Prof Denied Funds Over Evolution Evidence

radarsat1 writes "The Montreal Gazette today reported that a professor at Montreal's McGill University was refused a $40,000 grant, allegedly because 'he'd failed to provide the panel with ample evidence that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is correct.' Ironically, the grant was for a study into the detrimental effects of intelligent design on Canadian academics and leaders." From the article: "Jennifer Robinson, McGill's associate vice-principal for communications, said the university has asked the SSHRC to review its decision to reject Alters's request for money to study how the rising popularity in the United States of 'intelligent design' - a controversial creationist theory of life - is eroding acceptance of evolutionary science in Canada."

Have you heard the gospel?

[Anonymous Coward]

FSMism is the one true belief! Of course he can't prove evolution is correct, any Pastafarian knows how the world (and midgets) truely came to be.

http://www.venganza.org/ [venganza.org]

Re:Que Nelson from the Simpsons:

[Citizen of Earth]

"What happens if a big asteroid hits Earth? Judging from realistic simulations involving a sledge hammer and a common laboratory frog, we can assume it will be pretty bad." -- Dave Barry

Re:Quote from a play nobody else has ever seen

[Tackhead]

> > ID can take the complexity of life and the structure of the universe itself and explain it in terms anybody who has ever been to church can understand. Biology can't. Which is sad.
>
> No, what's sad is the plethora of churchgoers who apparently can't be bothered with an explanation more complex than "Humans are humans and dogs are dogs because jebus said so."

Yes, but what's saddest of all is that unlike my ape-descended friends who haven't caught onto the scientific method, the difference between dogs and humans is that dogs learn from their mistakes.

Viva His Noodly Appendage!

[Guysmiley777]

Viva the Midget!

Viva Pirates!

http://www.venganza.org/ [venganza.org]

Bush did it!

[Arandir]

This is all Bush's fault! Oh wait... this is in Canada. Well it's STILL Bush's fault, dammit!

Another correction

[cyber-vandal]

Traders throughout the world discovered the origin of spices a long time ago.

Re:Correction

[Anonymous Coward]

And do you really think (ghost) referencing (supposed) inconsistencies in a book that was written 147 years ago makes a plausible point against modern evolutionary theory?

This might not seem like such a strange idea for some supporters of ID considering that their theory is based on a book that was written around 2000 years ago

Re:I know I'm gonna get flamed but...

[LowlyWorm]

I hope you do not consider this a flame. There are holes in the sense there are lots and lots of gaps in the fossil record. Each time a new transitional species is found there a usually at least two more.

Re:Quote from a play nobody else has ever seen

[flimflammer]

I can state without a shadow of a doubt, it's an absolute fact that I have two testicles.

The Easter Bunny Proves Intelligent Design!

[SimHacker]

The Easter Bunny is the best proof yet of intelligent design! What other explanation is there for rabbits laying painted eggs on Jesus's birthday? Obviously that proves the existence of God, and supports the story of Adam and Eve.

-Don

Re:Que Nelson from the Simpsons:

[Anonymous Coward]

Hello Blaise:

It's good to hear from you again, since the math books don't quite footnote your greatest accomplishment in life - the Great Wager [rowan.edu].

It would seem the only real evolution occuring these days is in the hearts and minds of those scientists who purposefully choose to ignore the structured world around them. Furthermore, it's with great sorrow that I report back to you that these same "scientists" rely on innacurate radio dating [answersingenesis.org] techniques to gauge and base their new religion on. Yet, amongst all the evidence mother earth has presented to us yet, it's own history seems to be willfully ignored in substitute of manufacturing their own. We have thousands of reliable eyewitness reports testified and verified by their peers, countless compiled documents spanning some 6000 years with archaelogical evidence in supportive agreement with those same biblical transcripts (via excavation research), and both written and spoken tradition which attests to God's design and fulfillment of man's purpose by the death of his son who rose again from the dead in 3 days. And the only question left is why not who. Some cannot see it, but not all men have such insight or understanding when they stress the first I in intelligence over U, which when properly substituted is what they unfortunately suffer from. Oh, the urony of it all...

cya real soon in 30 or 40. Peace!

Re:Have you heard the gospel?

[pnewhook]

And what the hell do Finite State Machines have to do with anything ?

It's a trap!!!!

[Darby]

I can state without a shadow of a doubt, it's an absolute fact that I have two testicles.

You're only saying that because you know we're not going to ask you to prove it!

Re:Quote from a play nobody else has ever seen

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but what's saddest of all is that unlike my ape-descended friends who haven't caught onto the scientific method, the difference between dogs and humans is that dogs learn from their mistakes.

And they're better at speeches, too! "Woof, woof!" makes more sense than most of the stuff I have to hear everyday, and it doesn't have a PC-speech mutilat... version!

Re:Quote from a play nobody else has ever seen

[somersault]

"What proof has there EVER been that there is one?"

maybe there isn't 'proof', but there is plenty of indication in the order in the world today (a la Intelligent Design), in morality, love and so on (as one person pointed out above as being things that people tend to use God to explain, as I would myself :p ).. the very fact that anything exists seems proof that things are possible that are well without our limits of comprehension, ie God. The thing that always gets me is that matter/the universe ever existed, and it's just as easy (to me) to believe that God always existed, as that the universe did. Our minds work around the ideas of beginning and ends.. since the universe must have just always been here, then it is infinite.. and in infinite time, if you believe in evolution, say, then you could believe that some species could evolve into being omnipotent, as God is. I read a great Aasimov short story where computers became so advanced that they basically were omnipotent, and manages to reverse entropy, then last line of the story was 'let there be light' I think. There are many ways in which you could come to believing in God, evolution itself is probably a good reason to believe that some all powerful being evolved somewhere else in the universe. But most people just tend to use it to try and bash Christians (whom they dont seem to like very much for some reason, possibly because we tell them they're sinners), or anyone who believes that we're not the most intelligent beings around.

It does seem that people use evolution to try to disprove God, which would be a 'fanatical' viewpoint, since the two are not really related. In fact I could even be made to reconcile Genesis 1 with evolution, if there was 'extensive proof', with no valid counter-arguments, but I still have no problem believing that Genesis 1 is literal

Re:The fatal flaw in ID

[kilfarsnar]

Oooh! A tantalizing question! Does God have a God?