Category: Faith and Science | Page 3

Fossil dinosaur lizard. Fossil of prehistoric lizard skeleton on the rock

^{Type
post

Author
Jonathan Wells

Date
October 6, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
Casey Luskin, Change Over Time, common descent, convergence, Darwinism, descent with modification, Evolution, fruit flies, Galapagos finches, Homology, human eye, Icons of Evolution, Jonathan Wells, macroevolution, Microevolution, molecular phylogenies, Natural Selection, octopus eye, peppered moths, random variation, Simon Conway Morris, The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, unguided evolution}

Jonathan Wells and The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, Pt. 1

_{Jonathan Wells

October 6, 2021

Faith and Science}

Today’s ID the Future spotlights a new book, The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith: Exploring the Ultimate Questions about Life and the Cosmos, and specifically a chapter by biologist Jonathan Wells titled “What are the Top Scientific Problems with Evolution?” Wells is the guest, and the host is geologist and Center for Science and Culture associate director Casey Luskin, who co-edited the anthology from Harvest House Publishers. In this episode the first problem that Wells highlights concerns homology and convergence. A second problem involves fossils. Darwin anticipated “innumerable transitions” in the fossil record, but such a rainbow of transitional forms has never been found. Not even close. Another problem, molecular phylogenies. Another: the lack of observational evidence that natural Read More ›

Sunset in the sea, a small sailing boat at sunset away

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
September 29, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
abrupt appearance, African perspective, African scientists, agnosticism, Atheism, beginning of universe, Biological Information, Casey Luskin, Creationism, David Gelernter, Dover intelligent design trial, Dover vs. Kitzmiller, fine tuning, Fossil Record, history of life, human exceptionalism, irreducible complexity, local fine tuning, Michael Shermer, Molecular Machines, Neil Thomas, New Atheism, new new atheists, nihilism, Phil Torres, purpose, Return of the God Hypothesis, Salon.com, Sapiens, Science, Science and faith, scientific Materialism, Scientism, Stephen Meyer, Steven Weinberg, supernatural, superstition, Theism, Thomas Nagel, warfare model, Western perspective, Yuval Noah Harari}

Bidding Adieu to Steven Weinberg’s Take on Science and Faith

_{Casey Luskin

September 29, 2021

Faith and Science}

On today’s ID the Future, Casey Luskin, associate director of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, discusses his Evolution News article about the recently deceased Steven Weinberg. On Weinberg’s view, one of science’s social functions is to undermine religion, which he sees as superstition. Luskin takes the opposite view and points to skilled and successful scientists he got to know in Africa. He says these scientists are convinced that the supernatural is real and would find Weinberg’s secular Western rejection of the supernatural as blinkered. Luskin and host Robert Crowther also discuss a hopeful trend among some atheists toward a more civil and respectful way of engaging intelligent design, even to the point of acknowledging that design theorists are Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen C. Meyer

Date
September 20, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
Alexander Vilenkin, Atheism, Big Bang, Boltzmann brain problem, boundary constraints, cosmic beginning, Deepak Chopra, epistemological chaos, fine tuning, Hartle-Hawking Model, Intelligent Design, John Leslie, John Searle, Lawrence Krauss, laws of physics, Michael Polanyi, Michael Shermer, mind-body dualism, monism, nothingness, panpsychism, Pantheism, physicalism, prime reality, pure mathematics, quantum cosmology, rationality, Return of the God Hypothesis, Richard Dawkins, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, Schrödinger equation, singularity, Stephen C. Meyer, The Mystery of Existence, Theism, universal wave function, Universe from Nothing, Wheeler-DeWitt equation, Who Designed the Designer}

Pt. 4: Stephen Meyer and Skeptic Michael Shermer

_{Stephen C. Meyer

September 20, 2021

Faith and Science}

This ID the Future wraps up a lively four-part series between religious skeptic Michael Shermer and Return of the God Hypothesis author and philosopher of science Stephen Meyer. Here Meyer underscores the fact that every worldview must posit something as the prime reality, and he argues that positing mind (rather than matter) as the prime reality solves far more problems in science, and not just in origins science. What about the idea of a multiverse to explain the fine tuning of the laws and constants of physics? Meyer concedes that this is a solution of sorts, but it comes at a tremendous cost, which he explains. That’s just a taste of where Meyer and Shermer go in this final segment. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen C. Meyer

