Why not? It is a Christian nation and, thusly, the best one in the world.

Theophile on July 29, 2008 at 4:54 AM

Penn & Teller versus … creationism

…is like Abbott and Costello lecturing on nuclear physics.

labrat on July 29, 2008 at 7:26 AM

Torquemada called, he said you’re a heretic who needs to repent before being burned at the stake.

oh how shocking, an atheist would bring up the inquisition….with what a whole 2,000 or so people killed? lets compare that to the tolerant atheist revolutions we’ve seen…lets start with the french revolution..you know..the Terror and continue onto the communist regimes..

Oh, and Voltaire, that godless, heathen, deist called, and said he’ll defend your right to speak your mind, even if it means his own death.

empty words from an empty man. we’ve seen how ‘tolerant’ atheists are, both in this country and around the world.

People who claim the “Judeo-Christian” tradition led to the concepts of individual rights and liberties really need to read up on the Renaissance, Humanism, and the Enlightenment.

people who claim ‘humanism’ or ‘atheism’ lead to individual rights need to read the gulag archipelago, or a day in the life of ivan denisovich or eldridge cleaver. or perhaps just go live in the enlightened lands of atheism…North Korea, Cuba, etc.

You should also look up “false dichotomy”: just because living in Islamic lands today is horrible, doesn’t mean living in a Christian nation would be any better (and please don’t start with that “The US is a Christian nation” garbage).

oh yeah the US is a purely atheist nation…and the atheists are responsible for slavery, and the genocide of the indians.

go live in one of your ‘people’s paradises’ and then let me know what you think…

right4life on July 29, 2008 at 9:10 AM

As someone who believes in most conservative values but think ID is basically bunk on not science, I find it odd that ID believers are spinning themselves off as victims and that their “evidence” is being suppressed. There is no evidence to back their claims other than a couple of books written thousands of years ago gradually changed over time to meet a certain group’s agenda. Most of these stories were written well before the time of scientific understanding. You might as well believe in the Star Wars trilogy if you believe the bible. Both have the same amount of evidence.
The people babbling along with evolution is just a theory have ignorance of how science works.
According to the National Academy of Sciences, a scientific theory is “a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses.” No amount of validation changes a theory into a law, which is a descriptive generalization about nature. So whether scientists talk about the theory of evolution or theory of relativity they are not expressing reservations about its truth. People are taught theory is above hypothesis but below law. Researchers do not use this distinction when they propose a theory.

In addition to the theory of evolution, meaning the idea of descent with modification, one may also speak of the fact of evolution. The NAS defines a fact as “an observation that has been repeatedly confirmed and for all practical purposes is accepted as ‘true.’” The fossil record, DNA evidence, physical left over remains and other evidence testify that organisms have evolved through time. Although it isn’t entirely possible to directly observe these transformations the indirect evidence is clear.

All sciences have to rely on indirect evidence at some point. Physicists cannot see subatomic particles directly so they verify their existence by watching for the tracks the particles leave in cloud chambers. The absence of direct observation does not make a physicists’ conclusions less certain. For example we know subatomic particles do exist and Einstein’s theories of matter can be denoted in terms of energy are true.

Until ID proponents can come up with actual evidence of this super natural being they believe guided the universe, ID can’t be taken as science. Saying “look around at the world” does not qualify as direct observations would also suggest the world and life work randomly and isn’t guided but a super-natural force (i.e. the weather, stars, animals). I find it interesting that Penn also mentioned the Raelians who believe essentially the same thing, a higher power is responsible for our existence. The only difference between them and the abrahamic religions is one believes the bearded man in the sky created the world, the others think it was little green men.

bentman78 on July 29, 2008 at 1:03 PM