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Global Warming and the 18th Amendment

From First Thoughts

In an earlier blog post on global warming , I mentioned Prof. Will Happer of Princeton. I just read the testimony that Will Happer gave to the Senate back in February of this year on global warming.  It is a very clear and reasonable statement of the case for skepticism on global warming. I . . . . Continue Reading »

Save Science from the Planetary Saviors

From First Thoughts

Is the planet warming significantly due to human activities, and if so how much can it be expected to warm in the coming century? Frankly, I have no idea. Understanding the climate is a fantastically complicated problem, about which I know only as much as the average scientist, which is to say: not . . . . Continue Reading »

West Yet Again

From First Thoughts

On the Discovery Institute website , John G. West gives a three-part response to some things I said on this blog . In the first part he says: “Barr claims that ‘[w]hen scientists say that certain things in nature are random, this does mean that Nature is in a certain sense blind; it does . . . . Continue Reading »

Catholics and Calvinists Together

From First Thoughts

I am sorry that I misinterpreted Joe’s position, and am happy to see that it is not the brand of theistic evolutionism represented by Francis S. Collins (and myself) that he really was criticizing. As I noted in my previous post , it is the insights of St. Augustine that are most needed here, . . . . Continue Reading »

Re: The New Theistic Evolutionists

From First Thoughts

I think both John West and Joe Carter are trapped in a false dilemma, namely the choice between believing that certain processes are random or believing that they are directed by God. The dilemma is created by a failure to take adequately into account the complete sovereignty of God and the fact . . . . Continue Reading »

Re: Stephen vs. Stephen vs. Stove

From First Thoughts

Joe brings up an argument against Darwinism made by David Stove . I don’t really understand the argument as presented. In the first place, no one denies, as far as I know, that genetic mutations and natural selection still take place in human beings. That is one way that human beings develop . . . . Continue Reading »

Re: Emma-ization

From First Thoughts

Stephen Webb’s summary of my argument doesn’t come close to anything I said. It is an absurd caricature. In citing the fact that many religious scientists believe in evolution, I was not saying “gee, they must all be right” because “all those good people seem to agree about . . . . Continue Reading »

Darwin’s Beliefs

From First Thoughts

I find Stephen H. Webb’s reflections on Darwinism (“ How Darwin’s Wife Saved His Theory ”) very interesting, but I think there are questionable assumptions embedded in some of its verbal formulations. Consider the statement, “Critics of Darwinism . . . have long argued that . . . . Continue Reading »