Date
September 17, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
alien life, Atheism, Big Bang, deism, extra-terrestrial life, fine tuning, Francis Crick, front-loaded, Intelligent Design, Michael Polanyi, Michael Shermer, Natural Theology, origin of life, origin of the universe, panspermia, Richard Dawkins, Sean Carroll, Shermer’s Last Law, skepticism, Stephen C. Meyer, The Big Picture, Theism, theology of nature}

Pt. 3: Stephen Meyer and Skeptic Michael Shermer

_{Stephen C. Meyer

September 17, 2021

Faith and Science}

On this ID the Future, Return of the God Hypothesis author Stephen Meyer and skeptic Michael Shermer address the question of how a divine immaterial being could act in the material world to design and fashion things such as the first life. Meyer argues that while we don’t know precisely how an immaterial mind would do this or did do this, we have good evidence that minds can and do affect matter, as for instance in the evidence that our minds can affect our brains and, by extension, our bodies. Meyer and Shermer also discuss the idea of front-loaded intelligent design—that is, where God loaded into the moment of the Big Bang everything necessary for the emergence of stars, planets, Earth, Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen C. Meyer

Date
September 15, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
abductive reasoning, Alvy Singer, Alvy’s Error, Annie Hall, Atheism, Bayesian reasoning, Charles Darwin, Evolution, Evolutionary Biology, fine tuning, Fred Hoyle, freedom, God, God hypothesis, Harold J. Berman, Intelligent Design, James Davison Hunter, Materialism, methodological naturalism, Michael Shermer, moral absolutes, moral argument for God, moral objectivism, moral relativism, Morality, Naturalism, nature red in tooth and claw, Origin of the Species, Paul Nedelisky, Return of the God Hypothesis, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Science and the Good, skepticism, sociobiology, Stephen C. Meyer, Theism, Woody Allen}

Pt. 2: Stephen Meyer and Skeptic Michael Shermer

_{Stephen C. Meyer

September 15, 2021

Faith and Science}

Today’s ID the Future continues a lively and cordial conversation between atheist Michael Shermer and Stephen Meyer, author of Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe. In this segment of the four-part series, Shermer and Meyer discuss a fourth argument for theism, the moral law within. Then they discuss the similarities and differences between inferring design for something like the Rosetta Stone versus inferring intelligent design from the information in DNA or the fine tuning of the universe. The interview is reposted here by permission of Michael Shermer.

^{Type
post

Author
Stephen C. Meyer

Date
September 13, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
Allen Sandage, Altenberg 16, Atheism, beginning of the universe, Big Bang, BioLogos, Brian Keating, confirmation bias, Darrel Falk, Eugene Koonin, exotic naturalism, fine tuning, fine tuning of the universe, Francis Crick, God and the Astronomers, Günter Bechly, imaginary time, James Tour, Materialism, metaphysical hypotheses, methodological naturalism, Michael Shermer, multiverse, Neo-Darwinism, origin of life, oscillating universe model, panspermia, Return of the God Hypothesis, Richard Dawkins, RNA World hypothesis, Robert Jastrow, skepticism, steady state theory, Stephen C. Meyer, Stephen Hawking, Theism, theistic evolution}

Stephen Meyer and Skeptic Michael Shermer, Pt. 1

_{Stephen C. Meyer

September 13, 2021

Faith and Science}

Today’s ID the Future spotlights the first part of a lively and cordial conversation between host and atheist Michael Shermer and Stephen Meyer, author of Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe. In this first of the four-part series, the two touch on everything from Meyer’s three key lines of evidence for theism to a quick flyover of less well-known materialistic origins theories, including the oscillating universe model, panspermia as an explanation for the origin of the first life on earth, and Stephen Hawking’s idea of imaginary time. Meyer lumps many of these ideas under what he terms exotic naturalism and suggests that the atheists who defend these explanations are multiplying exotic Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Jay Richards

Date
August 9, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
Atheism, Carl Sagan, Christian charity, Christian invention of hospitals, Christian invention of universities, Christianity, Christopher Hitchens, Determinism, false dilemma, Free Will, golden rule, hypocrisy, imago dei, inherent human dignity, James Watt, Judeo-Christian religion, Materialism, moral absolutes, moral code, moral truths, mythology, Pre-Copernican cosmology, self-reliance, survival of the fittest, The Privileged Planet, Theism}

