This just came in on the newswire…
Just a reminder to come to tomorrow night’s event featuring a panel of scientists, philosophers and theologians whom you can fire questions at around the topic “Has Science Disproved God?” at the University of Auckland.
The speakers are:
Neil Broom (PhD) is Professor and Head of the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2008 and is the author of the book How Blind Is the Watchmaker?: Nature’s Design & the Limits of Naturalistic Science.
Jeff Tallon (PhD) is Distinguished Scientist at Industrial Research Ltd and a former Professor of Physics at Victoria University. He is internationally known for his research in high-temperature superconductors, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and in 2002 was awarded the Rutherford Medal, New Zealand’s highest science award.
Robert Mann (PhD) previously taught biochemistry and environmental studies at the University of Auckland and and has been on the council of the New Zealand Association of Scientists.
Matthew Flannagan (PhD) adjunct lecturer in Philosophy at Laidlaw College and Bethlehem Tertiary Institute and is currently teaching philosophy, ethics and religious studies at St Peters College. He specialises in applied ethics and the interface between philosophy and theology. He is a prominent New Zealand Christian commentator, debater and blogger.
When: Thursday 11 March at 7pm
Where: OGGB 4 (260-073 Owen G Glenn Building), 12 Grafton Road, The University of Auckland
The organisers – Thinking Matters, the sponsors – TSCF and I have had a lot of feedback and buzz around this event. We are expecting a good turnout and people seem to be getting their questions ready; topics that look set to come up include the scientific evidence for and against God, issues around Naturalism and the project of science itself but you can raise any related question you like!
Now to the lay person these topics may sound complicated, however, I have been assured by the organisers that this is a lay-friendly event. All the PhD’s on the panel will be speaking plain english and breaking down anything complicated so that the rest of us can follow. I am bringing my teenagers and some of their friends so that should give you an idea of how accessible it will be.
The full video of this debate is online here.
On October 3rd of 2007 in Birmingham, Alabama, Professor Richard Dawkins and his Oxford University colleague Professor John Lennox engaged in a lively debate over what is arguably the most critical question of our time: the existence of God. The debate centered on Dawkins’ views as expressed in his best-seller, The God Delusion, and their validity over and against the Christian faith. Both presenters agreed to the format and topics of discussion.
HT to http://apologetics315.blogspot.com
Stephen Meyer, Michael Medved, David Berlinski and Thomas Woodward are coming to Tampa Florida for Design vs. Darwin Event
The debate between Darwin and design is coming to Tampa, Florida with a major one-night event featuring some of the leading voices challenging Darwinian evolution.
Click here to register for this event: http://signatureinthecell.eventbrite.com/
Discovery Institute senior fellow and national radio personality Michael Medved will lead a two-hour discussion about the evidence for intelligent design and the challenges it proposes to modern evolutionary theory. Joining him will be Signature in the Cell author, Stephen C. Meyer; leading Darwin skeptic and author of The Deniable Darwin, David Berlinski; and scientist, scholar and writer, Thomas Woodward author of Darwin Strikes Back.
The event will take place at The A La Carte Pavilion, Tampa, FL, Thursday, January 28th at 7pm and is hosted by the C. S. Lewis Society. Discovery Institute is one of the co-sponsors.
The cost of admission is $6 for Students and $12 for Adults. For more information and advanced ticket sales, call (727) 376-6911 x 336. Or you can simply purchase tickets to the event online: http://signatureinthecell.eventbrite.com/
Source: Facebook
embedded by Embedded Video
embedded by Embedded Video
HT to Christian News
From here: http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/12/ouch_intelligent_design_guys_p.html
The great debate over the adequacy of evolution continues. Sort of. The latest head to head meeting had Dr. Stephen Meyer and Dr. Richard Sternberg debating Dr. Michael Shermer and Dr. Donald Prothero. Heading into the debate I was quite excited; these aren’t lightweights, after all. The defenders of evolution are well known in science circles and to followers of the overall debate. Indeed, we’ve blogged a fair amount on Dr. Prothero who has, shall we say, a colorful and cavalier way with the facts. He is known more for polemical bromides and spurious personal attacks than for any serious science.
Waiting for the event to start, I was wondering if Prothero would be better behaved in person than he is hiding behind a keyboard. His partner was Skeptic magazine’s head honcho, Michael Shermer, who has debated Stephen Meyer before, and is known for making more theological arguments against ID, as opposed to bringing any serious scientific criticisms bear. I expected he would be the good cop to Prothero’s keystone cop. What I didn’t know was that Prothero would be Ed McMahon to his Johnny Carson.
