Militant Atheism Seizing Europe.  Muslim violence and hypocrisy and immorality in leaders of organized religion have provided a platform for a surge in militant atheism in Europe.  Led by Michel Onfray's lecture series titled "Hedonist Philosophy," atheists are getting free time on state radio stations and holding public lectureships all over Europe.  A recent lecture in London sold out some 2,000 seats at $40 a seat.  The first Muslim atheist group called "The National Council of Ex-Muslims" has been founded by Mina Ahadi and has grown astronomically.  The Wall Street Journal (April 12, 2007, page A1) titled their description of what is happening as "Europe's Atheists Seize Pulpit."  Atheist Manifesto is a best seller in France, Italy, and Spain.  As long as believers continue to pretend that there is no need for apologetics, atheism will grow and thrive on misinformation and a lack of answers.

Embryonic Stem Cell Firm Quits.  We have attempted to point out for a long time that the embryonic stem cell dispute was a misguided debate, because the nature of embryonic stem cells did not lend these cells to uses to cure diseases.  One of the leading biotechnology firms, E S Cell International, has announced that they are ending their attempts to use embryonic stem cells for clinical therapies.  The reason given is that "the likelihood of having products in the clinic in the short term was vanishingly small."  Adult stem cells by the way, are being used now to treat more than 70 diseases and ailments and over 1500 clinical trials are in operation for adult stem cell treatments.  Embryonic stem cells can be used to understand the design of the body, but adequate supplies are available for that use.  Trying to use them for treatment of disease is a misguided attempt.  The American College of Pediatricians has called for an end to embryonic stem cell research.  Michelle Cretella speaking for the group says "Not only does embryonic research require taking the life of human embryos, it also prolongs needless suffering by delaying the development of more promising adult stem cell treatments and cures."  --Source:  MCNews, August 2007, page 7,  and LifeSiteNews.com, May 14, 2007

Linnaeus the Bigot.  Most of us have learned somewhere along the line that Carl Linnaeus developed the taxonomy system used in biology today.  This system is based on evolution, and in some cases is not very good science.  One interesting fact that few are aware of is that Linnaeus showed his prejudice by grouping humans into four categories using the same techniques he used in developing his taxonomy system.  Remember that this was done in the 1700s and in 1758 he groups humans as follows:  "Americanus was 'obstinate,' Asiaticus 'avaricious,' Africanus 'indolent,' and Europeaneus 'inventive.'"  Some of those same attitudes exist to this day, but hopefully it will let us see that any human can be misguided in his understandings.  --Source:  Smithsonian, July 2007, page 12.

Media Distortions of Earthlike Planets.  If you read the newspapers and their description of new planets being found around other stars you might come to the conclusion that scientists are finding earth-like planets everywhere.  A good example was a recent report in Astronomy (August 2007, page 20) that star Gliese 581 "harbors the most earth like planet ever discovered."  Here are the facts:  (1) Gliese 581 is a red dwarf.  Any star has a zone where water will exist as a liquid, but a cold star will have it close to the star and that is the case here.  (2) The planet is about 1.5 the earth's radius, so it is fairly small, but its mass is five times that of the earth, so its gravity would be huge and its atmosphere would be toxic.  (3) It takes the planet 12.9 days to orbit the star and it is only 6.8 million miles away from that star.  This would not allow any earth-like properties to exist.  There may be an earthlike planet somewhere, but so far what has been learned is that a planet like ours is incredibly rare and the natural processes that produce other solar systems make it increasingly less likely that accidents can produce what we see in the world around us.

Galactic Catastrophism.  One of the assumptions of evolutionary theory that is rarely discussed is the assumption of uniformitarianism.  This is the belief that the only processes that have ever been operational on the earth are the processes in operation today.  The problem is that if catastrophic processes occur (like the biblical flood) then evolutionary theories are highly stressed to explain the biodiversity that we see, so catastrophism has been pretty much ignored even though it is clear that uniformitarianism is not generally true.  A new study at the University of Kansas has shown that the north side of the galaxy (as viewed from Earth), has a cosmic ray wind that would be catastrophic to life forms on Earth.  It appears that the solar system migrates into the area periodically and the effects would have enormous implications for all theories of the history of life.  The Bible agrees with the fact that the earth is generally uniformitarian (God is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow according to the Bible), but also tells us that there have been occasions when history was punctuated with a major catastrophe.  You can argue about the cause, but it is clear that uniformitarianism is an oversimplification of the earth's history.  --Source:  Science News, April 21, 2007, page 244.

Herod's Burial Place Found.  Ehud Netzer of Hebrew University in Jerusalem has located the burial place of King Herod--the king who ordered the death of all children under two in Bethlehem.  Josephus had observed Herod's funeral procession and sarcophagus, and Netzer has found the remains just as Josephus described them.  Good archeological research is always a friend to the Bible, but sorting through the scams and con artists can be difficult.  This seems to be a find that no one is contesting.  --Source:  Discover, July 2007, page 13.

Appalling Numbers.  Of the six and one-half billion people living on the earth, 1.2 billion live on an average of 23 cents a day and 2 billion have no electricity.  Every 16 seconds someone dies of hunger.  Last year 105 billion dollars was spent on alcohol and 11 billion on ice cream in Europe alone, and 17 billion was spent in the USA and Europe on pet food.  Atheists attack God on the basis that God should not allow pain and suffering in the world, and yet the tools to eliminate hunger and suffering are available to mankind.  The selfishness that permeates those on the planet who have a surplus of resources prevents it from happening.  Human politics and a "survival of the fittest" mentality is the cause of poverty and need on the planet--not God.  We have been given the resources to meet the needs that exist.  It is interesting that yesterday we got 26 soliciting letters from Christian organizations all addressing poverty and illness on the planet, and not one atheist solicitation--even though we are on many atheist mailing lists.  Source of data:  World Challenge Inc. at www.worldchallenge.org.

Homosexuality and Politics.  The appointment of the U.S. Surgeon General is a political appointment, nominated by the president and approved by Congress.  The recent nomination of Dr. James Holsinger by George Bush has caused a major furor because Holsinger has in the past written positive papers on the design of the human reproductive system, and on the health hazards of gay sex.  From John Edwards to the Boston Globe there has been an outcry that Holsinger is "bigotry masquerading as science" (the Washington Post), even though everyone who knows Holsinger (including some homosexuals) agrees that he is "fair, professional, and compassionate."  The Bush administration has not defended Holsinger, but has said that the papers were his beliefs at the time he wrote them and that this should not be used against him.  Politics is such a massive force in our culture that truth and accuracy are forced under the table when political expediency is at stake.  The fact is that there are health hazards that are unique to gay sex just as there are health hazards in multi-partner heterosexual behavior, drinking, and smoking.  The fact is that the human reproductive system is incredibly sophisticated and a reflection of God's wisdom and intelligence.  Advocating truth should not be a political liability.  --Source of Data:  Christianity Today, August 2007, page 20.

Cancer and miracles.  A regular question that comes to us from a variety of readers is how we explain claims of miraculous cures of cancer.  It has been our experience that a huge number of the claims are either false, or cases where the person never really had cancer.  There are, however, those cases where someone who had cancer is healed, and in Discover (September 2007, page 540) is an interesting article about cases where people had terminal cancer and the body's immune system attacked and destroyed the cancer when death seemed inevitable.  The immune system itself is a beautiful example of God's wisdom and design in our bodies.  What it takes to get that system to attack and destroy cancer is still poorly understood.  We would maintain that God can perform miracles, but modern miracle workers are misinformed or fraudulent.  They do not have that kind of power.

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