Answers in Genesis on Ayala’s Templeton Prize

WE already gave you the Discoveroids’ reaction. See Discovery Institute: Francisco Ayala’s Templeton Prize. Now we have another negative reaction, this time from Answers in Genesis (AIG), one of the major sources of creationist wisdom: Evolution Professor Receives Spirituality Award.

There’s not much to this, but it’s amusing to see how creationists react to events in the real world. Essentially, AIG claims that Francisco Ayala, the former Dominican priest who is now a biology professor, knows neither science nor religion.

Yes, that’s bizarre, but what else would we expect from the outfit that runs the profoundly preposterous Creation Museum? Here are some excerpts, with bold added by us:

This year’s $1.5 million Templeton Prize has gone to Francisco Ayala, an ordained Catholic priest and professor of evolutionary biology.

Ayala, 76, is widely known for defending the compatibility of Christianity and evolution. Originally ordained as a Catholic priest, Ayala left his native Spain in the early 1960s to study biology at New York’s Columbia University. He currently serves, among other roles, as professor of biological sciences, ecology, and evolutionary biology at the University of California–Irvine.

This is a shock to AIG. How could such a thing happen? Creationists “know” that evolution is utterly incompatible with all that is good and holy. What could possibly explain this news? The end of AIG’s article tells the tale:

Sadly, even with his theological training, it seems Ayala is apparently not familiar with the Bible’s teaching about creation and the Fall. God did indeed create a “very good” world (Genesis 1:31), but with Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden came death and suffering (Genesis 3; Romans 5:12). The creation worldview explains the “deformities of the world” as the result of human sin and points out ways in which natural selection and chance mutations cannot account for the design we see all around us (albeit designs that groan under the effects of the curse).

And although the Bible is not a science textbook, it is a book of history — true history. Where it speaks of historical matters, whether the creation of the universe or the Resurrection of Jesus Christ we celebrate in a few days, it can be trusted completely.

That’s all there is to it. According to AIG, Ayala is a total failure. Isn’t creationism grand?

Copyright © 2010. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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Creationist School Board Candidate in Wisconsin

WE present School staff must be held accountable, which appears in the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune of Wisconsin Rapids. It’s in the form of a letter-to-the-editor from someone named Greg Swank, a candidate for the Wisconsin Rapids School Board; but it’s also a bit of election campaigning.

We’ll provide only a few excerpts from Swank’s letter, because most of it is about purely local issues. The rest is amusing. See what you think.

The letter begins with a bit of whining about past events. We really can’t tell if this guy has always run unsuccessfully in the past, or had once been elected but was defeated later, or what the deal is. Anyway, he starts out whining. Let’s pick it up after that:

And you know what? That’s OK, because election turnout is the name of the game. The bottom line is that it is very political, and you should know as much as you can about the people you are voting for. That said, let me tell you who I am, what I believe.

We couldn’t wait to find out, so we went Googling around. Hey, look what we found: UFO Reports Continue To Raise Questions And Eyebrows, By Greg Swank. Here’s a teaser:

Why am I even writing about this topic? Well, for me, my wife and my 15-year-old daughter it all started on June 7, 1999. We were out viewing a beautiful star-filled sky when we saw 15 objects, maneuvering very strangely.

That’s our man. Okay, back to his letter:

I am Christian, conservative, and a Constitutionalist. I’m one of “those people” who clings to God, guns and the Bible, and I pray all the time for direction and strength.

That’s nice. What else?

I believe evolution is a religion, and any science used to convince you otherwise is weak. I also believe if you are going to teach evolution as “science” you must address intelligent design which can be backed by the same scientific evidence.

Aaaargh!! Do we need any more? Why not? These people are strangely fascinating:

I think public education should not be public indoctrination of your children. Parents have every right to raise their children as they see fit, and social engineering of your kids should be prohibited in any public school.

