Update on CMI in Hervey Bay: The Empire Strikes Back.

The Creation Ministries International Website now reads:

“Stop press! The arrangements for the seminar in Hervey Bay have changed. Several community organisations have expressed a wish to take a leading role in hosting the event and USQ Fraser Coast is working with these organisations to manage a smooth transition. Details of the venue will be available soon.”

In place of the more humerous:

“Stop press! A concerted campaign of vitriolic and deceptive opposition from persons outside the University of Southern Queensland has resulted in the USQ Fraser Coast campus no longer sponsoring the seminar.”

Is it to early to assume that “community organisations” is code for “church?“, or that this science fiction/right-wing fundamentalist Christian movement will be preaching in a school near you? Will a fellow skeptic be frozen in carbonite and taken away by Ken Ham? I know I’ll be keeping an eye out for the sequel.

Stop press! A concerted campaign of vitriolic and deceptive opposition from persons outside the University of Southern Queensland has resulted in the USQ Fraser Coast campus no longer sponsoring the seminar.

…or at least that’s how Creation Ministries International are viewing it!

We actually managed to shed enough light on the situation involving the University of Southern Queensland’s apparent support for a Creation Ministries International run full day seminar, that they have suddenly withdrawn support. That’s two big win’s in the space of a month.

From now on every complaint will be responded to be a rigorous letter campaign first!

Boom!

Jayson D Cooke

Open letter to USQ, RE: Implicit endorsement of Young Earth Creationism.

Dear Staff, Associates and Representatives of USQ,

I am writing to you to inform you of concerns raised by a proposed seminar to take place at USQ’s Fraser Coast Campus , titled

“Creation and Evolution: scientific evidence, myths and challenges”.

The USQ produced flyer (Creation Seminar flyer_v2) advises that two expert scientists, Dr Don Batten and Dr Tas Walker of Creation Ministries International will challenge society’s largely uncritical commitment to the theory of evolution.

“This seminar forms part of our continuing commitment to engage intellectually with our community. We see it as part of our role to engage in debate about the most significant and sometimes controversial issues of the day. In 2011, we shall provide even more opportunity for such debate.”

The advertisements produced by CMI however advise that

“The only presenters at this event are CMI scientists”

and states that this is the first time in the history of Creation Ministries International that they have been invited to speak at a “secular” university. It may concern you to know that neither of the speakers advertised have any professional credentials in Biology, Evolutionary Biology or Theology. I point this out as a professional courtesy, and by the same token, feel obliged to point out that Creation Ministries International’s ‘Statement of Faith’ as seen on their website clearly states:

“The scientific aspects of creation are important, but are secondary in importance to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Sovereign, Creator, Redeemer and Judge.”

CMI are a religious organisation, not a scientific one, and while their membership does include some scientists, the organisation they represent has no standing in the scientific community and their stated goals are far from the advancement of the scientific enterprise. More precisely, the primary aim of this group is to promote its particular version of Young Earth Creationism and to undermine the theory of evolution wherever and whenever possible. They are also outspokenly opposed to abortion, gay rights, ‘pornography’ etc. and adopt the standard Religious Right position on a range of other social issues.

Former Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane and Governor General of Australia, Peter Hollingworth has stated that growing numbers of theologians and many other thoughtful Christians have found that there is no inevitable conflict between evolutionary theory and the belief that God created and continues with the creation of His universe. He goes on to warn in the foreword to Professor Ian Plimer’s “Telling Lies for God”

“If creationists argue that the Genesis account of creation is to be taken literally and that accordingly, science is wrong, then empirically minded students, when persuaded by the general theory of evolution, are very likely to conclude that the Bible itself must be correspondingly wrong. Thus instead of offering dialogue between Biblical faith and evolutionary science and then seeking a contemporary understanding of creation as a dynamic and evolving process, there is likely to be further estrangement between groups of people within our culture.”

My own concerns are that a University such as USQ appears to be giving implicit endorsement to CMI allowing and encouraging them to distort, misuse and misapply science, to pursue a religious agenda that is both divisive and not representative of mainstream Theology.
Please find below relevant position statements on the scientific validity of ‘Creation Science’ from peak scientific research organisations within Australia and internationally.

