Institute for Creation Research
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The format of the blog seems to be as follows: at the start of the week Forlow will present an idea, for example "[[Omnipotence|God's Power]],"<ref>[http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/10/31/gods-power-on-display/ God’s Power on Display]</ref> accompanied by a personal anecdote; later in the week separate articles for the K-5 and 6-12 grade ranges are posted;<ref>[http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/11/02/gods-power-on-display-elementary-k-5/ K-5] and [http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/11/02/gods-power-on-display-secondary-activities-6-12/ 6-12] for this example.</ref> nearer the end of the week comes some Discussion Starters.<ref>[http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/11/03/discussion-starters-2/ Continuing the example.]</ref> | The format of the blog seems to be as follows: at the start of the week Forlow will present an idea, for example "[[Omnipotence|God's Power]],"<ref>[http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/10/31/gods-power-on-display/ God’s Power on Display]</ref> accompanied by a personal anecdote; later in the week separate articles for the K-5 and 6-12 grade ranges are posted;<ref>[http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/11/02/gods-power-on-display-elementary-k-5/ K-5] and [http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/11/02/gods-power-on-display-secondary-activities-6-12/ 6-12] for this example.</ref> nearer the end of the week comes some Discussion Starters.<ref>[http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/11/03/discussion-starters-2/ Continuing the example.]</ref> | ||
| − | The tasks given by Dr Forlow are poorly conceived - experiments have no safety instructions;<ref>[http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/10/27/whats-in-a-number-secondary-6-12/ What’s in a Number? Secondary Activities (6-12)]. See task 3.</ref> detailed information on the exact purpose of a task is not given;<ref group=note>Or any information at all, often.</ref> young-Earth creationism is presumed and students are asked to collect evidence in favour of it, rather than begin with an open mind;<ref group=note>But that's unsurprising, at least.</ref> students are asked to imagine how they would evangelise to atheists ''with | + | The tasks given by Dr Forlow are poorly conceived - experiments have no safety instructions;<ref>[http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/10/27/whats-in-a-number-secondary-6-12/ What’s in a Number? Secondary Activities (6-12)]. See task 3.</ref> detailed information on the exact purpose of a task is not given;<ref group=note>Or any information at all, often.</ref> young-Earth creationism is presumed and students are asked to collect evidence in favour of it, rather than begin with an open mind;<ref group=note>But that's unsurprising, at least.</ref> students are asked to imagine how they would evangelise to atheists ''with Bible verses''; etc, etc, etc. |
Curiously, the comments on the blog are open. Both criticism<ref group=note>Such as [http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/10/27/whats-in-a-number-secondary-6-12/#comment-101 this] one, from a Christian Shorey, [http://inside.mines.edu/~cshorey/ a geologist at the Colorado School of Mines]. Despite the dissent from some readers, there have been no known flame-wars on the site.</ref> and blatant spam<ref group=note>If he's vague and calls himself "download music to my phone" then the [http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/09/28/welcome/#comment-128 comment] probably isn't genuine.</ref> have managed to slip though the site's moderation process, assuming there even is one. | Curiously, the comments on the blog are open. Both criticism<ref group=note>Such as [http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/10/27/whats-in-a-number-secondary-6-12/#comment-101 this] one, from a Christian Shorey, [http://inside.mines.edu/~cshorey/ a geologist at the Colorado School of Mines]. Despite the dissent from some readers, there have been no known flame-wars on the site.</ref> and blatant spam<ref group=note>If he's vague and calls himself "download music to my phone" then the [http://www.science-essentials.org/2011/09/28/welcome/#comment-128 comment] probably isn't genuine.</ref> have managed to slip though the site's moderation process, assuming there even is one. | ||
Revision as of 10:51, 7 November 2011
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The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) is a young-Earth creationist faux-research organization that produces voluminous quote mines and logical fallacies in pursuit of debunking evolution and an old earth. They are essentially a bunch of cranks who want to undermine science education and eventually turn the United States into a young-Earth creationist, dominionist society. The Institute was founded by Henry Morris in 1972 and has since gone on to become one of the centres of the anti-evolution movement and quite possibly the general anti-science movement in the US.
