Wednesday, December 12, 2007

What's the problem, Frank?

My recent mention of Frank Walton reminded me that he had disallowed my comments on his blog regarding the claim that Darwinian evolution was getting peer reviewed in a sense and was the worse for wear because of it. The proof is that a list of people, some of whom teach at Biola, some of whom hold doctorates in subjects like Electrical Engineering, have signed a statement saying they aren't so sure Darwinism explains everything. I didn't think that made a lot of sense, nor did I think the fact that some teachers at Biola dissent from evolution was all that surprising, and I said so in the comments section. Frank replied that he didn't see why it matters that they are from Biola, and I replied. Frank apparently didn't like my reply. Is it offensive or something? Here is what I wrote:

I happen to have a couple of relatives that have attended Biola (the Bible Institute of Los Angeles for those that don't know the acronym), and from what I can tell they're about as conservative as you're going to get this side of a padded cell. One relative had difficulty gaining admittance to the apologetics program because of his beliefs about evolution. You guys I'm sure would think that's great, but that's not the point. The point is, this list is intended to show some sort of surprising dissent from educated people about Darwinism. But it isn't surprising at all that Biology professors at Biola don't think that Darwinian evolution ENTIRELY accounts for the complexity of life (even if they do grant macro evolution). It isn't surprising that people with Electrical Engineering degrees (who for all we know are evangelical Christians) dissent from evolution. We have no reason to think they have a better understanding of the issues than anybody else, or if they've been pounded at church with absurd argumentation from ICR types. These type of people on this list just don't mean anything.

Do you guys see how bizarre your actions are? Do you really think this is what constitutes peer review? Imagine a scientist that had a new theory about quantum mechanics. Can you imagine him trying to promote his theory by defending it in churches, by trying to get school board members to advocate his theory, by compiling lists of people, the majority of whom are not experts in quantum mechanics, to sign petitions saying they advocate his theory. I mean, it's just silliness. Why don't you do some science instead of trying to pass off your views with propaganda. How about some real peer review. How about proposing some real scientific tests that can be used to evaluate ID, rather than simply pointing to things in another theory that you don't understand. Evolution is about as well established as any scientific theory. This is a losing battle, guys. Try reinterpreting the Bible. It's your only hope.

Project Steve is an interesting counter to this type of reasoning.

4 comments:

Frank Walton said...

I have no problem, Jony. Why can't you just acknowledge that people outside of Christian colleges have peer-reviewed Darwinian evolution and found it to be a crock.

Jon said...

My question, Frank, is what is it about my comments that lead you to prohibit them?

To your question, I don't see the assertion that Darwinian evolution doesn't ENTIRELY account for the complexity of life as equivalent to the claim that Darwinian evolution is a crock.

Frank Walton said...

Go screw yourself you friggin idiot.

IrishFarmer said...

I think you missed the point of Frank's post. It was simply to say that many scientists dissent from evolution. There's no denying that that's true.

You can hand-waive these scientists away, if you want, I suppose...

Just as easily as I can hand-waive evolution-believing scientists by claiming they're all "liberal atheists" and so we shouldn't take them seriously for that reason or another.

Regardless, your comment, as I read it, was slightly aggravating, simply for its irrational dismissiveness, though I can't claim to know why Frank deleted the comment.

By the way, the first Frank and the second Frank in your comments for this post are different accounts.