Australian Academy of Science
http://www.science.org.au/policy/creation.html

Geological Society of Australia Inc
http://www.gsa.org.au/pdfdocuments/management/POL_intel%20design_2008.pdf

The Australian Museum
http://australianmuseum.net.au/BlogPost/Editorials-and-opinions/Evolution-Statement

The Interacademy Panel on International Issues (IAP)
http://www.icsu.org/Gestion/img/ICSU_DOC_DOWNLOAD/1017_DD_FILE_IAP_Evolution.pdf

National Academy of Science (United States)
http://www.nationalacademies.org/evolution/IntelligentDesign.html

The American Association for the Advancement of Science
http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2002/1106id2.shtml

American Anthropological Association
http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/evolution.htm

American Association of Physics Teachers
http://www.aapt.org/Resources/policy/evolutandcosmo.cfm

The Biophysical Society (United States)
http://www.biophysics.org/Policy/PolicyIssues/PositionStatements/tabid/450/Default.aspx#Evolution

The Union of Concerned Scientists (United States)
http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/what_you_can_do/statement-on-science.html

The Paleontological Society (United States)
http://www.paleosoc.org/evolutioncomplete.htm

The National Science Teachers Association (United States)
http://www.nsta.org/about/positions/evolution.aspx

The Geological Society of America
http://www.geosociety.org/positions/position1.htm

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (United States)
http://www.vertpaleo.org/education/index.cfm

The American Geophysical Union
http://www.agu.org/sci_pol/positions/evolution.shtml

National Association of Biology Teachers (United States)
http://www.nabt.org/websites/institution/index.php?p=92

The American Institute of Biological Sciences
http://www.aibs.org/position-statements/20050805_aibs_criticizes.html

Association for Women Geoscientists (United States)
http://www.awg.org/about/evolution.html

The Botanical Society of America
http://www.botany.org/outreach/evolution.php

Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration,

Jayson D Cooke

Genetic Structure of First Animal to Show Evolutionary Response to Climate Change Determined.

A recent scientific discovery is certain to drive climate deniers/skeptics and creationists/intelligent design proponents mental!
Scientists at the University of Oregon have determined that a Pitcher plant-dwelling mosquito shows an evolutionary response to rapid climate change.

You can find the full story here, enjoy.

Jayson D Cooke

Creationists still make the most of Griffith University classrooms.

“Scientists are good in the lab & bad at logic”

This is the message taught on Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus in the second semester of the year 2010. Self proclaimed leaders of the evangelical group, Griffith Christian Students (GCS) are at it again, preaching misinformation and ignorance of publicly verifiable science in efforts to swell their ranks. Advertised across Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus under the heading “The Great Scandals”, the talk described Evolution as

“a B-Grade movie space alien, more of a meta-narrative than science”.

Dr Robert Smith, lecturer and researcher from Griffith University School of Medical Science & School of Medicine attended the talk. He remains concerned it was an attempt to marginalize science.

“There is an element of ridicule there, it’s a movie monster, so it’s something made up, it’s B-grade so it’s not a very good and the meta-narrative comparison is kind of a way to say it’s unfalsifiable. But the thing is, if it’s true, there is nothing you can throw at it that will invalidate a true idea.”

GCS founder Mr Tony Rowbotham, former part-time Bachelor of Arts student of Griffith had this to say:

“When I present this stuff, I don’t ever think I’m presenting the complete picture, I think what I’m doing is throwing ideas out there for people to interact with. So I don’t mind having partial truths out there that are not comprehensive because I’m not trying to be comprehensive.”

Adam Haig, third year Biomedical Science student and GCS member advised the talks were the groups ‘Mission Week’ strategy.

“This semester, Mission Week has been more apologetics week, so not talking about the Gospels per se, more the reasons people won’t even consider it”.

Acting Chaplaincy Coordinator for Gold Coast campus, Ms Tiffany Hammer was quick to distance the university from the activities of the GCS.

“They are definitely not affiliated in any way with Griffith University”.

Ms Hammer also sees no conflict between her faith and science.

“I believe in evolution!”

Jayson D Cooke