Contents |
Edjumication
The ICR has a variety of projects intended to "educate" their supporters, and provide resources to evangelise to others.
Courses
Beginning in the early 1980s, the institute has offered "courses" in biology, astro- and geophysics, geology, and general science in their graduate "school."[1] In fact, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board rejected the institute's on-line master's degree as the degree would not qualify as a science or science education program. Of course, the poor oppressed creationists just think everyone is biased against them.[2]
K-12 blog
In October of 2011 the ICR launched a blog entitled Science Education Essentials,[note 1] although more recent references to it have (appropriately) omitted the "Education" part of the name.[3][note 2] The blog is written by Rhonda Forlow, who has a PhD in Education, specialising in the "education of students with learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, and mental retardation."[4] Dr Forlow does not appear to consider herself limited in what she can offer even to non-homeschooling teachers by their inability to violate the First Amendment by teaching creationism in school.
The format of the blog seems to be as follows: at the start of the week Forlow will present an idea, for example "God's Power,"[5] accompanied by a personal anecdote; later in the week separate articles for the K-5 and 6-12 grade ranges are posted;[6] nearer the end of the week comes some Discussion Starters.[7]
The tasks given by Dr Forlow are poorly conceived - experiments have no safety instructions;[8] detailed information on the exact purpose of a task is not given;[note 3] young-Earth creationism is presumed and students are asked to collect evidence in favour of it, rather than begin with an open mind;[note 4] students are asked to imagine how they would evangelise to atheists with Bible verses; etc, etc, etc.
Curiously, the comments on the blog are open. Both criticism[note 5] and blatant spam[note 6] have managed to slip though the site's moderation process, assuming there even is one.
Resources
The ICR has for some time been advertising it's "resources" for Students/Parents/Teachers/Leaders/Pastors/Scientists. These are basically just pointers to tangentially related articles on the website, many of which are in the "Evidence for Creation" article group discussed below.[9]
Also bundled into this section are the various books published by ICR associates, and a page called Science Education Essentials which links to the blog above and various DVDs etc that have been produced by the institute.[3]
The ICR's Resource Guide has not been updated since Fall 2009.[10]
Website
The ICR maintains an extensive website[note 7] which shows a truly massive output of BS over the years.
Evidence for Creation
The ICR boasts around 100 pages of what it calls 'evidence for creation'.[11] These pages suggest that, at the present stage of development of scientific creationism, if Creationism was taught in schools High school students would, in fact, be able to show it for the bad science it is.
The ICR is notable for being one of few Creationist groups to use both the First as well as the Second Laws of Thermodynamics as an argument against the Big Bang.
“”The evidence for creation is vast. Explore the ever-increasing list of reasons why creation is the best explanation for our intricately designed and precisely balanced universe.
|
| —An introduction from the ICR.[11] |
Evidence for God
In the first section the ICR attempts to prove the existence of a supernatural being or god, specifically their God.[12] Examples of this include:
- The First cause argument.[13]
- The universe is Triune, in that it is made up of Time, Space and Matter,[14] reflecting the trinity.
- An interesting quote from this particular page is:
"Any effort to determine the cause of the universe is purely hypothetical. No human was there to observe the processes, so any attempt to understand events of pre-history (especially original events) must, therefore, be based on "belief systems," or presuppositions."
- Beauty, Justice etc are defined by God,[15] and for "good" to be better than "evil" that would "logically require the existence of an ultimate Judge."[16]
Evidence for Truth
The ICR feels that it must also prove the existence of objective truth before it ploughs into the topic of creationism itself.[17]
They claim that Pilate's "What is Truth?"[18] question is "answered" by Jesus' statement "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."[19] Pilate, however, is asking what truth is - Jesus, what it does. Just another oddity from the ICR...
