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Does God exist?
Yes, God does exist and his majesty is made clear by what he has created (Psalm 19:1-4, Romans 1:18-22). However, some who are influential in the scientific community have used this same observation of the condition of all biological matter as it now exists in all its complexity and variety as proof positive of the intricate product of evolution and natural selection. There are basically only two possible paths to life - evolution or creationism. (Intelligent design ultimately leads to belief in a sumpreme creator.) There is no inbetween or combination of the two because they are belief systems in diametrical opposition. This is not to say that science is opposed to religion, rather, the theory of evolution is in contradiction to the Bible, which says that all life was created by God and if we don't acknowledge him then even the stones will cry out in praise to him (Luke 19:37-40).
| The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)
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The theory of evolution is considered by many to be fact because it is universally accepted, not because it is undeniable truth, and reject the Bible based on their own faith that one day scientific methods will uncover indisputable proof that life owes no origin to an omnipotent creator but to ideal circumstances based on chance and time. The following list comprises the essential tenets of evolution as a viable explanation of all existence:
Big Bang Theory
| Cosmological evidence points to a singular beginning for matter. Somewhere between 10 and 20 billion years ago, matter came into existence instantaneously and seemingly without cause as a result of a massive explosion from a densely compressed and extremely hot point of unknown cosmic origin the size of a fist. Energy was converted into subatomic particles, which combined to form atoms and basic elements. This theory aside, some cosmogonists believe the same explosion was possibly due to a gravitational collapse into a super dense state as the result of an eternal, oscillating universe that is constantly expanding and contracting. |
Formation of Galaxies
| Through the expansion and cooling of primal elements over time, gas clouds, stars, and planets were formed in clusters of galaxies. Billions of galaxies formed billions of universes. The sun in our solar system was formed around 5 billion years ago, while planet Earth was formed about 4.5 billion years ago. The moon was formed not long after from the accumulation of debris from Earth's crust after another planet collided with it. Water came primarily from comets which struck the earth and then melted. |
Biological Life Emerges
| Life spontaneously formed as basic protoplasm on Earth somewhere around 3.8 billion years ago. Although this may seem statistically improbable (100 billion billion to one), it is not impossible given billions of galaxies with billions upon billions of planets from which life could possibly spring forth. All life on Earth today originated from this one occurance, which can be observed by the universal nature of genetic code. |
Evolution
| Once life miraculously started as a simple, prokaryotic cell, it then took approximately two billion years to develop a nucleus, however, the probability of different life forms emerging from the same source over time reduced substantially as it mutated into different species by splitting into multiple cells. Evolution is a gradual, cumulative process that happens over periods of millions of years ("gradualism"). Single celled organisms evolved into multi-celled organisms between 2.5 billion and 540 million years ago. There may have been periods of accellerated evolution, shortening the evolutionary process by hundreds of thousands of years ("punctuated equelibrium") or moments when a relatively large, single mutation was beneficial ("saltation"), however, the evolutionary process is one that constitutes relatively long periods of time. Some organisms remain relatively the same, primarily bacteria, which evolved around one billion years ago and survived worldwide catastrophic events. Some organisms, like viruses, have evolved the ability to evolve instantaneously through deliberate mutation. |
Natural Selection
| Natural Selection is the process by which organisms survive or die off based on their propensity to adapt to their environment. These adaptations are based primarily upon chance mutations that result in genetic variations which benefit the organism and are passed on to its offspring, a theory predominately developed by naturalist Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century. (The term "survival of the fittest" was coined by Herbert Spencer, a contemporary of Darwin, and was later adopted by Darwin as a synonym for natural selection.) The cumulative process of natural selection takes the randomness of chance mutations and compounds them over time to gradually transform simple organisms into more complex ones. Natural selection also acts to slow down evolution by preventing genetic changes from accelerating too fast and growing out of control. |
Rise of Animals
| Most of the animal kingdom evolved from sea life around 500 million years ago. After fish ventured from water to land, amphibian scales eventually turned into feathers or hair. Some mammals even returned to the sea and devolved fins from limbs, such as dolphins and whales. (Land plants also evolved from sea algae, somewhere between 600 million and 450 million years ago.) |
Man
| The first ancestors of upright hominids began to appear between 3 million and 4 million years ago. As a result of the hyperactivity of an advanced brain, man created religion as a means of self-preservation. Primitive man devised God from a perverse intelligence to explain how his surroundings came about and to imbue meaning to his own being, without the benefit of scientific methods to logically and rationally prove its origins. Natural selection developed this brain in offspring to accept teachings of survival from its parents and ancestors. The unfortunate byproduct of this was a slavish gullibility passed down from generation to generation. |