Whatever that means to a creationist. We continue:

I believe that parents should never feel intimidated to voice their opinions, call on staff, or talk to a board member. Their concerns should be taken seriously, and a response to any action should be shared with them.

He probably means that the concerns of creationist parents should be taken seriously. His letter then goes on a bit about “accountability” and unions, but those are local issues in Wisconsin Rapids. Let’s skip to the end:

Agree or disagree, these are some things I feel passionate about. If you feel the same, the rest is easy. Go to the polls on April 6 and vote for me to represent you on the school board.

God bless America.

At the bottom of the letter we’re informed: “Rudolph resident Greg Swank is a candidate for Wisconsin Rapids School Board.”

if you click over to the newspaper, you’ll see that there are some comments coming in. Some Wisconsin Rapids people seem sane. But not all of them.

Update: Swank lost the election. See Creationist Wisdom #138: Just a Story.

Copyright © 2010. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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Discovery Institute: Their 2007 Tax Return

WE know you’re curious about the finances of the neo-theocrats at the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture (a/k/a the Discoveroids). It’s been a little over a year since we posted their 2006 Tax Return.

Get ready for some more thrilling information. The Discoveroids’ 2007 Tax Return is now available online. It’s a 33-page pdf file. We’re not skilled at reading these documents, so as we’ve done in the past, we’ll just give you what we see as the highlights.

Their revenue came from almost $4 million in contributions, plus some “program service revenue” and other items, resulting in a grand total of $4,256,588.00. For comparison, the 2006 tax return showed total revenue of $4,165,847, and in 2005 it was just under $3 million. The creationism business is flourishing!

Page 3 is interesting. The Discoveroids break down their expenses according to activities. Their work on transportation ate up $1,004,331, almost 25% of their revenue. But nearly half of their revenue, or $1,945,954, was expended for the activity described as:

Production of public service reports, legislative testimony, articles, public conferences and debates, plus media coverage and the Institutes own publications in the field of Science and Culture.

That is, we assume, their public relations work on behalf of intelligent design. This is the first time we’ve seen that kind of breakdown, and it confirms our suspicion that promoting creationism is, after all, the Discoveroids’ principal function.

Page 5 lists “Current Officers, Directors, Trustees, and Key Employees” and their salaries and expense accounts. The Discoveroid president, Bruce Chapman, was paid $148K, the same as the prior year, but this time they paid $10K more expenses for him. Vice President Stephen Meyer was paid $102,500, which is $10K less than the year before; but the expenses they paid for him were $21K more than the prior year. Make of that what you will.

Schedule A lists “Compensation of the Five Highest Paid Employees Other Than Officers, Directors, and Trustees.” There are only two names we recognize. John West’s salary was $100K. He didn’t make that list on the 2006 return, so he’s doing well. The other name we recognize is Richard von Sternberg. You know him as a principal (along with Stephen Meyer) in the infamous Sternberg peer review controversy. Von Sternberg was paid $77,375, and he wasn’t on the prior year’s list either.

Page 30 of the pdf file lists their Board of Directors. Howard Ahmanson is there, of course. It’s long been known that he’s a patron of the Discovery Institute. The following page, still listing directors, mentions two people connected to Microsoft. Their names mean nothing to us, but why does the Discoveroid Board have two members with a Microsoft connection? Who knows? Maybe it’s just the proximity of Seattle and Redmond. Anyway, there they are.

If you know how to read tax forms, maybe you can get more out of this one than we can. At this point, however, your Curmudgeon has reached his limit. For what it may be worth, you have a link to the Discoveroids’ tax return. Dig in if you like that sort of thing.

Related information: See Creationist Financing at Panda’s Thumb. Also see: Funding the Creationism Industry.