The Evidence for objective Truth is:
- Absolute truth is the very foundation of science.[20] Note: "Historical" science is based on "assumptions,"[21] and is inherently unreliable and untestable.
- The laws of science need a creator to exist[22] (which seems to have nothing to do with the subject at hand, and to be a case of circular reasoning).
- We have a conscience; we know that good is better than evil,[23] that we have authority over animals[24] and we "acknowledge a spiritual part of life."[25][note 8]
- We desire Justice.[26]
Evidence from Nature
This section of articles[27] is hardly evidence for anything much - it is merely a laundry list of amazing things the ICR can't be bothered to think of good explanations for, along with a bit of fine tuning thrown in.
Things that are "awesome":
- Stars[28]
- Water[29]
- The atmosphere[30]
- Food[31][note 9]
- Wisdom[32]
- The Earth[33]
- The Moon[34]
- Water again[35]
- The atmosphere, again[36]
- Temperate climatic zones[37]
- The fact that the Sun always rises in the east[38]
- Galaxies[39]
Evidence from Science
Here's the biggy - what's the evidence for creation from science?
This section is itself broken up into three groups:[40] Physics,[41] "The Earth Sciences,"[42] and biology.[43] Things you might learn within include:
The Physical Sciences
- The Universe has a centre, i.e. where we are currently located, because the rest of the universe is rushing away from us specifically.[44]
- Comets and the rings of Saturn could not be here if the universe was billions of years old.[45][note 10]
- No wimpy "Big bang" could have created the universe - you would have needed a much greater power, like God.[46]
- The First Law of Thermodynamics prevents the Big bang, but this is no problem for God, for He is Beyond Nature.[47]
- The logical conclusion that should be drawn from the existence of entropy is that "an infinite Creator made the universe a finite time ago."[48]
- If there was no creator, chemistry and electromagnetism would not work everywhere in the universe in the same way as it does on earth.[49]
- The argument from fine tuning is cutting edge creation science.[50][note 11]
The Earth Sciences
- Geologists still believe in uniformitarianism. Thus, because there is plenty of evidence that catastrophic events have taken place in the past, mainstream geology is all wrong.[51][note 12]
- The "defining features" of the fossil record are predictions of young earth creationism and the genesis account.[52]
- People (specifically men) and Dinosaurs coexisted.[53] (Bet you'd never heard that one before)
- Diamonds contain 14C.[54]
- There is too much Helium in zircons for the Earth to be older than x thousand years.[55][note 13]
- There is not enough salt in the sea for the Earth to be old.[56][note 14]
The Life Sciences
- DNA is a "reservoir for the information of life."[57]
- Natural selection preserves, rather than creates.[58]
- Life naturally denigrates due to mutations.[59]
- Life was clearly designed.[60]
- Man is very different from animals.[61]
- The "instability of the mitochondrial genome" shows that we are all descended from a single couple. Also, Mitochondrial Eve was the real Eve.[62]
- We Are Totally Not Apes.[63]
- Mutations will eventually mean that life will be unable to continue to exist: the fact that this hasn't happened yet means that life cannot be very old.[64]
- Living fossils disprove evolution.[65]
- "Soft tissues" in fossils prove that they can't be very old.[66]
Evidence from Scripture
The ICR seems to believe that it must provide evidence for Creation from the Bible itself, and that the Bible is completely accurate in every way. They inform us that:
- The Bible is "Authentic"... That is, we have closer-to-the-source copies of it than we do a number of cherry-picked contemporary texts.[67][note 15]
- The Bible is totally better than the holy books of everyone else - for example, other religions require that you actually do something to be saved, more than just be 'holy.'[68]
- The Bible is historically and scientifically accurate and testable;[69] The authors were all trustworthy eyewitnesses and consistent.[70]
- "Not a single prophecy from the Bible has been proven false."[71]
Daily Science Updates
Variously called Daily Science Updates[72] or ICR News,[73] the ICR puts out near-(week)daily articles on the subject of recent science news that has the potential to corrupt the faithful. These articles are most commonly authored by the Institute's "Science Writer," Brian Thomas, a former Biology teacher with a Masters in biotechnology.[74]
Radio
“”Great men like George Washington and John Adams founded America on biblical principles. However, through the years evolution and atheistic thinking have steered us off course from our biblical foundation. Just how far have we deviated from the original intent of the Founding Fathers? Listen in as we discuss creation and the Constitution and see what happened in America that changed the way our founding documents are viewed.