Anthropic Principle
| Today, science explains what we see and quantum theory helps to explain what we cannot see. There has come a point in the evolution of mankind where science has superseded the need for religion. All of the conditions and components necessary for biological life in just the right balance, not only on Earth but throughout the universe, stipulates that intelligent life be here to observe its cosmic environment which gave birth to it. Call it destiny, but it was inevitable that cognizant beings should arise to observe, investigate, and appreciate life. |
| Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8)
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Although not all of science is united about the minute details of evolution, the majority is united about the theory in general -- that life came from nothing and changed over a long period of time through the process of natural selection to what it is today and continues to change and improve upon itself. Though there are still many unanswered problems with the theory of the evolution of life, it remains persuasive even to those who don't fully understand it or care to contemplate upon the origins of life for themselves. To argue against or debate this theory is pointless, not because science can prove it, but because men use science to support it. Many in the scientific community consider themselves too knowledgeable and critically inquisitive to contend with those who are religiously fundamental and too scientifically incompetent to be published. For believers who attempt to explain away the account of the beginning of life on Earth in the Book of Genesis either by infusing evolutionary bits and pieces or discounting it altogether, here are a few things to consider:
There are some who have attempted to compromise between evolution and creationism by conceding that God may have seeded the Earth, then stepped back and allowed evolution to run its course ("progressive creation," "threshold evolution," "gap theory," "day-age theory" or "theistic evolution"). Their rationale from a biblical standpoint is that the six days of creation in Genesis were actually a billion years apart. The only problem with this argument is that Genesis begins by instituting a system of time. Days are based on periods of alternating light (day) and darkness (night). Days make weeks, weeks make months, months make seasons, and seasons make years. This establishes that God created everything in a period of six literal days.
Jesus did not refute the Book of Genesis or any of Moses' teachings. He said that in the beginning God made man and woman (Matthew 19:4-5). He said to the Jews of Moses, "since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" (John 5:47)
Too much time is required for evolution to be observed. Even if a biologist observes a mutation under a microscope, it cannot prove evolution because, by its principles, the theory of evolution requires millions of years for beneficial change. If a virus, bacterium, or even RNA instantaneously mutates to adapt to its environment, then it is either by design or it took it exponentially longer to develop this ability. It is possible to assemble nucleotides into strings under prebiotic conditions in controlled experiments, but not into more complex chains. Proteins were not formed from a random collection of amino acids. Organized complexity, a key tenant of evolution, is still difficult to explain, much less duplicate in a lab. Still, evolutionists argue that given infinite time and opportunity, anything can happen.
There is no known naturalistic origin for the original formation of DNA. DNA is very accurate at replicating itself. A mutation happens when DNA is copied incorrectly, which generally happens one in five million times, or one percent per five million years. There is a one in a billion chance of a DNA strand miscopying one of its characters. DNA is also digitally encoded. It is informational and information has to be manufactured. Evolution does not have the causal powers to produce information. Only intelligence can create information. Mutations result in the loss of information at the molecular level, however, evolutionists maintain that genetic improvements are "written" to DNA. If this is possible, then why haven't some higher species, such as man, evolved at an exponential rate to become the biological legends of myth, folklore, and science fiction? Instead, they argue, man now evolves not physically or biologically, but socially, culturally, and technologically.
Radiometric, or radioisotope, dating is the most reliable method of determining the age of bones and fossils by calculating the half life of radioactive atoms found at various levels of geologic strata containing igneous rock, however, most bones and fossils are found in sedimentary rocks where radiometric dating is inconsistent. Radiocarbon, or Carbon-14, dating is primarily used on organic matter, but its half life is only 5,730 years. Commonly used elements (such as uranium, rubidium and potassium) are affected by external factors, including intense heat, such as lava formation, or neutrinos from cosmic radiation, which can accelerate their age by millions of years. Another factor to consider is dating the age of atomic matter in millions and billions of years, which is not an observable process. Study and experimentation on radioactive isotopes and their age has only been in practice for around 100 years and is based primarily on the previous estimates of geologic strata, which relies on the age determination of radioactive elements within. Even if it were true that it takes millions, if not billions, of years for radioactive isotopes to escape at a constant rate from parent elements within a closed system, it does not deter from a created Earth less than 10,000 years old if it was formless and void and shaped with intense heat and other unknown factors.
