Intelligent Design Creationism is not religious

Sometimes it's a good idea to let the other side have a say. It can be very revealing. This is from The Epistemological Deficiencies of Barbara Forrest. It's written by DonaldM.

Denyse O’Leary writes about Barbara Forrest’s fact-free attack on Frank Beckwith, which recently appeared in Synthese. While Denyse focused more on Beckwith’s response to Forrest’s scholarly article diatribe, it might be worth taking a closer look not only at Forrest’s article, but the entire issue of Synthese in which it is found. First Forrest. In the abstract for her article with the breathtaking title “The non-epistemology of intelligent design: its implications for public policy”, Bar writes:

Intelligent design creationism (ID) is a religious belief requiring a supernatural creator’s interventions in the natural order. ID thus brings with it, as does supernatural theism by its nature, intractable epistemological difficulties.

Okay, so we’re only 2 sentences into the abstract and we can already see that Bar has no clue what ID is about. I don’t know what ID books or articles she’s actually read, but claiming that ID is a “religious belief requiring a supernatural creator’s intervention” demonstrates how little she understands ID. Perhaps Bar could enlighten us as to what religion ID adheres. Since ID advocates come from a broad range of faith traditions as well as no faith tradition at all, it would seem a bit problematic for her to identify exactly which religion we’re talking about here. Further, I know of no ID advocate that makes the claim that ID “requires” a “supernatural” creator. While ID may be compatible with certain theistic beliefs, it by no means requires it. If Forrest has done even a cursory review of any ID literature she’d know that. (Actually, I suspect she does know that, but because she has a clear agenda, she fudges on the truth.)

Whenever I see the phrase “Intelligent Design creationism”, red flags go up all over the place. This traces back to Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics, a ponderous tome from 2001 edited by Robert Pennock, and in which Forrest herself had a chapter. The clever illusion of the title is to give the appearance of an unbreakable link between Intelligent Design and Creationism, no doubt because the term “creationism” carries with it the allusions to young earth creationism and all that goes with that. To Pennock and Forrest et.al., Intelligent Design is just a modifier for Creationism. But any informed reader already knows something is amiss when we see that phrase.

So now you know. The intelligent designer doesn't have to be God. It could be the Wizard of Oz or aliens from Betelgeuse.

And intelligent design does not require a creator so it isn't a form of creationism. The universe could have sprung into existence spontaneously and the intelligent designer only started meddling when life got interesting. And his meddling didn't involve any "creation," just a little tweaking here and there.

In case anyone's really interested in Barbara Forrest's expertise you can read the transcript of her testimony in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District [Trial transcript: Day 6 (October 5), AM Session, Part 2]. You'll find an interesting explanation of why she knows that Intelligent Design Creationism is about God and why it's a form of creationism.

The fun part of her testimony is when she shows that the word "creation" was replaced by "design" in the drafts of Of Pandas and People. This was in the 1980s. Maybe that's before DonaldM was born?

The surprise is not that the IDiots have dug themselves into a hole. We all know that. The real surprise is that they keep digging and digging.

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Penis Spines

Most male mammals have spines on their penis. The spines are small keratinized projections that are connected to sensory receptors. We don't need to get into a discussion of their purpose—other blogs do that. The example shown here is a cat penis from Tom.

Humans don't have penis spines even though most other primates do. Part of the regulatory region of the relevant gene (androgen receptor, AR) has been deleted from our genome at some time after our lineage split from the chimpanzee lineage.

Is the loss of penis spines in humans an adaptation or is it an evolutionary accident? John Hawks discusses this: The real "junk" DNA. Read what he has to say on the matter. If you post comments here I'm sure he will see them.

The relevant paper was just published in Nature, McLean et al. (2011). Here's what the authors say,

Our results show that humans have lost an ancestral penile spine enhancer from the AR locus. Humans also fail to form the penile spines commonly found in other animals, including chimpanzees, macaques and mice (Fig. 2l). Simplified penile morphology tends to be associated with monogamous reproductive strategies in primates. Ablation of spines decreases tactile sensitivity and increases the duration of intromission, indicating their loss in the human lineage may be associated with the longer duration of copulation in our species relative to chimpanzees. This fits with an adaptive suite, including feminization of the male canine dentition, moderate-sized testes with low sperm motility, and concealed ovulation with permanently enlarged mammary glands, that suggests our ancestors evolved numerous morphological characteristics associated with pair-bonding and increased paternal care.