|
| —Promo for the Science, Scripture, & Salvation episode Creation and the Constitution[75] |
The ICR produces a weekly radio program called Science, Scripture, & Salvation, which was originally begun by Henry Morris himself in 1972. It also produces a few other programs including current President John Morris' daily one-minute Back to Genesis. Originally broadcast on Harold Camping's Family Radio network, this has expanded to include innumerable unaffiliated stations in the United States. The ICR boasts that their programs are aired on most of these stations without them having to pay for the privilege, "except in a few cases of local sponsorship."[76] Note that Science, Scripture & Salvation episodes are often repeated,[note 16] and that there are no Back to Genesis episodes on the Radio page as of October 2011.[77][note 17]
A 90-second Spanish version of Back to Genesis, called De Regreso a Genesis, also exists.[78]
Online video
Beginning, like the Science Essentials blog, in October 2011 the ICR has begun a video channel called That's a Fact on the vimeopro website.[79] The channel was described on it's launch as "aimed at delivering fascinating facts about science, the Bible, and more in an entertaining manner — in two minutes or less."[80]
The two minutes consist of compressed factoids, logical fallacies and PRATTs. They are not exactly intellectual in content - this can perhaps be best demonstrated by the promo for the first video:
“”The first episode in the series, "Measuring Billions," shows just how big the number one billion is, from how many trips around the world one billion frequent flier miles will get you to how long it would take someone to count from one to one billion. (Hint: a little over one billion minutes have passed since the time Jesus walked the earth!)
|
| —Christine Dao, That's a Fact[80] |
The videos are scheduled to come out on the first of each month.
Publications
The ICR distributes a number of magazines and similar publications - along with various books and other resources - both on their site and in hard copy.[81]
Acts & Facts
Their flagship magazine, Acts & Facts, is published monthly, and is effectively the newsletter of the Institute.[note 18] They publish the magazine prominently on their site [82][note 19] and the ICR offers free subscriptions of printed versions in the mail,[81] apparently worldwide.[note 20]
In recent times, the first page of the magazine after the front (page 2 by their counting) is an advertisement for one or more of the ICR's various books. The magazine proper usually begins on the next page with an introduction from the editor, Lawrence E. Ford, who introduces much of the contents of the magazine. The next article in the magazine is the "featured article," which gives its name to the edition of the magazine itself. This article has no fixed authorship - pieces by the long-dead Henry M. Morris himself have been known to feature,[note 21] but this does not appear to be the norm.
Other regular sections include: updates from the Institute's "research" program(s); an article from current president John Morris, which may-or-may-not be related to his field of geology; an article from Mr Thomas, adapted from one of his Daily Science Updates mentioned above; various ICR members showing their profound ignorance of evolution in general and natural selection in particular, not uncommonly via the use of an irrelevant metaphor or analogy; the schedule for the places that the ICR's speakers will be visiting over the next month,[note 22] along with write-ups of past events; information about new projects that the ICR is launching; and a plea for donations.
Attacks on Intelligent Design etc for 'compromising core doctrines' have been known to appear in the magazine,[83] as well as other irregular pieces.