Copyright © 2010. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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Discovery Institute: Francisco Ayala’s Templeton Prize

THE Templeton Prize has been awarded to Francisco J. Ayala. The news is everywhere, but here’s a good account at the website of The National Center for Science Education (NCSE): Ayala wins the Templeton Prize. One brief excerpt:

NCSE congratulates Francisco J. Ayala on winning the Templeton Prize. The prize, worth about $1.5 million, is awarded annually by the John Templeton Foundation to “a living person who has made exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.”

We’ve always liked Francisco Ayala, the former Dominican priest who is now a biology professor. Here’s something we wrote on him back in 2008: Francisco Ayala: Evolution and Creationism, and after that we wrote Charles Darwin, Francisco Ayala, and the Problem of Evil. In the latter post we quoted Ayala on what to us was a unique approach to an ancient theological problem:

“Natural selection is Darwin’s gift to science, his gift to religion,” Ayala said. “It made it possible to explain the dysfunction, the cruelty, the sadism of the way of life rather than the idea of a creator. It’s more the result of natural processes.”

Because Ayala is an outspoken opponent of creationism (and its jazzed-up version known as intelligent design), we’re delighted that he’s won the Templeton Prize. As we mentioned here, Discovery Institute: They Get No Respect!, the Templeton Foundation rejects creationism and ID. Our post has a link to a note at the Templeton website titled: “Does the John Templeton Foundation support intelligent design?” but that link isn’t working. Fortunately, we quoted its contents at our post.

The neo-theocrats at the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture (a/k/a the Discoveroids) are effectively locked out of ever winning a Templeton Prize, and they’re bitter at this rejection. They crave establishment recognition for their “science” and they’ll never get it.

We were wondering what their reaction would be to Ayala’s award. While everyone else has been posting congratulatory articles about Ayala and the prize, we’ve been waiting for the Discoveroids to speak — hoping that we could praise Ayala and take a jab at the creationists at the same time. Our patience has been rewarded.

We present to you, dear reader, some excerpts from “Smooth Words” from Francisco Ayala, which appears the Discoveroid blog. As a bonus, it’s written by David Klinghoffer. The bold font was added by us:

Francisco J. Ayala, biologist and former Dominican priest, has won this year’s Templeton Prize. Valued at $1.53 million, the prize has sought to reward serious thought, writing and research pointing the way to a reconciliation of science and faith. In Ayala’s case, for “science” read “Darwinism.” So a word or two is in order about the faith of Dr. Ayala.

Oooooh! “Darwinism.” Klinghoffer is upset. If you’re a Klinghoffer fan, you can click over to the Discoveroid site and read his entire post. But we’ll skip most of it and get right to the end:

Darwinism, if correct, obviates the need for a traditionally conceived Designer, working in any manner. That is the whole point of the theory. Ayala sees the merit of Darwinism, from a religious perspective, as lying in the fact that it would let God off the hook for aspects of nature that we perceive as flawed. Maybe, but it does so at the cost of emptying life of all divine intention, plan, purpose and meaning.

Hold on — just as we were going to press we noticed that they’ve posted another Klinghoffer hit piece at the Discoveroid blog: The View From Planet Ayala. Here’s one small excerpt we’ve selected because it will break every irony meter within a 50-mile radius. Remember — this is being said by a Discoveroid creationist about a respected biologist:

I mean no disrespect to Dr. Ayala, yet there is a sense in which he seems to be responding not to people and ideas as they are but to a construction in his own mind and of his own imagining.

Klinghoffer doesn’t like Ayala’s work. That’s okay. The Templeton Foundation does. And what we suspect really bothers Klinghoffer is that the Templeton Foundation has no use for what the Discoveroids do.

Afterthought: There’s yet another reason why the Discoveroids are hostile to Ayala. Part of their promotional mythology is that by battling “Darwinism” and “materialism” they’re heroically resisting the barbarian hordes of leftists and atheists. When someone comes along who is a living contradiction of their myth, they just can’t deal with it. But it’s fun to watch them squirm.

Update: See Answers in Genesis on Ayala’s Templeton Prize.

Copyright © 2010. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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