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PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT
THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE
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MR. DEITY
"WAY OF THE MASTER" ON EVOLUTION
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Which is a worse threat to your child? Death or hell?
This question is addressed to people who have children. If you do not have children though, then just answer the question based on how you think you'd feel if you were a parent.
About me: The goal of this profile is to point out that Kirk Cameron, Ray Comfort and Todd Friel either don't understand evolution (and therefore should not be allowed to misinform people on the subject) or DO in fact understand it but are purposefully being disingenuous.
Crocodiles and ducks are in fact related, but that doesn't mean that there needs to have existed some sort of hybrid between them. The MRCA (most recent common ancestor) of crocodiles and ducks probably resembled a lizard more so than a crocodile or a duck. (Similarly, the MRCA of sheep and dogs more closely resembled a shrew, and the MRCA of bulls and frogs more closely resembled a newt.) The specific characteristics of ducks and crocodiles didn't come about until long after the demise of this original common ancestor.
In fact, Darwin even commented on how intermediate forms like the crocoduck shouldn't exist.
"In the first place it should always be borne in mind what sort of intermediate forms must, on my theory, have formerly existed. I have found it difficult, when looking at any two species, to avoid picturing to myself forms directly intermediate between them. But this is a wholly false view; we should always look for forms intermediate between each species and a common but unknown progenitor; and the progenitor will generally have differed is some respects from all its modified descendants. ... So with natural species, if we look to forms very distinct, for instance to the horse and tapir, we have no reason to suppose that links ever existed directly intermediate between them, but between each and an unknown common parent."
(Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, Oxford University Press, 1998, p396)
It is also important to mention that in order for evolution to be true, there needn't be a unique MRCA for every single combination of any two animals. For example, the MRCA of crocodiles and ducks is the exact same MRCA as that of alligators and hummingbirds, and indeed for ALL birds and crocodilians.
In addition to misrepresenting evolutionary theory on television, Ray Comfort also endorses The $10,000 Offer which states:
"A transitional form (or missing link) is an example of one species “evolving” into another species. Excited scientists thought they had found one when they discovered “Archaeopteryx.” The fossil led to the theory that the dinosaurs did not become extinct, but rather all turned into birds. The Field Museum in Chicago displayed what was believed to be an archaeopteryx fossil on October 4-19, 1997. It was hailed as “Archaeopteryx: The Bird That Rocked the World.” However, Dr. Alan Feduccia (evolutionary biologist at the University of North Carolina), said, “Paleontologists have tried to turn Archaeopteryx into an earth-bound, feathered dinosaur. But it’s not. It is a bird, a perching bird. And no amount of ‘paleo-babble’ is going to change that.” [Science, February 5, 1993]. So here’s my challenge: I will give $10,000 to the first person who can prove to me that they have found a genuine living transitional form (a lizard that produced a bird, or a dog that produced kittens, or a sheep that produced a chicken, or even as Archaeopteryx—a dinosaur that produced a bird). Species do not cross, no matter how long you leave them. The whole of creation is proof that evolution is truly “a fairytale for grownups”."
But evolutionary theory does not claim that one species of animal should ever be able to give birth to another species of animal. Never in the whole of history on earth has there ever been "a dog that produced kittens" or "a sheep that produced a chicken". Were such a thing to be found, it would actually DISPROVE evolutionary theory. So how does this contest demonstrate that evolution can't be proven? All it demonstrates is that offspring resemble their parents (something that evolutionists agree with and is actually the crux of evolution in a way). What Ray Comfort has done here is set up a straw man that's much easier for him to tackle than his true opponent, evolutionary theory. And by doing so, he is miseducating people into believing that evolution entails something as ridiculous as lizards giving birth to birds. If he's doing all of this knowingly, then he is being deceitful.
Another telltale sign that Ray Comfort has zero understanding of evolutionary theory is that he used the sentence, "The fossil led to the theory that the dinosaurs did not become extinct, but rather all turned into birds".
First of all, evolution does not occur by one animal "turning into" another animal. Evolution only occurs in the gaps between generations. It is in no way any sort of metamorphosis or anything like that. Secondly, not ALL of the dinosaurs "turned into" birds. Most of them did in fact go extinct, but even if they had been able to survive the KT boundary, it's not as if they'd have convergently evolved to match their cousins. One almost gets the impression that Ray thinks the phylogenetic tree established by evolutionists maintains that the different dinosaurs evolved into different birds (i.e. tyrannosaurus evolved into hawks while triceratops evolved into pelicans, etc).
In reality, the most recent common ancestor of all birds was a bird itself. (this is true of all monophyletic clades - the MRCA of a group of living animals must belong to the same group that all of its descendants belong to. For example, both bulls and frogs are tetrapods, therefore the MRCA of bulls and frogs must have been a tetrapod as well.) And this protobird from whom all extant birds are descended in turn evolved ultimately from only one type of dinosaur (namely a type of dromaeosaur). Birds (as with all cladistic groups) are a one time thing. We should not expect any current reptiles to evolve into birds. That boat has sailed. Some reptiles might one day evolve into a new type of animal that is somewhat bird-like, but it would be false to call these new animals birds as they would actually belong to an entirely different clade.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the MRCA of all modern birds lived over a hundred million years ago, long before the extinction of the dinosaurs. Birds lived among their other dinosaurian cousins (like tyrannosaurus and triceratops), some of whom were also feathered. The KT extinction event 65 million years ago simply killed off some dinosaurs (like the sauropods) and didn't kill off others (such as the birds).
Who I'd like to meet: Anyone who thinks that Kirk Cameron, Ray Comfort and Todd Friel should no longer be allowed to misrepresent Evolutionary theory with their straw man of a contest and their absurd animal hybrid drawings.
Please sign this informal petition against disingenuous misinforming about evolutionary theory by leaving a comment that reads:
"Way of the Master should no longer be allowed to misrepresent the theory of evolution."
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Witold Pilecki (May 13, 1901 – May 25, 1948) was a Polish soldier and secret agent who became the only known person to VOLUNTEER himself as a prisoner at AUSCHWITZ, in order to expose Nazi crimes against humanity to the rest of the world.
From 1940 he raised morale and organized resistance before escaping in 1943 to personally advocate for those left behind. He participated in the Warsaw Uprising and remained loyal to the Polish government in exile after the war, for which he was ultimately captured and executed by the usurping Communist regime.
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Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est.
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"Shark finning" is when fishermen cut off the fins of the shark and throw the live animal back into the ocean in order to save space on the boat. The shark drowns or bleeds to death on the ocean floor. Shark fins can sell for over $300 per pound due to the demand for shark fin soup, an Asian "delicacy".
Some species of shark populations have plumetted by 99% in the last 20 years and are in danger of becoming extinct, due mainly to the practice of finning.
HERE ARE 8 SIMPLE WAYS TO HELP STOP SHARK FINNING:
1. Don't eat shark fin soup! Don't eat in restaurants that serve it until they stop.
2. Support organisations that are fighting to save marine wildlife such as Sea Shepherd and Wild Aid.
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In reason, American Atheists
American Atheists is a nationwide movement which defends the civil rights of nonbelievers, works for the separation of church and state, and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.
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You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.
You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons.
Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.
Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness,
And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.
And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.
Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless?
And yet who does not feel that very love, though boundless, encompassed within the centre of his being, and moving not form love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds?
And is not time even as love is, undivided and paceless?
But if in you thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons,
And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.