Fossil records contain too many large gaps between stages of evolution. There is no proof of smooth transitions between lower and higher forms of life. A prime example is the Cambrian Period, when fully developed animals suddenly appeared with no correlation to earlier sea creatures. Charles Darwin had hoped that future fossil discoveries would prove his theories of natural selection, but they have yet to do so. Paleontology is a historical science, not an experimentally provable one, and therefore must rely on statistical inference and taxonomic classification. The animals we see now are end products of their evolutionary lineage. There are no current examples of organisms in between stages of evolution.
Most of evolution is based on statistical improbabilities: the chance that certain locations in galaxies would be fine tuned in over two dozen parameters to allow for the existence of a planet suitable to sustain life as we may or may not know it; the chance that a planet could sustain biological life; the chance that life could emerge from basic elements and the right ingredients under ideal circumstances; the probability of the formation of a short, functional protein (one in one hundred thousand trillion trillion trillion, as a conservative estimate); the chance that cells could become elaborate factories that synthesize proteins; the chance that an organism could survive and replicate itself; the chance that a single cell organism could divide its cells and form more complex organisms; the chance that an organism could morph into a different organism; the chance that complex organisms could give rise to millions of species, including plants, animals, fish, birds, insects, and people; the chance that organisms would arise to comprehend their existence and study the existence of their environment, then object to the word "chance"; the chance that our universe is ordered and adheres to relatively simple laws of physics which man can observe, record and calculate scientifically. The argument is then made that multiplying these vast improbabilities together greatly reduces the probability that we now exist to make this argument, which is basically conceding that evolution is fact simply because we are here.
To compound the statistical odds of the evolution of one-celled organisms into plants and animals are the theories that life didn't just evolve once, but several times over after worldwide cataclysmic events wiped out all but the simplest life forms. These mass extinction periods were the result of the Ice Age, global volcanic destruction, the impact of a giant asteroid or comet, a supernova, and depletion of all oxygen in the air and the ocean due to overpopulation of plants and bacteria that feed on decayed plantlife and produce toxic gases. Regardless of the causes, most scientists agree there were five mass extinctions and several lesser extinctions.
There are so many finely tuned physical constants that allow an abundance of life on Earth that if any of them were slightly off, this planet would be unbalanced and life could not exist at all. These constants include, but are not limited to, just the right amount of gravity, a perfect atmosphere with a protective magnetic field, precise mass of subatomic particles, location in a galactic hospitable zone, the right distance from the right type of star, a large moon that properly affects ocean tides and the necessary axial tilt for seasons. Along with these carefully balanced properties are the necessary presence of liquid water, plate tectonics, and metals required for complex chemistry. These criteria greatly reduce the number of possible planets in our universe where life could exist or begin to exist without the metaphysical hypothesis of billions of other universes beyond our own. Therefore, the only alternative is an intelligent grand designer capable of such an enormous creation.
One of the main problems with Noah's ark is the number and types of animals he took onboard. If these were what populated the earth after the worldwide flood (circa 2,350 B.C.), then it does not account for the vast amount of species we now have. Cross-breeding, however, does. Plants survived the flood, as did fish, and insect eggs may have lain dormant until after the flood. Most scientists believe that bacteria survived the supposed 25 million-year worldwide ice age before giving rise to higher forms of life. It is not, therefore, improbable that what higher forms of life Noah and his family took aboard the ark could have repopulated the earth and diversified in a period of thousands of years. Dinosaurs, however, did not survive the flood. The proof of this is undeniable, but the age of dinosaur bones and fossils is debatable.