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WARNING: I may be a little more selective about allowing comments in this thread. I know it violates Sandwalk policy but for this one time I'm not going to allow adolescent male humor to distract from the science. There's plenty of other opportunities for us to indulge our sense of humor in other postings.

McLean, C.Y., et al. (2011) Human-specific loss of regulatory DNA and the evolution of human-specific traits. Nature 471:216–219. [doi:10.1038/nature09774]

The Problem with Evolutionary Psychology

Jesse Bering is an evolutionary psychologist at Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK). He blogs at Bering in Mind on the Scientific American website. Read his latest post: Natural homophobes? Evolutionary psychology and antigay attitudes.

In that post, Bering takes seriously the idea that homophobia could be a character that evolved in our ancestors. The idea is that parents who were homophobic were more likely to be concerned about the sexual orientation of their children. If this led to more heterosexual children then the parents would have more grandchildren and the allele for homophobia would increase in the population.

To my mind this idea is so ridiculous it doesn't even merit discussion and it certainly should never be published in a "scientific" journal. Why is it that respected evolutionary psychologists think these just-so stories are an important part of their discipline? Does this mean that the entire discipline is suspect?¹

Jesse Bering is the author of The God Instinct. I haven't read this book but I'm going to order a copy. Here's what he says on his website.

Why does even the most committed atheist turn to God when a family member falls seriously ill, or they find themselves in close personal danger? Using the latest scientific evidence, Jesse Bering explores how people's everyday thoughts, behaviours and emotions betray an innate tendency to reason as though God were deeply invested in their public lives and secret affairs.

In this entertaining and thought-provoking book, he argues that this religious reflex is not an irrational aberration, and that God is not a cultural invention or an existential band-aid, but an intrinsic human trait, developed over millennia, that carries powerful evolutionary benefits.

Breaking new ground, The God Instinct uses hard science to show that God is not a delusion, but a sophisticated cognitive illusion. Bering reveals the roots of religion in our ability to think beyond our immediate surroundings, and explains why this capacity for belief sets us apart from other animals.

Jesse Bering sounds like a complicated person with interesting perspectives on evolution and religion. Here's what he says about himself on the website.

Jesse Bering is Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at the Queen's University, Belfast. An evolutionary psychologist, he is one of the principal investigators on the Explaining Religion Project.

The Institute's research focuses primarily on human social behaviour, and current topics range from people's belief in the afterlife to moral disgust over social offences. Funded by the EU, the John F Templeton Foundation and the US Air Force, it has projects running all over the world, including India, Mali and Cyprus.

Jesse writes a weekly column for Scientific American, ‘Bering in Mind’. The members of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences named the column an official 2010 Webby Honoree in the “blog­cultural” category.

As well as being an acknowledged expert in his field, Jesse Bering is well known for his approachable and engaging popular writing. Born in the USA, he now lives in Northern Ireland.

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1. Perceptive readers will see a connection between evolutionary psychology and adaptationism.

[Hat Tip: Joe at Canadian Atheist]

Why Has this Bee Landed on this Flower?

This is a photo from Botany Photo of the Day. The flower is Crepis barbigera.

Why is the bee visiting this flower? What is the evolutionary advantage of attracting bees? You may think you know the answer but you will be surprised by the comment at the bottom of the posting on the Botany Photo of the Day website. Nothing in biology is simple.

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Bacteria Fossils in Meteorites

When I first heard about the discovery of fossil bacteria in meteorites I immediately read the paper in the Journal of Cosmology [Fossils of Cyanobacteria in CI1 Carbonaceous Meteorites: Implications to Life on Comets, Europa, and Enceladus]. The first thing I noticed was that this "journal" seemed to be of very low quality. A little bit of digging revealed that it was some sort of online journal that publishes just about everything.

The second thing I noticed was that the evidence of fossils in these meteorites was not convincing. It seemed like the author, Richard B. Hoover, was not being very skeptical about what he was seeing. I dismissed the paper, it was almost certainly not true.

Lot's of other people reached the same conclusion.

Ian Musgrove at The Panda's Thumb [Life from Beyond Earth on a Meteorite, or Pareidolia?] [Commentaries posted at Journal of Cosmology]

Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy [Followup thoughts on the meteorite fossils claim]

PZ Myers at Pharyngula [Did scientists discover bacteria in meteorites?]

