Science: Defender of the Anthropocentric Faith … Again

Posted in Creation/Evolution on January 15th, 2007 by dhawkinsmo

vitruvian_man3.jpg“All the evidence available in the biological sciences supports the core proposition of traditional natural theology–that the cosmos is a specially designed whole with life and mankind as its fundamental goal and purpose, a whole in which all facets of reality, from the size of galaxies to the thermal capacity of water, have their meaning and explanation in this central fact … As I hope the evidence presented in this book has shown, science, which has been for centuries the great ally of atheism and skepticism, has become at last, in these final days of the second millenium, what Newton and many of its early advocates had so fervently wished–the “defender of the anthropocentric faith.” (Michael Denton, Nature’s Destiny: How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe., Free Press, 1998, p. 389.)

Wesley Elsberry Bans Creationists

Posted in Creation/Evolution on January 6th, 2007 by dhawkinsmo

elsberry.jpg… when they become too persistent and the scientists debating them lose their temper and “make science look bad.”

UPDATE 9/21/07: Wesley’s moderator, Steve Story, commenting on the fact that Wesley has banned me from posting at AtBC except on the “Bathroom Wall” … LINK HERE. Steve is trying to say, “Hey, we let AFDave make over 1500 posts here … we don’t censor creationists.” Right, Steve, and James Blake let Rosa Parks sit in the back of his bus so he wasn’t prejudiced against blacks, right?

UPDATE 5/21/07: Wesley claims I was not banned. He says my login was just in an “odd state.” It does work now, but I’m still restricted to the “Bathroom Wall.” Thanks, Wes. Read his post HERE and my responses a few posts later. Note also that Wesley no longer works for the NCSE. Does this mean he is becoming less of an “anti-creationist”? One can only speculate.

UPDATE 5/4/07: AFDAVE GETS BANNED COMPLETELY. I noticed about a month ago that my login at AtBC had quit working, but no one informed me of anything … just BLIP … one day it quit working.

According the moderator, this is the reason I have been banned from posting anywhere except the “Bathroom Wall” at the Panda’s Thumb Forum known as After the Bar Closes. This may be the first time anyone has ever been banned from a forum because the opposition (not the person being banned) broke the rules. I was given the impression when I first began posting there that Wesley likes to have posters with different viewpoints. But it appears now that this is not quite the complete picture. The truth seems to be that he likes uninformed creationists to make a brief appearance, get schooled by the evolutionary scientists, and leave. I think he fully expected this to happen to me when I first began posting at ATBC and I guess he was surprised when this did not happen. My “Creator God Hypothesis” thread was recently closed against the wishes of myself and several other posters at ATBC after setting a new record at ATBC. It was broken into two parts totaling about 365 pages. Wesley is the Information Project Manager at the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) which, according to their website, “Defends the Teaching of Evolution in the Public Schools.” It seems that a more apt name for the group would be National Center for Evolution Education (NCEE). More about Wesley’s anti-creationist activities can be found here and here .

Reasons for closing the thread and banning me from all threads except the Bathroom Wall were given by Wesley’s moderator, Steve Story, as follows … Read more »