Although it has been determined that Earth is not the center of our solar system, nor are we at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, we are situated in a prime location for viewing and analyzing the universe. If by design, then it would logically explain the physical beauty, harmony, symmetry, and proportionality of our galactic environment and the ability to analyze it mathematically. If by arbitrary, pointless cosmic luck (kismet), then there would be chaos on a cosmic level and we should not be here at all.
God created stars on the fourth day. The question to this is how could their light be seen if they were billions of light years away? Light from stars could not reach Earth in such a short amount of time. Some might answer that God created everything in a mature state, however, the universe is constantly expanding and actually speeding up as it does so. If God created all matter in a big bang on day one, then the stars would have moved from a central location to a distant one, leaving behind a trail of light to where they are now. If he spoke the universe into existence less than 10,000 years ago and placed the stars where they are, with a propensity for continued expansion, there are factors to consider both within the realm of invisible spectrums and beyond our four-dimentional comprehension that may affect the speed of light through space. Observable science is limited to space and time. In space, both dark matter and dark energy, which comprise much of the known universe, are relative unknowns. According to mathematical theory, there may be more than two dozen dimensions, however, they are not provable without physical observation. Jesus said, "blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29) and Paul said that "we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen." (2 Corinthians 4:18)
The primary evidence linking primates to man are teeth and jawbones. Complete skeletons of primitive man are constructed around a handful of bone fragments. According to Genesis 2:7, "the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." Human consciousness cannot be explained by evolution, nor by the laws of physics or chemistry.
Some creationists may argue that God filled the earth and universe with false evidence to lead science astray. Many proponents of Intelligent Design, on the other hand, believe an intelligent creator designed everything to be explored by its inhabitants. Evolutionists uphold that life as we know it is inevitable based on the universal constants of nature and space. Evolution evades scientific investigation by a factor of time, however, intelligent design is unfalsifiable and creationism is inaccessible to the scientific method altogether. As detestable as Biblical Creationism is to the average scientific mind, Darwinian Evolution cannot be fully nor conclusively proven. They each come down to a matter of faith.
| Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (Hebrews 11:1-3) | | |
A wise man may look around and reflect upon the design of God in his environment. He may even ask, "Who made God?" The answer of which would have to come from God and he would have to accept whatever answer God may or may not provide. A foolish man, such as Richard Dawkins (DSc, FRS), would answer, "A designer God cannot be used to explain organized complexity because any God capable of designing anything would have to be complex enough to demand the same kind of explanation in his own right. God presents an infinite regeress from which he cannot help us to escape. This argument...demonstrates that God, though not techincally disprovable, is very very improbable indeed." ("The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins, page 136) Here are more atheistic, humanist quotes and admissions from this most outspoken critic of creationism:
"Evolution by natural selection produces an excellent simulacrum of design, mounting prodigious heights of complexity and elegance." (The God Delusion, page 103)
"Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose." (The Blind Watch Maker, page 1)
"Natural selection not only explains the whole of life; it also raises our consciousness to the power of science to explain how organized complexity can emerge from simple beginning without any deliberate guidance." (The God Delusion, page 141)
"Animals give the appearance of having been designed by a theoretically sophisticated and practically ingenious physicist or engineer... the 'designer' is unconscious natural selection..." (The Blind Watch Maker, page 36, 37)
"One of the truly bad effects of religion is that it teaches us that it is a virtue to be satisfied with not understanding." (The God Delusion, page 152)
"...it is vanishingly improbable that exactly the same evolutionary pathway should ever be travelled twice. And it would seem similarly improbable, for the same statistical reasons, that two lines of evolution should converge on exactly the same endpoint from different starting points. It is all the more striking a testimony to the power of natural selection, therefore, that numerous examples can be found in real nature, in which independent lines of evolution appear to have converged, from very different starting points, on what looks very like the same endpoint." (The Blind Watch Maker, page 94)
"The reasoning that underlies 'intelligent design' theory is lazy and defeatist... I have previously dubbed it the Argument from Personal Incredulity." (The God Delusion, page 155)
"We can make the point that, however improbable the origins of life might be, we know it happened on Earth because we are here." (The God Delusion, page 165)
"...two hypotheses to explain what happened -- the design hypothesis and the scientific or 'anthropic' hypothesis... the anthropic alternative to the design hypothesis is statistical. Scientists invoke the magic of large numbers. It has been estimated that there are between 1 billion and 30 billion planets in our galaxy, and about 100 billion galaxies in the universe... a billion billion is a conservative estimate of the number of available planets in the universe. Now, suppose the origin of life, the spontaneous arising of something equivalent to DNA, really was a quite staggeringly improbable event. Suppose it was so improbable as to occur on only one in a billion planets... And yet...even with such absurdly long odds, life will still have arisen on a billion planets -- of which Earth, of course, is one." (The God Delusion, page 165)