Rosie Redfield at RRResearch [Is this claim of bacteria in a meteorite any better than the 1996 one?]

The Journal of Cosmology has now published 21 commentaries on the paper and only two of them are the least bit critical or skeptical of the results. That inspired the journal to insert this statement in the introduction to the article.

Official Statement The Journal of Cosmology,
Have the Terrorists Won?
Only a few crackpots and charlatans have denounced the Hoover study. NASA's chief scientist was charged with unprofessional conduct for lying publicly about the Journal of Cosmology and the Hoover paper. The same crackpots, self-promoters, liars, and failures, are quoted repeatedly in the media. However, where is the evidence the Hoover study is not accurate?

Few legitimate scientists have come forward to contest Hoover's findings. Why is that? Because the evidence is solid.

But why have so few scientists come forward to attest to the validity? The answer is: They are afraid. They are terrified. And for good reason.

The status quo and their "hand puppets" will stop at nothing to crush debate about important scientific issues, and this includes slander, defamation, trade libel... they will ruin you. Three hundred years ago, they would burn you for questioning orthodoxy. Has anything changed?

The scientific community must march according to the tune whistled by those who control the funding. If you don't do as you are told, if you dare to ask the wrong questions, they will destroy you.

JOC offered the scientific community a unique opportunity to debate an important paper, but for the most part they have declined.

The message is: Be afraid. Be very afraid. Or you will be destroyed.

Why is America in decline?

Maybe the terrorists have won.

Did you need convincing that this is not real science?

Now here's the tough question. Why did so many people immediately see that this paper was flawed while many others, including some journalists, were taken in? I think it's because many of us recognized this as an extraordinary claim that required extraordinary evidence. We also realized that if this was even close to being true it would be published as a front page story in Science or Nature. In addition, we have lived through many examples of exaggerated claims, including previous claims of meteorite fossils that proved to be untrue; not to mention the 3.5 billion year old fossils that weren't fossils [Did Life Arise 3.5 Billion Years Ago?].

It's a combination of skepticism and experience. Can that be taught?

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Zombie Theories

According to Greg Laden there are certain "theories of everything" that "will generally evolve into a zombie that won’t die and can’t be killed, potentially eating the brains of science geeks and graduate students for decades." The classic example is Aquatic Ape Theory but theories of bipedalism in humans are a close second. [The Aquatic Ape Theory as a Zombie Theory]

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When Did People First Start Knowing the One True God?

It's so easy to make fun of creationists and almost as easy to mock the so-called "theistic evolutionists" who have developed "sophisticated" ways of rationalizing Christianity and evolution. The accommodationists among us don't like to alienate the theistic evolutionists because their views are not in conflict with science—or so they say.

Let's take a look at the science behind theistic evolution. Here's an article from BioLogos that looks very interesting. It's written by Denis Alexander, Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge and it's billed as A Response to Coyne, MacDonald, Ruse, and Wilkinson, Pt 2. Jerry Coyne brought it to my attention¹ [It feels so good when it stops].

Remember that Denis Alexander is at Cambridge University (UK) so he's presumably one of the top intellectuals in his field. He says,

First, it should, I hope, be clear by now that I don’t think there is any problem with using the language of “data” and “models” in this context, providing that we don’t start thinking that we’re using the terms as they’re generally used in everyday science. Since such terms are used, as we have seen, in a wide range of disciplines, there seems no particular reason not to use them here. If pressed, then I would say that their use in our present context is somewhat akin to the various models posited to provide evolutionary explanations for the origin of music.1 In other words, it is quite possible to generate plausible models for things which are consistent with various kinds of data and argument, including in this case a good deal of aesthetic insight, yet without any realistic hope of deciding between different models in the foreseeable future. If someone would prefer to label the Retelling Model and the Homo divinus Model, ‘informed speculations’, then I have no problem with that at all, except to say that in the end even speculation A may be more plausible than speculation B, so it comes to the same thing in the end. Carrying out thought experiments is the way that human knowledge expands.

