Hello... looking for recommendations for resources on Evolution

[indigo32]

I was reading this article re court case on Intelligent Design

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9492208/

and it occurs to me that I'm not very well educated on the whole subject of evolution vs <fill in the blank>, beyond the basics. Could any of you point me to some resources regarding what the other side is saying the "scientific" flaws are in evolutionary theory, and what supporters say in response, and the whole debate?

[Az]

1. The best site for info concerning the debate is talkorigins.org

http://talkorigins.org/

This site is the result of the ongoing debate in Usenet on the talkorigins newsgroup. Although it is the bastion of those supporting evolution they address the issues of creationists and IDers as well.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

2. I agree

Talkorigins is a wonderful web site with TONS of information, and directly responds to many of the assertions made by creationists and IDers.

It should be a large chunk of the ammo in any arsenal when defending evolution from the fundamentalists.

[Synnical]

8. Absolutely, yes, that's the place to go

There's also a huge online library at The Secular Web:

http://www.infidels.org/

Internet Infidels quotation of the minute:

"The most extraordinary Roman soldiers that Rome ever heard of were those soldiers that were set to watch the tomb of Jesus. They managed to fall asleep simultaneously in order to allow Jesus to pass unseen, and when they awoke, for a bribe they deliberately committed suicide by admitting that they had slept -- an admission that meant instant execution. Was ever invention so stupidly desparate and medacity so reckleslly absurd as that invention and that mendacity upon which rests the story of the Resurrection, upon which the whole fabric of the Christian faith has elected to stand or fall? The basis is too puerile to support a story told by an idiot for the purpose of imposing upon a fool." W.S. Ross, "Did Jesus Christ Rise from the Dead?" An Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism (ed. Gordon Stein, Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1980), p. 211.

[melv]

3. then of course there is this

that the theory of evolution is based on empirical data. The theory of ID is not scientific in nature, has no science to back it up. The word "Theory" means two different things when comparing evolution and ID.

What blows my mind is this: It seems to me that ID proponents wouldn't have a problem with evolution. If there were an ultimate designer, seems to me the person would come up with a way for things to adapt....

[geniph]

6. There are plenty of reasonable theists

who believe in both intelligent design and evolution - they believe evolution should be taught as science, and intelligent design should be taught as philosophy or religion. Those are not the people causing the problems. My husband, for example, believes in the existence of a creator (I don't, but we don't argue about it much), but also doesn't see why such a creator could not put something like evolution in motion so that the creation was not forevermore static. Because ID can never be quantified or observed or tested, it is not science and cannot be taught in place of actual science.

[trotsky]

7. But "ID" proponents DO have a problem with evolution.

Outright teaching of creationism has failed. The courts have (thankfully) consistently upheld that you cannot teach religion in a science class.

So the fundies retreated, regrouped, and relabeled themselves. They now believe in "Intelligent Design." Oh the language has changed, and now it's not a direct assault on evolution (which they can never win), it's simply an appeal to "teach another theory".

But if there are any doubts whatsoever that these are the same godbots, or that their ultimate goal is to ban the teaching of evolution, see the "Wedge Document" which betrays their true strategies.

http://www.antievolution.org/features/wedge.html

We are building on this momentum, broadening the wedge with a positive scientific alternative to materialistic scientific theories, which has come to be called the theory of intelligent design (ID). Design theory promises to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions.

[FM Arouet666]

4. I couple of links I use

http://evolution-facts.org/

This site should be named evolution-distortions, a nutty little page with a host of pro-intelligent design information. Know your enemy.



http://www.talkorigins.org/

This site is good for information opposing intelligent design.

[BurtWorm]

5. This is the most extraordinary online resource I've come across

http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/

It is amazingly thorough. Enjoy!