"We live on a planet where we are surrounded by perhaps ten million species, each one of which independently displays a powerful illusion of apparent design." (The God Delusion, page 167)
"Physicists have calculated that, if the laws and constants of physics had been slightly different, the universe would have developed in such a way that life would have been impossible." (The God Delusion, page 169)
"Organized complexity is the thing that we are having difficulty in explaining. Once we are allowed simply to postulate organized complexity, if only the organized complexity of the DNA/protein replicating engine, it is relatively easy to invoke it as a generator of yet more organized complexity." (The Blind Watch Maker, page 141)
"Many people have not had their consciousness raised, as biologists have, by natural selection and its power to tame improbability." (The God Delusion, page 172)
"God...must be a supremely complex and improbable entity who needs an even bigger explanation than the one he is supposed to provide." (The God Delusion, page 176)
"If our universe was designed...the designer himself must be the end product of some kind of cumulative escalator or crane, perhaps a version of Darwinism in another universe." (The God Delusion, page 186)
"...it is a fact of great significance that every living thing, no matter how different from others in external appearance it may be, 'speaks' almost exactly the same language at the level of the genes. The genetic code is universal. I regard this as near-conclusive proof that all organisms are descended from a single common ancestor." (The Blind Watch Maker, page 270)
"Intelligent as our species might be, we are perversely intelligent. The very same peoples who are so savvy about the natural world and how to survive in it simultaneously clutter their minds with beliefs that are palpably false and for which the word 'useless' is a generous understatement." (The God Delusion, page 193)
"...to make an eye from nothing you need not just one improvement but a large number of improvements. Any one of these improvements is pretty improbable by itself, but not so improbable as to be impossible." (The Blind Watch Maker, page 234)
"The religious behavior may be a misfiring, an unfortunate by-product of an underlying psychological propensity which in other circumstances is, or once was, useful." (The God Delusion, page 202)
"No serious biologist doubts the fact that evolution has happened... The Darwinian theory is in principle capable of explaining life. No other theory that has ever been suggested is in principle capable of explaining life." (The Blind Watch Maker, page 287, 288)
"...the detailed form of each religion has been largely shaped by unconscious evolution. Not by genetic natural selection, which is too slow to account for the rapid evolution and divergence of religions... In the early stages of a religion's evolution, before it becomes organized, simple memes survive by virtue of their universal appeal to humans psychologically." (The God Delusion, page 233)
"Why should a divine being, with creation and eternity on his mind, care a fig for petty human malefactions? We humans give ourselves such airs, even aggrandizing our poky little 'sins' to the level of cosmic significance!" (The God Delusion, page 270)
"Modern theologians of any sophistication have given up believing in instantaneous creation. The evidence for some sort of evolution has become too overwhelming." (The Blind Watch Maker, page 316)
"What makes my jaw drop is that people today should base their lives on such an appalling role model as Yahweh -- and, even worse, that they should bossily try to force the same evil monster (whether fact or fiction) on the rest of us." (The God Delusion, page 281)
"I am hostile to religion because of what it did to Kurt Wise. And if it did that to a Harvard-educated geologist, just think what it can do to others less gifted and less well armed." (The God Delusion, page 323)
"Faith can be very very dangerous, and deliberately to implant it into the vulnerable mind of an innocent child is a grievous wrong." (The God Delusion, page 348)
"The implication that the scriptures provide a literal account of geological history would make any reputable theologian wince." (The God Delusion, page 377)
"Historically, religion aspired to explain our own existence and the nature of the universe in which we find ourselves. In this role it is now completely superseded by science." (The God Delusion, page 389)
| The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20) | | |
Answers in Genesis
"Answers in Genesis is an apologetics (i.e., Christianity-defending) ministry, dedicated to enabling Christians to defend their faith and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. We focus particularly on providing answers to questions surrounding the book of Genesis, as it is the most-attacked book of the Bible. We also desire to train others to develop a biblical worldview, and seek to expose the bankruptcy of evolutionary ideas, and its bedfellow, a �millions of years old� earth (and even older universe). AiG teaches that �facts� don�t speak for themselves, but must be interpreted. That is, there aren�t separate sets of �evidences� for evolution and creation�we all deal with the same evidence (we all live on the same earth, have the same fossils, observe the same animals, etc.). The difference lies in how we interpret what we study. The Bible�the �history book of the universe��provides a reliable, eye-witness account of the beginning of all things, and can be trusted to tell the truth in all areas it touches on. Therefore, we are able to use it to help us make sense of this present world. When properly understood, the �evidence� confirms the biblical account."
