Creationism : here we go again, but this time it's The Royal Society

[Griffin NoName]

Creationism call divides Royal Society

Our scientists must nail the creationists

And finally, slightly off topic, cripes!......Brandon Flowers lives in a neigbourhood called Henderson !!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

That is the sign of the apocalypse, or more precisely, the dawn of a new dark age, a Neo-Medievalism with corporate feudalism and mega-church inquisition.

The End is coming.

[beagle]

This is precisely the reason I rejected a fellowship [cough].

In other news, The Church of England is to apologize to Charles Darwin, via a website apparently, which suggests they know something network engineers don't about internet routeing to the great hereafter.

I'm still awaiting my apology for all the hours of R.E. at school.

[Griffin NoName]

Great idea for a new business; a webiste dedicated to apologising to dead people.

Have You Been Nasty to Someone?  Are they Dead?   We can HELP.

All we need is a name for it.......  I'd suggest Post Corporeal Guilt Support Network but PCGSN is too hard to remember. We need something snappy.

[Swatopluk]

I think creationsim has a place in the science classroom the same way as Aristotelian physics, i.e. as a background from which the currently accepted theories sprang. The "false" theories often apply to what we see as common sense, while the accepted models are often counterintuitive. I think "the truth" will take much firmer roots, if it is shown how the new thoughts did a better job than the old (and where and why the old ones erred). It's also imo a good antidote against arrogance of the "they were rather stupid then to believe those things" type. This has nothing to do with "teach the controversy" but with the important lesson of "be open to question your beliefs critically".
This of course requires that the teachers are competent and constantly supervised.

I always refer in this context to the fact that the classical physical chemistry we still use and teach today was mainly developed by firm believers in the phlogiston theory of combustion (that many textbooks today treat rather condescendingly).

[pieces o nine]

That was the post of someone with remarkably balanced humours.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Indeed, indeed.

I thought that bunch was supposed to be more intelligent than this.

[Swatopluk]

That was the post of someone with remarkably balanced humours.

Better Hippocratical than hypocritical, I say!

[beagle]

C of E Apology to one Charles Darwin, FRS

[Black Bart]

C of E Apology to one Charles Darwin, FRS

I read that with great interest...now we just have to wait for Darwin's response from above...or did the C of E send him down below in which case he surely gets a reprieve.

[Griffin NoName]

Fascinating. Apology? Hmmmmm.

It could be a sort of coded political message.

Yes, Christians believe that God became incarnate as a human being in the person of Jesus and thereby demonstrated God's especial love for humanity. But how can that special relationship be undermined just because we develop a different understanding of the processes by which humanity came to be?

my emphasis

[Black Bart]

Blimey...a reply to church of England from Darwin:

Dear Sir

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your humble apology.  I am very glad to see that the Church of England is evolving and taking into account the scientific evidence which myself and others have brought to the world's attention.

I would welcome a rapprochement between myself and the Christain faith but I am dead...you're 200 years too late mate.   

My publication of 'On the Origin of Species' is held to be one of mankind's greatest achievements along with Newton's Principia and Einstein's Theory of Relativity.   Some say that the Beatles 'White Album' was an even greater step forward of course.

As you point out Quantum Physics is, even as I write, endeavouring to find the so called 'God Particle' with the new Large Hadron Collider at CERN.  If however the Higgs Bosun doesn't turn up that means the 'God' particle doesn't exist and we in the scientific community (both dead and alive) will be contacting you for some answers.

Yours Posthumously

Charles Darwin

[Sibling Chatty]

Great idea for a new business; a webiste dedicated to apologising to dead people.

Have You Been Nasty to Someone?  Are they Dead?   We can HELP.

All we need is a name for it.......  I'd suggest Post Corporeal Guilt Support Network but PCGSN is too hard to remember. We need something snappy.

Apres' Mortem Guilt Amelioration Network

AMGAN

[Black Bart]

Actually thinking about it, Charles Darwin got off pretty lightly.  Has the church apologized to all the people they burned for Heresy yet?

[beagle]

I think the church prefers to refer to it as "unfortunate confusion over appropriate scheduling of cremation services".