Days of Praise
Days of Praise is a series of theology related articles for the purpose of bolstering the faith of the devout.[81] They are apparently recycled endlessly, in little noticeable order. Fifteen year old articles by the late Dr Morris are frequently republished. Notably, for each republication a new page is made for the article, and typos are fixed and replaced with new ones. The formatting of the article is also often changed, with in more recent times hyperlinks given to referenced bible verses.[note 23]
Defender's Study Bible
The Defender's Study Bible is a study Bible authored by the ICR's founder, Henry M. Morris, originally published in 1995. It was updated in 2005, the year before his death, as the New Defender's Study Bible.[84] If CreationWiki is to be believed, at one point in time the physical copy of the NDSB "Include[d a] CD for Windows!"[85]
The book seems to just be a KJV with annotations in attempt to explain away the contradictions etc. It is allegedly riddled with typos.[86] An online version of the NDSB is available on the ICR's website.[87]
See also
Some people who have contributed "research"
- Henry Morris (founder)
- John Morris (current President, son of Henry Morris)
- Duane Gish
- E. Calvin Beisner
- Brian Thomas
External links
Notes
- ↑ See the October 2011 Acts & Facts magazine, pages 18 and 19, which refers to the blog as such and includes screenshots of a site-design and content which has apparently never otherwise seen the light of day. Additionally, the first post on the sight of any substance at all - What’s in a Number? - calls it such.
- ↑ Since a site redesign in late October '11 the logo on the home page reads simply "Science Essentials."
- ↑ Or any information at all, often.
- ↑ But that's unsurprising, at least.
- ↑ Such as this one, from a Christian Shorey, a geologist at the Colorado School of Mines. Despite the dissent from some readers, there have been no known flame-wars on the site.
- ↑ If he's vague and calls himself "download music to my phone" then the comment probably isn't genuine.
- ↑ The main site. Note that while they own the .org and .edu domains, they are not the owners of the .com domain.
- ↑ This argument is contradicted by the existence of a strange group of people known as atheists. I wonder if you have heard of them?
- ↑ If you can't tell how terrible all these arguments are I feel very sorry for you...
- ↑ See this Exposing PseudoAstronomy Podcast episode for a detailed refutation of the ICR's claims about comets.
- ↑ The evidence suggests that fine tuning may well be the best they have...
- ↑ Eroding Continents, Uniformitarianism vs. Catastrophism, and Young-Earth Creationism: an interesting article on this subject.
- ↑ Talk.origins has a lengthy, in-depth refutation of this claim.
- ↑ Yea gods this claim is old...
- ↑ The examples they give are Gallic War and Poetics - compare with Pliny's Natural History for example.
- ↑ For example, see the search results for "Creation and the Constitution."
- ↑ It is possible, however, that these episodes simply don't appear on that page, as they would presumably flood the page at a 7-to-1 ratio to the SSS episodes.
- ↑ They call it their "news magazine"
- ↑ Archival pdfs of all Acts & Facts editions since January 1999 can be found from here
- ↑ The signup form has a drop down that includes all countries, including Taiwan (but not the TRNC).
- ↑ For example, in the September 2011 edition the feature Evolution Ex Nihilo was apparently recycled ("Adapted") from the September 1984 edition of the magazine.
- ↑ If you're worried about this happening near where you live, this could be worth checking...
- ↑ As an example, the Days of Praise article Jesus and the Fact of Hell, by Morris, first appears on the site in 1994, then in 2000, then 2006, and most recently in 2011.
References
- ↑ http://icr.edu/
- ↑ http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/04/24/0424creation.html
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Science Education Essentials page on the main site.
- ↑ According to a blog-commentor called "Alan(UK)."
- ↑ God’s Power on Display
- ↑ K-5 and 6-12 for this example.
- ↑ Continuing the example.
- ↑ What’s in a Number? Secondary Activities (6-12). See task 3.
- ↑ Resources for Students, an example page.