On the other side, the contenders are just as well credentialed — maybe more so — with one holding a philosophy of science degree from Cambridge (Meyer) being the less qualified, since Sternberg holds two degrees in evolutionary and theoretical biology. Not to mention that Meyer’s new book, Signature in the Cell, is by far the most prominent book of any of the participants, having just been named a bestseller by Amazon.com, and last week honored in the Times Literary Supplement of the London Times as one of the best books of the year.
It was all shaping up to be a serious heavyweight bout. And then Meyer and Sternberg simply KO’d the competition in the opening round. If I were being generous I might say that Prothero tripped over his own arrogance and impaled himself on his condescension, but let’s be honest; he was completely knocked out by Sternberg. I think Sternberg earned a third degree tonight, one in evolutionary bulldozing.
The debate video will be made available at some point by American Freedom Alliance, the sponsors of the debate, along with Center for Inquiry, The Skeptics Society and Discovery Institute.
Shermer opened by denouncing intelligent design as not science and not to be confused with science, which is what he and Prothero apparently assumed to be the topic of the debate. (It wasn’t, sadly.) Then he turned it over to Prothero, who — after repeatedly repeating that science cannot resort to the supernatural — proceeded to race through a litany of complaints against intelligent design and assertions about the creation of amino acids and proteins, most of which was non-controversial and also not evidence for Darwinian evolution. Prothero made a number of claims about RNA chains, about how the evidence of the fossil record is “ironclad” or would be if people treated it fairly, and about how the Miller-Urey experiment was right, “and even if they weren’t it still works” (quit laughing, he was serious!). His Darwinian motivational rant went on about how the Cambrian explosion was really a “slow fuse,” not an explosion. Amazingly, he claimed that almost all the major phyla had ancestors 50 million years before the Cambrian. Alas, he was so far wrong that it wasn’t all that much effort to point it out, completely discredit him, and then let him hang himself with his twisted rope of unearned arrogance and condescension. If you’re going to be arrogant, you’d better be able to back it up with something better than, “I climbed some rocks in Russia and read an article in The New Scientist.”
To call the debate a massacre would be a discredit to Sitting Bull. The only thing I can say is that Shermer needs to add a point to his booklet on how to debate “creationists” — namely, leave Donald Prothero at home in his van by the river.
This guy is to be taken seriously? I had to remind myself not to laugh every so often during his presentation — it was so pathetic and ill-informed. Basically, Shermer and Prothero blathered on about supernaturalism, and Meyer ceded his time to Sternberg, who made an interesting presentation about whale evolution. Then he proceeded to point out the topic of the debate to Shermer and Prothero: Has Evolutionary Theory Adequately Explained the Origins of Life?, something which they never addressed because they were so busy falling all over themselves to denounce intelligent design.
Some of the best points came later in the debate, when Sternberg slammed Prothero with factual put down after factual put down, citing the current literature time and again. His command of the subject matter — from population genetics to junk DNA — was so far and above beyond Shermer and Prothero’s knowledge, so far above their pay grade, that it was almost painful to watch him school them point after point. As I said before, shortly you’ll be able to watch the debate for yourself. But be warned, it isn’t pretty.
See also:
http://www.stephencmeyer.org/
http://www.signatureinthecell.org
Dr. Stephen Meyer will debate Skeptic magazine editor and Darwin defender Michael Shermer in Beverly Hills on Monday November 30.
More info on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184759894536&ref=share
Apologetics 315 has a bunch of stuff about this debate online, including the MP3 which is over 2 hours long and includes questions and answers from the floor.
Moderator of the debate, Dr. Bradley Monton has kindly put up a review of the debate on his website here.
I was really hoping for some knock-down arguments from Ayala given his amazing academic credentials and outstanding ranking in the world of evolutionary biology. But once again, I think there was little gunpowder in the evolutionist’s chamber and we are all intellectually the worse for it.
I wonder if Richard Dawkins will have time to listen to the debate (that could have been his) and reconsider debating Craig.
Reading the summary on Bradley Monton’s website, I wonder if Dawkins may regret NOT taking up the offer and debating Craig, especially if he is so sure of his incredible claims. Why? Because apparently Craig conceded afterward that he is very inexperienced at debating this subject, so Dawkins could have blasted some big holes in ID and its followers like myself by hitting us between the eyes David Tua style with the evidence that we keep asking for.