Speaking of knowledge takes me to a second point, this one for the positivists. In many ways this particular discussion is one internal to the Christian community, a point that will become even more apparent below. Clearly models that discuss the possible ways in which humans first came to know God are not going to gain much traction in the minds of those who do not believe that God exists. So I wouldn’t blame atheists at all for thinking that even discussing such models is a bit of a waste of time. If I was trying to present arguments to atheists for belief in God, then this is certainly not where I would start! But my intention here is not to present arguments for belief in God, but instead to present some reflections for the world-wide community of around two billion Christians, who do as a matter of fact believe in God and, in their various ways, do believe that God can be known, and who, one presumes, do believe that theological knowledge counts as real knowledge.

...

Instead I start with a somewhat different set of questions when thinking about models such as the Retelling and Homo divinus models. Taking the corpus of Biblical literature as a whole, here we have a ‘grand narrative’ of creation, alienation from God due to human sin and disobedience, redemption through Christ, and a new heavens and a new earth. We have the possibility of fellowship with God through freely willed choice. Our nearest cousins, chimps and bonobos, to the best of our knowledge, do not. So the curious Christian is likely to ask at least some time during their lives, “Well, when did that possibility first begin? When did people first start knowing the one true God in such a way that they could pray, walk with God, and be responsible to God? When could they first be judged by God because they had sinned?” It is those kinds of questions that the Retelling and Homo divinus type of models are interested in addressing. Did all this happen rather slowly, as in the first model, or rather fast, as in the second? Notice that the questions raised are not to do with the origins of religion (however defined), which is another kind of discussion altogether, but with the origins of spiritual life, knowledge of God, the time when humans first became answerable to God for their actions. Notice also that the questions would still be there even if we had in our hands only the New Testament. It is not Genesis that poses the questions, though Genesis is clearly relevant, but rather the Christian theology of creation, sin and redemption. The themes of creation, sin and redemption keep replaying like a musical répétitif through the biblical symphony. The early chapters of Genesis is where the répétitif is first introduced, and so attracts our attention, but let us not forget the répétitif in the rest of the biblical texts.

Here's one of many possible charts showing our fossil ancestors.


So, what do you think, dear readers? When did our species first start knowing the "one true God"? Jerry Coyne is putting his money on Homo erectus but I'm thinking the correct answer is "not yet." It troubles me a bit that the majority of members of our species have never, ever, in their entire history believed in the Judeo-Christian God. That nasty little fact doesn't seem to trouble Denis Alexander. I guess that's because we rely on different ways of knowing. My way is scientific. David Alexander relies on "theological knowledge."

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[Photo Credit: This is a photo of one of our ancestors from One Million Years B.C. I don't know if she knew about the one true God.

1. I don't usually read the articles posted on The BioLogos Forum.

The Blue-footed Booby

The question of the week in New Scientist (Feb. 12-18, 2011) is, "The blue-footed booby is an extraordinary-looking bird. It has fairly dull plumage but strikingly coloured blue legs and feet. What could be the evolutionary benefit of such a conspicuous feature? Both sexes have blue feet so they don't seem to be for impressing potential mates."

This is bound to bring out the adaptationists. You can be almost certain that the answers will consist of various just-so stories based on the assumption that blue feet have to be an adaptation. Can you make up a good adaptationist story to explain the blue feet? It doesn't have to have any supporting evidence. Try and avoid explanations that rely on sexual selection—that's too easy.

The evolutionary relationship between the various booby species is shown below in a figure take from Friesen and Anderson (1997). The Peruvian and blue-footed boobies apparently diverged from a common ancestor about 200,000 years ago. The Blue-footed booby's range is northern Peru and the Peruvian booby lives in southern Peru. They do not form hybrids where their ranges overlap.

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[Photo Credit: Wikipedia]

Friesen, V.L. and Abderson, D.J. (1997) Phylogeny and Evolution of the Sulidae (Aves: Pelecaniformes): A Test of Alternative Modes of Speciation. Molec. Phylo. Evol. 7:252-260 [doi:10.1006/mpev.1996.0397]

A Creationist Objects

I get lots of email from theists and creationists. They remind me that the controversies over religion and evolution are complicated. Here's a recent letter that illustrates the problem. It's from a creationist who struggles to incorporate his understanding of evolution into a worldview that just can't accommodate it. The results are .... interesting.

I really don't know to respond to this letter.¹ Where does one begin when trying to correct such a profound misunderstanding of science?