- ↑ Institute for Creation Research Resource Guide
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Evidence for Creation main page. See also their topics page, which has a list of all the articles that come under this heading in a handy tree format.
- ↑ The ICR's Evidence for God section
- ↑ Cause and effect, according to the ICR.
- ↑ Time, Space, and Matter
- ↑ Design and Purpose
- ↑ God Caused Justice
- ↑ Evidence for Truth
- ↑ John 18:38
- ↑ John 8:32
- ↑ The Foundation of Science Is Absolute Truth
- ↑ Historical Science Is Based on Assumptions
- ↑ The Laws of Science Require a Creator
- ↑ Knows That Good Is Better Than Evil
- ↑ Recognizes Man's Authority over Animals and Earth
- ↑ Acknowledges a Spiritual Part of Life.
- ↑ Desire for Justice
- ↑ Evidence from Nature
- ↑ Nature Reveals God's Power
- ↑ Nature Reveals God's Presence
- ↑ Nature Reveals God's Protection
- ↑ Nature Reveals God's Provision.
- ↑ Nature Reveals God's Wisdom
- ↑ The Earth Itself
- ↑ The Sun and Moon
- ↑ The Miracle of Water
- ↑ The Miracle of Air
- ↑ Unique Environment for Life
- ↑ The Speech of the Day
- ↑ The Knowledge of the Night
- ↑ Evidence from Science
- ↑ The Physical Sciences
- ↑ The Earth Sciences
- ↑ The Life Sciences
- ↑ The Universe Has a Center
- ↑ The Universe Was Created Recently
- ↑ The Universe Was Created Powerfully
- ↑ Energy Cannot Naturally Be Created or Destroyed
- ↑ Available Energy Decreases Over Time
- ↑ Elements Are Dependable across the Universe
- ↑ The Earth Was Uniquely Created.
- ↑ Worldwide Catastrophic Evidence Is Everywhere
- ↑ Fossils Reflect Life's Original Diversity
- ↑ Men and Dinosaurs Coexisted
- ↑ Diamonds and Strata Have Too Much Carbon 14
- ↑ Minerals Have Too Much Helium
- ↑ The Sea Does Not Have Enough Minerals.
- ↑ DNA Was Created as a Reservoir for the Information of Life
- ↑ Natural Selection and Adaptation Preserve Life Forms, Rather Than Generate New Ones
- ↑ The Natural Direction of Life Is Degeneration, Not Evolution
- ↑ Living Creatures Were Clearly Designed
- ↑ Man Was Recently and Miraculously Created in the Image of God
- ↑ All People Descended Recently from a Single Family
- ↑ Man Was Created Distinct from Apes
- ↑ Mutational Buildup Indicates Living Populations Are Young
- ↑ Living Fossils Display No Signs of Evolution's Long Ages
- ↑ Fresh Tissues Show That Fossils Are Recent
- ↑ The Manuscripts.
- ↑ The Message. No Joke.
- ↑ Accurate Data
- ↑ Reliable Eyewitnesses
- ↑ Accurate Predictions
- ↑ Daily Science Updates
- ↑ ICR News
- ↑ Brian Thomas' bio on the ICR website
- ↑ Creation and the Constitution, as broadcast on the "Week of July 2, 2011."
- ↑ Almost 40 Years of ICR Radio
- ↑ The Radio page.
- ↑ Radio FAQ
- ↑ Channel page
- ↑ 80.0 80.1 That's a Fact
- ↑ 81.0 81.1 81.2 Publications
- ↑ Their Acts & Facts page.
- ↑ e.g. The Failed Apologetic of the Wedge Strategy: How the Intelligent Design Movement Treats the Bible as Irrelevant, from the August 2011 edition.
- ↑ Defender's Bible Expanded
- ↑ From this revision, minus wikilink.
- ↑ New Defender's Study Bible filled with typos
- ↑ NDSB