Christian Moments
"Creation Moments is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) interdenominational Christian outreach program. We serve individuals, students, churches, home schoolers and professionals by offering products that uphold the truth of God in creation. Creation Moments exists to glorify God by presenting scientific evidence for the Bible and its literal truths. WHAT WE BELIEVE: A literal interpretation of creation as presented in the Bible; The existence of scientific evidence for the Bible; Divine design and purpose in nature; A global flood (as described in Genesis); Special creation (uniqueness); Christ-centered scientific research; A young Earth; Christ as man's only hope for eternal redemption. Christ is both Savior and Lord, was born of a virgin, is both God and man, died for our sins and rose again."
Creationism.Org
"Paul Abramson used to believe in theistic evolution and that Genesis should not be taken literally. After all "the scientists must be right" ... even if the "science, falsely so called" is not testable-repeatable like other (the real) sciences are. Ancient history creates the foundation for the future. Are we merely cosmic accidents or are we in the middle of a spiritual war for souls? And is "this life" the testing ground? Steady research over the past several years has led Paul to the conclusion that (what is called) "young earth creation science" is the best theory supporting the evidence regarding our ancient origins. Evolution is primarily a spiritual deception. There is still no scientific evidence to support it; there are actually zero transitional fossils, no evolutionary mechanism (it's not mutations!), and their dating methods just don't work! (Simultaneously they ignore the Earth dating methods that do work, that show a young planet Earth.) Informed creationists usually win debates against highly "educated/indoctrinated" evolutionary professors ... even a layman like Paul."
Creation Research Society
"The Creation Research Society is a professional organization of trained scientists and interested laypersons who are firmly committed to scientific special creation. The Society was organized in 1963 by a committee of ten like-minded scientists, and has grown into an organization with worldwide membership. The primary functions of the Society are: Publication of a quarterly peer-reviewed journal; Conducting research to develop and test creation models; The provision of research grants and facilities to creation scientists for approved research projects; Providing qualified scientists to speak to groups or churches. Other functions of CRS include maintenance of a comprehensive directory of creationist organizations throughout the world. The CRS also runs a secure online bookstore for ordering books and videos on special creation."
Discovery Institute
"Discovery Institute is an inter-disciplinary community of scholars and policy advocates dedicated to the reinvigoration of traditional Western principles and institutions and the worldview from which they issued. Discovery Institute has a special concern for the role that science and technology play in our culture and how they can advance free markets, illuminate public policy and support the theistic foundations of the West."
Foundation for Reason and Science
"The mission of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science is to support scientific education, critical thinking and evidence-based understanding of the natural world in the quest to overcome religious fundamentalism, superstition, intolerance and suffering."
Institute for Creation Research
"For over four decades, the Institute for Creation Research has equipped believers with evidence of the Bible's accuracy and authority through scientific research, educational programs, and media presentations, all conducted within a thoroughly biblical framework. All things in the universe were created and made by God in the six literal days of the Creation Week described in Genesis 1:1-2:3, and confirmed in Exodus 20:8-11. The creation record is factual, historical, and perspicuous; thus all theories of origins or development that involve evolution in any form are false. All things that now exist are sustained and ordered by God's providential care. However, a part of the spiritual creation, Satan and his angels, rebelled against God after the creation and are attempting to thwart His divine purposes in creation."