As for a winner, my feeling is that we can notch up another win for Craig, but overall the debate could have been a lot better.
Lastly, it seems to me that for such a smart guy, Ayala’s should have a worldview that is much more coherent. He seems to believe in God, but rejects any notion that we can detect God’s handiwork in biology. He also seems really confused about theology — even though he has a doctorate in theology!!! I wonder if he has ever come across the essential doctrine of the fall because it seem to me that it plays a vital role in so many of the criticisms he has of “design” in biology. If Ayala rejects both general revelation and special revelation, upon what does he base any belief in God at all? Why not just go the whole hog and ditch God-belief altogether?
There is usually more heat then light generated in the evolution wars. However, this video is actually pretty good imo. Thanks to the Hoover Institution for making this available!
embedded by Embedded Video
A dvd by Dr John Blanchard
Based on the book of the same title – which is available for purchase online.
Part of a series of dvds by John Blanchard (same time & venue).
Sponsored by
Grace Reformed Baptist Church
Palmerston North
The MP3s are up and ready to listen (or you can watch)
Here are the names of the speakers: Dinesh D’Souza, Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig, Greg Koukl, Darrell Bock, and JP Moreland. What a fantastic lineup!!!
Here is the page:
http://saddleback.com/mediacenter/services/currentseries.aspx?site=yDi0V4EwP58=&s=OsqcpA0SUkE=
http://apologetics315.blogspot.com/ should have the MP3s linked pretty soon…..
The Massey Chaplaincy Building is actually much more advanced now than this picture shows. Hopefully we can start having apologetics meetings in here in the future 
SCHOOL OF LANGUAGE STUDIES
SEMINAR SERIES 2009
Wednesday 22 July – 12noon-12.30pm
MB 3.25
Horace as Post-Modern
An admonitory tale for two eras
Colin Anderson
The worlds of 1st century BCE Europe and of the contemporary West are remarkably alike. Both dominated by one superpower, both constructed around a dominant cultural ideology developed over the previous 300 years – but both at a point where the prevailing social, political and religious structures underpinning this ideology – their “grand narratives” – are under severe challenge.
In the contemporary West, this is the Zeitgeist of the Post-Modern, which, with other expressions, is also mediated through its literature. The similar collapse of the ancient grand narratives can also be perceived through the literature of that time.
This talk examines one example of this “ancient Post-Modernism” in the Odes of Horace.
I would heavily urge people in Palmerston North to consider attending a coming 8-week worldviews course (details below).
This is, in my opinion, one of the most important areas to come to grips with if you want to be an effective ambassador for Jesus Christ in the contemporary world.
The course will be taken by Andrew Lim from Christ Sanctuary. I confess, I am biased — Andrew is my Pastor — and the best Bible expositor and preacher I have come across in NZ in 20 years! As I said, I am biased but quite honestly, I expect this course to be par excellence.
Here are the details:
Venue: Palmerston North Christian Fellowship Church (opposite The Warehouse on Church Street — rotate the map below so see this Kiwi icon )
Dates: Tuesday 28th July to Tuesday 15th September
Times: 7:30 to 9:30pm including lecture, supper and tutorial
Costs: $80/term (incl GST) for an Emmaus credit (includes assignments).
Contact: Sylvia Marshall at (06) 357 4377 (Tues/Wed) or email nigel@cccpn.org.nz
More details are at www.emmaus.net.nz.
The course details are here (there are other courses in addition to the preaching course).
Details…
- Expelled the Movie
- Informal discussion on Hinduism; what it is and isn’t; the basic ideas; Q and A.
He will be at “Church in Vogel”, 127 Vogel Street, Palmerston North on Tuesday 31st March thru Thursday 2nd April. Each evening’s session will start at 7pm and topic will be ……… “In The Beginning – GOD”, a study on the first 11 chapters of Genesis.
More info can be found at www.ariel.org.nz or by contacting info@ariel.org.nz.
Or you can call Llew King on 06 357 0092.
Offerings will be taken.
From http://www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable, here is the MP3:
http://media.premier.org.uk/unbelievable/6e95c37b-33f7-4fdf-adb2-b628ab78914b.mp3
Tas Walker from Creation Ministries international is in Palmy North on Friday night.
Details: Friday 26 September, 7.30pm, public meeting, Central Baptist Church, 190 Church Street, Palmerston North.
More here.