Jay Richards Dismantles Carl Sagan’s Passive Theist

_{Jay Richards

August 9, 2021

Faith and Science}

On today’s ID the Future, philosopher Jay Richards and host Eric Anderson wrap up their conversation about a video where Carl Sagan plumps for atheism. At one point Sagan suggests that if we give up on the belief in God, then we realize that we’re on our own and instead of waiting around for God to save us, we can roll up our sleeves and save ourselves and our planet. Richards notes that Sagan’s argument involves a strawman view of the Judeo-Christian worldview, which is miles apart from the idea of sitting around doing nothing while waiting for God to save us. As Richards and Anderson discuss, it’s no coincidence that the Christian West invented universities, hospitals, and science. What Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Jay Richards

Date
August 6, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
agnosticism, Atheism, Carl Sagan, conceptions of God, God, Intelligent Design, Jay W. Richards, laws of physics, Materialism, methodological materialism, objective reality, philosophical materialism, purpose, redefining God, relativism, Return of the God Hypothesis, Stephen C. Meyer, The Privileged Planet, Theism, transcendent creator}

Jay Richards Talks God, Carl Sagan, and Word Games

_{Jay Richards

August 6, 2021

Faith and Science}

On today’s ID the Future, philosopher Jay Richards, co-author of The Privileged Planet, continues a conversation with host Eric Anderson about Carl Sagan and a short video clip where Sagan fields questions about God. Sagan points out that there are different conceptions of God, but Jay asks, what’s his point? There are different conceptions of nature. That doesn’t mean that nature isn’t out there and that there aren’t true and false things that can be said about it. Also, when the vast majority of people speak about God, they have in mind a powerful, conscious Creator of nature. Sagan plays definitional games by redefining the meaning of “God.” Listen in to learn how, to what purpose, and to hear what Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Casey Luskin

Date
June 28, 2021

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
agnosticism, Alister McGrath, Atheism, BioLogos, Bruce Gordon, Christopher L. Reese, complex specified information, constrained integration view of science and religion, dialogue view of science and religion, evolutionary creation, evolutionary psychology, Faith and Science, Francis Collins, historical sciences, independence view of science and religion, Intelligent Design, Isaac Newton, methodological naturalism, Michael Ruse, Naturalism, NOMA, Non-overlapping magisteria, Paul Copan, postmodernism, Robert Boyle, science and religion, Scientific Method, scientific revolution, Stephen J. Gould, theistic evolution, Three Views on Christianity and Science, universal morality of human beings}

Casey Luskin Reviews Three Views on Christianity and Science

_{Casey Luskin

June 28, 2021

Faith and Science}

On today’s ID the Future, host Tom Gilson and guest Casey Luskin discuss a new book Luskin recently reviewed at Evolution News, Three Views on Christianity and Science. Luskin, associate director of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, summarizes the three views covered in the book: the independence view presented by Michael Ruse, the dialogue view presented by Alister McGrath, and the constrained integration view presented by Bruce Gordon. Luskin critiques the first two and argues that the dialogue view, in practice, quickly devolves into a monologue where religion is supposed to sit down and shut up the moment there is a point of difference between religion and consensus science. He says this is doubly problematic because (a) scientists Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Brian Miller

Date
December 14, 2020

Categorized
Faith and Science

Tagged
amino acid chains, amino acids, ATP, ATP synthesis, Biological Information, cells, cellular information, chemical evolution, chemical reactions, disorder, DNA, Elbert Branscomb, energy, engines, entropy, enzymes, equilibrium, feedback loops, fidelity, free energy, high energy, improbable states, information, Jeremy England, low entropy, Michael Russell, molecular engines, Molecular Machines, Natural Selection, non-equilibrium thermodynamics, order, origin of life, physical impossibilities, polymers, pre-biology, Proteins, Stanley Miller, Yasir Demirel}

James Tour and Brian Miller Talk Engines We Can’t Live Without

_{Brian Miller

December 14, 2020

Faith and Science}

Today’s ID the Future features Part 1 of an extended interview that first appeared on a podcast show hosted by distinguished Rice University synthetic organic chemist James M. Tour. As he typically does, since it’s the Science & Faith podcast, Dr. Tour begins his show by asking his guest for a statement of faith. Miller, a Christian, gives his, and then they dive into origin-of-life science. In a surprisingly accessible discussion given the depth of the material, the pair cover a range of issues—thermodynamics and the origin of the first cell, entropy, free energy, order and disorder, molecular engines, non-equilibrium thermodynamics, and the need for engines and information to overcome the vicissitudes of entropy. Also in the mix—feedback loops, Jeremy Read More ›