refuted, all valid objections to evolutionary theory. As an example, Dembski accuses Andrea Bottaro of employing this "misdirection" ruse to mislead readers of a recent critique of the creationist documentary "Unlocking the Mystery of Life" using inadequate claims and references. Here, Bottaro shows instead that his references and claims are accurate, and that it is Dembski who lost his bearings while looking for "misdirection".
author(s):
Bottaro, Andrea;
published: Aug 03, 2003
updated: Sep 19, 2003


The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth?
 
A review of the sources used in Phillip Johnson's Darwin on Trial which finds that almost every scientific source cited by Johnson has been misused or distorted in ways ranging from simple misinterpretations and innuendos to the construction of what appears to be outright fiction.
author(s):
Spitzer, Brian;
published: Aug 04, 2002


A Presentation Without Arguments
 
This is a brief critical review of the presentation by William Dembski to the 4th World Skeptics Conference in Burbank, CA, on June 21, 2002. A slightly different version of this article has been published in Skeptical Inquirer, v.26, No. 6, Nov-Dec. 2002.
author(s):
Perakh, Mark;
published: Jul 03, 2002