IntelligentDesign.org
"What is intelligent design? Intelligent design refers to a scientific research program as well as a community of scientists, philosophers and other scholars who seek evidence of design in nature. The theory of intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection. Through the study and analysis of a system's components, a design theorist is able to determine whether various natural structures are the product of chance, natural law, intelligent design, or some combination thereof. Such research is conducted by observing the types of information produced when intelligent agents act. Scientists then seek to find objects which have those same types of informational properties which we commonly know come from intelligence. Intelligent design has applied these scientific methods to detect design in irreducibly complex biological structures, the complex and specified information content in DNA, the life-sustaining physical architecture of the universe, and the geologically rapid origin of biological diversity in the fossil record during the Cambrian explosion approximately 530 million years ago."
Intelligent Design Network
"Intelligent Design Network, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that seeks institutional objectivity in origins science. Objectivity results from the use of the scientific method without philosophic or religious assumptions in seeking answers to the question: Where do we come from? We believe objectivity in the institutions of science, government and the media will lead not only to good origins science, but also to constitutional neutrality in this subjective, historical science that unavoidably impacts religion. We promote the scientific evidence of intelligent design because proper consideration of that evidence is necessary to achieve not only scientific objectivity but also constitutional neutrality."
National Academy of Sciences Evolution Resources
"Biological evolution is one of the most important ideas of modern science. Evolution is supported by abundant evidence from many different fields of scientific investigation. It underlies the modern biological sciences, including the biomedical sciences, and has applications in many other scientific and engineering disciplines. As individuals and societies, we are now making decisions that will have profound consequences for future generations. How should we balance the need to preserve the Earth�s plants, animals, and natural environment against other pressing concerns? Should we alter our use of fossil fuels and other natural resources to enhance the well-being of our descendants? To what extent should we use our new understanding of biology on a molecular level to alter the characteristics of living things? None of these decisions can be made wisely without considering biological evolution. People need to understand evolution, its role within the broader scientific enterprise, and its vital implications for some of the most pressing social, cultural, and political issues of our time.
Science and technology are so pervasive in modern society that students increasingly need a sound education in the core concepts, applications, and implications of science. Because evolution has and will continue to serve as a critical foundation of the biomedical and life sciences, helping students learn about and understand the scientific evidence, mechanisms, and implications of evolution are fundamental to a high-quality science education. Science and religion are different ways of understanding. Needlessly placing them in opposition reduces the potential of both to contribute to a better future."
National Center for Science Education
"The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a not-for-profit, membership organization providing information and resources for schools, parents, and concerned citizens working to keep evolution and climate science in public school science education. We educate the press and public about the scientific and educational aspects of controversies surrounding the teaching of evolution and climate change, and supply needed information and advice to defend good science education at local, state, and national levels. Our 4500 members are scientists, teachers, clergy, and citizens with diverse religious and political affiliations."
The TalkOrigins Archive
"Talk.origins is a Usenet newsgroup devoted to the discussion and debate of biological and physical origins. Most discussions in the newsgroup center on the creation/evolution controversy, but other topics of discussion include the origin of life, geology, biology, catastrophism, cosmology and theology.
The TalkOrigins Archive is a collection of articles and essays, most of which have appeared in talk.origins at one time or another. The primary reason for this archive's existence is to provide mainstream scientific responses to the many frequently asked questions (FAQs) that appear in the talk.origins newsgroup and the frequently rebutted assertions of those advocating intelligent design or other creationist pseudosciences."
Understanding Evolution
"Understanding Evolution is a non-commercial, education website, teaching the science and history of evolutionary biology. This site is here to help you understand what evolution is, how it works, how it factors into your life, how research in evolutionary biology is performed, and how ideas in this area have changed over time. This site is a collaborative project of the University of California Museum of Paleontology and the National Center for Science Education."
| But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:5-7) | | |
Data sources: Richard Dawkins, "The God Delusion" ©2006 Mariner Books; Richard Dawkins, "The Blind Watchmaker" ©1987 W. W. Norton & Company; Kenneth R. Miller, "Finding Darwin's God" ©1999 Harper Perennial; Laurie R. Godfrey, "Scientists Confront Creationsists" © 1983 W. W. Norton & Company; Lee Strobel, "The Case for a Creator" ©2004 Zondervan Publishing; Jonathan Sarfati, "Refuting Evolution" ©1999 Answers in Genesis
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