American Freethought

In this book from 2003, philosopher Daniel Dennett (Breaking the Spell) tries to reconcile Free Will and Darwinian Theory.

by John C. Snider © 2008

Does free will exist?  It’s a thorny issue that philosophers have tangled with for millennia.  And despite the occasional claim of victory, the jury’s still out.  Are we human beings fully in charge of our consciousness and decision-making?  Or are we nothing more than evolutionary automatons, merely cogs in the great machine of existence, destined to do whatever Newtonian inevitability moves us to do? 

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A review of Peter Nichols’ biography of Robert Fitzroy, captain of the H.M.S. Beagle

by John C. Snider © 2008

Every school child and amateur scientist knows (or should) that Charles Darwin began developing his ideas about evolution and the origin of species while on a round-the-world voyage aboard the H.M.S. Beagle. What most people couldn’t tell you is the name of the Beagle’s captain.

Now Peter Nichols, author of several best-selling non-fiction books about sea exploration, has answered that question and more in Evolution’s Captain, which chronicles the career of Robert Fitzroy and his place in scientific history.

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News Item Potpourri

- Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to conform with God’s laws.  Archbishop Earl Paulk fined and given 10 years’ probation for perjury.  Colorado lawmaker Douglas Bruce kicks a photographer during a prayer service.  A Muslim teen athlete’s uniform violate’s track federation rules.  The Kite Runner movie is banned in Afghanistan.  And Matthew McConaughey says “God bless evolution.”

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 Podcast #8 - New Item Potpourri: Download (1678)

Recorded 12/01/2007.  Hosted by John C. Snider and David Driscoll.

Show Notes:

Flock of Dodos - We discuss the independent documentary film Flock of Dodos, which explores the tactics used by both sides of the Intelligent Design/Evolution debate.  Read our review here.  Look for the film on Showtime and at film festivals, or purchase the DVD.  Visit the official website at www.flockofdodos.com.

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 Podcast #2 - Flock of Dodos: Download (1575)

by John C. Snider © 2007

Whether we like it or not, the Evolution/Creation Wars will be with us for a while.  The forces of Creationism are as determined as ever to challenge Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, especially as it is currently taught in public schools and universities.   The Creationists’ latest ploy is ”intelligent design”, or “ID”, which posits that lifeforms are so “irreducibly complex” that they must be the result of some super-intelligent agent.

Nevermind that the Creationists have been turned back repeatedly in recent years.  In 2005, the courts ruled that Cobb County, Georgia could not place evolution disclaimers in biology textbooks.  In 2006, a similar tactic by the school board of Dover, Pennsylvania was overturned by federal Judge John E. Jones III (a George W. Bush appointee, no less).  Dover voters tossed out the school board during the next election.  And in Kansas, the fate of the entire state’s biology curriculum has been the subject of not one, but two struggles within the state Board of Education.  Despite these setbacks, there’s no reason to believe that this battle won’t be fought again and again in various places across America.  The Kansas Wars are the jumping-off point of filmmaker Randy Olson’s new documentary Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus, which looks not just at the nuts and bolts of the debate, but also at the tactics used by each side.  Why is it that the Creationists seem to be winning the PR campaign, when all the scientific evidence is against them? 

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