As the debate over the teaching of evolution in public schools continues, a new controversy over the science curriculum arose Monday. Scientists from the Evangelical Center For Faith-Based Reasoning are now asserting that the long-held “theory of gravity” is flawed, and they have responded to it with a new theory of Intelligent Falling.
Rev. Gabriel Burdett explains Intelligent Falling.
“Things fall not because they are acted upon by some gravitational force, but because a higher intelligence, ‘God’ if you will, is pushing them down,” said Gabriel Burdett,who holds degrees in education, applied Scripture, and physics from Oral Roberts University.
Burdett added: “Gravity—which is taught to our children as a law—is founded on great gaps in understanding. The laws predict the mutual force between all bodies of mass, but they cannot explain that force. Isaac Newton himself said, ‘I suspect that my theories may all depend upon a force for which philosophers have searched all of nature in vain.’ Of course, he is alluding to a higher power.”
Founded in 1987, the ECFR is the world’s leading institution of evangelical physics, a branch of physics based on literal interpretation of the Bible.
So I guess the religious right on that basis will be asking for equal time to teach the theory of Intelligent Falling alongside the "scientific theory" of gravity.
HA ha ha ha ha. A Classic. An absolute classic. I had to pick myself up off the floor laughing at this one. It has the Id'ers down to a T.
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5 comments:
Giggle. Spoofs are always fun.
Yes it was funny - because it was so "close to the bone" - there can be much truth in humour.
I wouldn't put it past some people to read that and actually start believing it.
Sadly, creationists fail to understand the difference between "fact" and "theory." Gravity is a FACT, and there are THEORIES on how gravity works. Similarly, evolution is a FACT, and there are THEORIES on how evolution works. (Of course, I'm simplifying things just a tad.)
Of course, the above quotation regarding "Intelligent Falling" is actually a satire piece that The Onion ran way back in 2005 (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39512). So, it's not really an accurate reflection on creationist/ID thinking. Of course, the satire has accomplished what it set out to do: reveal the lengths to which some (especially those in the YEC camp) can go—and have gone—to ignore the elephant in the room.
The distinction that you call attention to between the FACTS of Evolution and the theory of what causes it or how it arises is one that I have often been at pains to point out.
I think scientists when debating with creationists or presenting evolution science to the public fail sometimes to give sufficient emphasis to this important distinction.
This is why people with limited scientific understandiing sometimes think that the fact that evolutionary theories themselves change as our understanding grows weakens the whole argument for Evolution.
We fail sometimes to point out sufficiently strongly that there is nevertheless incontrovertible evidence that evolution has taken place over geological timescales. The question is as to the exact mechanics of how this process is driven.
The "modern synthesis" of evolutionary theory represents our best scientific explanation. This theory (or more correctly perhaps - set of theories) will evolve as our understanding evolves and as additional facts and observations are understood.
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