Bebbo
Posts: 161
Joined: Dec. 2002
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| Quote (niiicholas @ Feb. 20 2003,02:10) | [...]
1. There is a growing scientific controversy over Darwinian evolution.
a) Today there are critics of Darwinian evolution within the scientific community, including biologists at mainstream American universities. In 2001, more than 100 scientists including scholars at such institutions as Yale, Princeton, MIT, and the Smithsonian signed a public statement announcing that they were "skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged." [A complete list of these scientists can be found in A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.]
b) Because of the scientific critics of Darwin's theory, it is misleading to present the modern controversy over Darwinian evolution as a simplistic battle between "science" and "religious fundamentalists." Accurate reporting on this issue should do justice to the complexities of the real situation, not resurrect stereotypes from the fictional movie Inherit the Wind.
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The DI has a problem with conflation:
1. That some scientists are sceptical of RM&NS to account for complexity of life isn't the same as there being a scientific controversy. A lot of the 100 people on their list aren't even biologists.
2. That some scientists are sceptical of RM&NS to account for complexity of life doesn't necessarily make them critics, although some definitely are.
Despite the DI attempt to divert attention from religious beliefs I think it would have been instructive for them to also ask: "If you have a religious belief does this conflict with the RM&NS account of life's complexity?" I suspect that religious belief may play a bigger part in this "controversy" than they want to admit.
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Dene
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