Evolution

Ministry leader Ray Comfort surprised college students and atheists throughout the country on Wednesday when his planned giveaway of On the Origin of Species came one day early.

The book is a special 150th anniversary edition of Charles Darwin’s work. But what has many atheists riled up is the added pro-Intelligent Design 50-page introduction, written by Comfort.

When Comfort announced that his ministry, Living Waters, would be distributing more than 100,000 free copies of the special edition to the 100 top U.S. universities, many atheists denounced the effort as shameful in online forums. more >>

Darwin was wrong, a group of scientists argued at a conference in southern California.

Scientists presented evidence over the weekend refuting Charles Darwin's theory of evolution on many levels – including fossil record, natural selection and the origin of man – and his works in geology and other science areas.

"Natural selection happens but it does not do what Darwin needed it to do," said geneticist Dr. John Sanford. "Darwin built a worldview that has come to be the governing paradigm of the intellectual community; that worldview is now collapsing in the face of new advances in science." more >>

Atheist author Richard Dawkins has made it loud and clear that he believes faith has no place in science and that a public debate between him and a creationist – of any type – is out of the question.

“The objection to having debates with people like that (creationists) is that it gives them a kind of respectability,” Dawkins said during a recent appearance on the Michael Medved show.

“If a real scientist goes onto a debating platform with a creationist, it gives them a respectability, which I do not think your people have earned,” he told Discovery Institute President Bruce Chapman, whose organization is best known for its advocacy of Intelligent Design. more >>

While a media outlets around the world are touting a nearly two-decade-old find as the oldest known skeleton of a potential human ancestor, creationists point out that even the team of researchers who unveiled the reconstructed fossil cannot refute the possibility that it might be simply that of an extinct ape.

“Based on our first look … the facts seem solidly behind the idea that Ardi was a quadrupedal ape with relatively little in common with humans (i.e., no more than most apes),” wrote staff members at the apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis, referring to the skeleton by its nickname.

“[T]he key basis for the alleged Ardi–human link (which even the authors are hesitant to confirm) is the idea that it walked upright-an idea that even evolutionists have criticized,” the ministry added. “And we can’t forget that all of these conclusions are inferred from digital reconstructions and fallible reconstructions of bones that were in very bad shape. more >>

A team of researchers unveiled Thursday research findings on the skeleton of a hominid who is now being touted by some as the earliest known human ancestor of modern-day man.

The multinational team of 47 researchers, who have been studying the bones of “Ardi” since they were discovered in 1994, presented the oldest known skeleton of the “potential human ancestor,” calling it by far the most complete among those of the earliest specimens found.

The skeleton, found in Ethiopia and thought to be 4.4-million years old, includes most of the skull and teeth, as well as the pelvis, hands, and feet - parts that the researchers say reveal an "intermediate" form of upright walking, considered a hallmark of hominids. more >>