What is this New Creationism being preached by The New Creationists? What are its distinguishing characteristics? What I am identifying as The New Creationists (TNCs) are not necessarily an intentional or organized distinction. I think it has happened organically and those whom I am calling The New Creationists may have never even thought of themselves... Continue Reading →
Pick up a copy of The New Answers Book Volumes 1-4 from the young-earth apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis and you could be forgiven for thinking that young-earth creationists have the definitive answers to every question: If the world is young and its surface was completely worked over less than 4500 years ago, how would... Continue Reading →
In 2017 the film documentary Is Genesis History? marked a significant moment in the history of creationism evangelism. A professional-quality production defending the young-earth interpretation of Scripture and overview of the state-of-the-art in creation science—the attempt to conform the physical evidence of creation into the Young-Earth biblical framework. Upon its release, I wrote several reviews... Continue Reading →
Rather than bow to societal pressures, I say, just zip it up and walk right out of the bathroom with a sense of freedom. A sense of privilege to live your life without being told how to live. Bask in the knowledge that you know the truth and by not washing you are preaching Truth. Next time you see one of those signs saying to wash your hands, stand up for your rights. As another US Senator has recently said: It’s time for us to resist. They can’t arrest all of us. No one should follow the CDC.” So reach for that bathroom door handle and shake the hand of the first person you see. What doesn’t kill them will only make them stronger!
Strike up a conversation about the age of the earth with nearly any group of evangelicals and you are sure to get a lively discussion. There may be a young earth defender who will pull out some Ken Ham top-10 proofs of a young creation, some will claim to be agnostic on the topic while... Continue Reading →
There are many organizations that have built an apologetics ministry around a young-earth interpretation of Genesis. If you are familiar with young-earth creationism at all you are probably aware of Answers in Genesis (AiG) and its founder, Ken Ham. AiG wasn't the first young-earth ministry but it has undoubtedly become the largest and most influential... Continue Reading →
My post-doctoral research from 1995 to 1999 included searching for, sequencing and characterizing genes of chloroplast genomes of holoparasitic plants (plants that cannot obtain energy from the sun and must steal it from other plants). I am preparing to give a seminar tomorrow on the topic of parasitic plants. So much has been learned since... Continue Reading →
Reading and understanding original research publications can be difficult when the content is outside your field of expertise. Sometimes reading that original research is just avoided and popular summaries are used to inform us of the importance of new research. The latter appears to be the case when Ken Ham writes about his love of... Continue Reading →
In a community of pollinators there are bound to be some that skirt the usual mutualistic pact between flower and pollinator. As I wrote about in my previous post (Nectar Robbing Bees, Natural Evil and the Image of God) nectar robbing bees short circuit the nectar bribery system put in place by flowers leaving the... Continue Reading →
I follow a number of apologists who play secondary roles in the young-earth (literal-day) creation universe. These are individuals with ministries that rely on repackaging and reselling ideas generated by the primary young-earth organizations like Answers in Genesis and Institute for Creation Research. One of those is David Rives. One of his many websites under... Continue Reading →
Cheaters prosper! Yes, they really do. Hundreds of thousands of species are singularly devoted to some form of parasitic life strategy. It's a strategy that involves one organism deriving all or much of its resources from a host organism to the detriment of that host. Many of these strategies make us cringe. For example the... Continue Reading →
Dawn and I took Calvin to our local dog park yesterday afternoon. It’s a time of socialization for our dog but if you have dogs you know it’s also a socialization opportunity for their owners. You can get a real slice-of-life at the dog park and yesterday we got ourselves one very unusual slice! Our... Continue Reading →
Young age creationists have responded to biodiversity loss (extinction) in a scattershot way in recent years. So my interest was peaked when the popular journal of Answers in Genesis, Answers Magazine, recently had a issue devoted to "Creation Care." One of those articles, Should We Abandon Some Species to Extinction? was featured on the Answers... Continue Reading →
During the last Ice Age when the oceans were up to 300 feet lower than they are today, an extensive cave system on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico was exposed, above sea level, allowing it to potentially be occupied by animals and humans. When the massive ice sheets melted from the Earth’s surface causing the... Continue Reading →
A few years ago I wrote a satire piece titled Answers from Genesis: Reclaiming the Biblical Authority of Joseph’s Global Famine. It was meant to call attention to the fact that Hebrew words used in Genesis 41 to describe the severe famine at the time of Joseph are the same as those used in the... Continue Reading →
Naturalis Historia 