I love your new definition of evolution as "a change in the frequency of alleles in a population over time." What happened to spontaneous and random mutations? Epigenetics blew that out of the water. I find it amusing every time I hear some evolutionists claim evolution is fact and the evidence is "overwhelming." Evolutionists have given up on fruitless attempts to prove the impossible and have implemented a new strategy of just claiming evolution has been proved by mountains of evidence.

Epigenetics proves adaptation and nothing else. It controls gene expression driven by environmental stress. It, nor any of the other theories of evolution provide for mechanisms to increase information in genomes. Hence evolutionists are confined to wild extrapolation of adaptation to prove macro evolution. Why hasn't it occurred in experiments? 50,000 generations of bacteria and still no macro evolution nor even proof of a simple DNA change much less added information in the genome. Guess why? You can't get there from here. Evolutionists look like idiots trying to make a plausible explanation why provisions for adaptation reside in what they call "Junk DNA" for millions of years before the organism is exposed to environmental changes that calls upon for them to survive.

The next time you consider calling someone an idiot you might consider there are some reading your posts that are not impressed by your insane unfounded conclusions. Allele frequencies are not going to hide the obvious shortcomings of evolution theory. Proving allele frequencies change proves epigenetics and adaptation and nothing else unless you are an idiot.

Don Berry

I have the sense of the common cow who knows how to eat the grass and spit out the cockle burrs.

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1. I do not publish email messages without first obtaining permission from the author.

Get a Job: in Victoria

From Faculty Position 2011.

University of Victoria
Biochemistry and Microbiology

Biochemist

The Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology leads in molecular biological research at the University of Victoria with strengths in structural biology, microbial pathogenesis, regulation of gene expression, and epigenetics.

The department is the academic home of the University of Victoria-Genome BC Proteomics Research Centre – an internationally recognized centre for proteomics research focused on structural proteomics, metabolomics, clinical proteomics, and protein imaging. The Centre also provides support for proteomics research in the areas of protein identification, quantitative proteomics, and biomarker discovery and validation.

Applications are invited for a tenure track position for a Biochemist at the rank of assistant or associate professor. The department is interested in applicants who intend to develop a hypothesis-driven research program that builds on a background of proteomics. The research program of the successful applicant is expected to complement the aims of the Proteomics Centre and the research strengths of the department. A strong commitment to teaching in the undergraduate and graduate programs of the department is required.

The deadline for application is 15 March, 2011. Applicants should provide electronic versions of a CV, a statement of research objectives, a statement on teaching objectives, and arrange for electronic letters from no more than 3 referees to be received by the application deadline.

The University of Victoria is an equity employer and encourages applications from women, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, Aboriginal Peoples, people of any sexual orientation and gender, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of the University.

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, in accordance with Canadian Immigration requirements, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Robert D. Burke, Chair
Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology
University of Victoria
VICTORIA, BC
Canada V8W 3P6
biocmicr@uvic.ca

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Astronomy and Biology

This is a remarkable picture. Depending on your personal preferences, you may be attracted to the sky in the background or the beautiful blue color along the shoreline of the lake. Are you an astronomer or a biologist, or both?

Phil took the picture and he explains it at: Gippsland Lakes.

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Hat Tip: another Phil at Bad Astronomy

Living Without Religion

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Carnival of Evolution: March 1, 2011

This month's Carnival of Evolution is hosted by Genome Engineering [Carnival of Evolution: March 1, 2011].

There's a ton of interesting links this month. Check it out!

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Problems with the Eukaryotic Tree of Life

Here's the ninth question my students have to answer. This is the end of the series since the test is tomorrow.

The positions of animals, fungi, and plants in the eukaryotic tree of life have been clear for decades. So why is there so much controversy today about how to construct a valid tree of eukaryotes? What are the main problems, according to Keeling et al. (2005), and how will those problems be overcome?

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Keeling, P.J., Burger, G., Durnford, D.G., Lang, B.F., Lee, R.W., Pearlman, R.E., Roger, A.J., Gray, M.W. (2005) The tree of eukaryotes. Trends Ecol. Evol. 20:670-676. [doi:10.1016/j.tree.2005.09.005]

What's Wrong with This Picture?

Here's my granddaughter Zoë at the Antwerp aquarium. She's learning biology from my daughter, the astrophysicist.

I need to get over to Belgium as soon as possible before it's too late.

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