| 2011 Web Sites of the Month |
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| Web Site of the Month - January 2011 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| A handbook for students, parents, and teachers countering the latest arguments for evolution |
This month’s web site review looks at a book that can be found on the Creation Ministries International web site. This web site shows the reach of the Internet because at the bottom of the home page you will find a copyright notice that states, “© Creation Ministries International in Australia/Canada/NZ/Singapore/South Africa/UK-Europe/USA.”
The handbook, Refuting Evolution, contains a forward & introduction and ten chapters. Each of the first nine chapters is followed by a study guide. The chapter titles are as follows:
At the end of each chapter you will find links to references and notes that you can explore.
In the Introduction you learn that Refuting Evolution seeks to “redress the lopsided pro-evolutionary way in which origins are taught.” The handbook responds to many of the arguments presented in the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) educator’s guidebook entitled Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science.
Besides exploring the handbook, there is a lot of information that a reader can find on this web site. There are links to Featured Articles, Magazine Archive, Book Reviews, Study Guides, Creation for Kids and many other topics. Just explore topics that you find interesting.
| Web Site of the Month - February 2011 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| Defeating Creationism in the Courtroom, But Not in the Classroom |
This month’s web site review looks at the reaction on the Internet to an article published in the 28 January, 2011, issue of Science, the self-proclaimed “World’s Leading Journal of Original Scientific Research, Global News, and Commentary.” It is interesting to note how quickly you will find responses to articles published in major magazines on the Internet.
The article being discussed is found in the Education Forum of Science Magazine, page 404, “Defeating Creationism in the Courtroom, But Not in the Classroom,” by Berkman and Plutzer. Although the article is not available for free on the Science magazine website, responses can be found on numerous websites and blogs. Just enter the article title into a search engine and you will find multiple sites that comment on this article.
One response is found on the ScienceDaily web site. Here you will learn the details about the study that Michael Berkman and Eric Plutzer made regarding the teaching of evolution in high school biology classes. A report from the National Survey of High School Biology Teachers (based upon a representative sample of 926 public high school biology instructors) stated: 1) 28% “implement National Research Council recommendations calling for introduction of evidence that evolution occurred, and craft lesson plans with evolution as a unifying theme linking disparate topics in biology”, 2) 13% of biology teachers “explicitly advocate creationism or intelligent design by spending at least one hour of class time presenting it in a positive light” and 3) the remaining teachers, called the “cautious 60 percent,” are neither strong advocates for evolutionary biology nor explicit endorsers of nonscientific alternatives.
Because so many teachers don’t teach evolution “properly,” the researchers recommend a mandatory undergraduate course in evolutionary biology for prospective teachers and frequent refresher courses for current teachers. This, they think, will solve the “problem.”
| Web Site of the Month - March 2011 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| An organized presentation on the creation vs. evolution controversy |
This month’s web site review looks at a site that the web author hopes “will provide a logical and coherent framework for defending the fact of special creation and the abrupt appearance of life on earth against the popular dogma of evolution.”
The web site is organized by providing a table of contents of links to 23 different topics that cover most of the questions that arise when discussing creation and evolution. After the table of contents you will find a preface to the document that makes many interesting remarks. The author hopes to “simply encourage critical thinking. One must get past the arguments ad populum (that its popularity counts for something), ad hominem (that if you attack the person making the argument, this counts for something), and especially ad baculum (that there are people who have the clout to decree it as true), to ask the key questions and challenge the unsubstantiated assumptions and thinking of those who would hold to the evolution position.”
To get a general overview of all the topics discussed, just read the section labeled, “1. An abstract of the presentation to follow.” Here you will also find links as presented in the table of contents. Just select a topic of interest and you will find a more detailed discussion. At the end of the detailed discussion you will find links to references that provide more information about the topic and a brief summary of many books.
Much material about the creation vs. evolution controversy can be found on this site. You should bookmark this site if you are interested in learning more about creation and evolution.
| Web Site of the Month - April 2011 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| “One of Charles Darwin’s most far-fetched theories” |
I found the information for this month’s web site review by performing a web search relating to creation and evolution and April Fools’ Day. The information comes from a web blog that begins by stating that, “It’s that time of year again – time to make preparations for the big day. It’s a day when foolishness is celebrated, and pranksters run amok. It’s National Atheist’s Day, better known as April Fools’ Day.” I found it interesting that National Atheist’s Day occurs on April 1.
The web blog begins by discussing what Darwin speculated on the evolution of the giraffe. This makes for interesting reading.
The next part of the blog begins a discussion about the giraffe’s heart. Here you learn about the giraffe’s complex blood pressure regulating system. A link to a 4-minute YouTube video provides more information about this system.
Since blogs allow readers to post responses to articles, it is only natural that an article like this would generate many responses. Below the article you will find 43 responses. Typical of any discussion about creation and evolution you will find that the responses cover a multitude of opinions. Some agree with the material presented, and some disagree.
Overall I found this blog quite interesting. Many links can be found in the blog responses that provide more insight into the “Miraculous Evolution of the Giraffe”.
| Web Site of the Month - May 2011 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| The debate over our origins |
This month’s web site review looks at a site that “is dedicated to presenting strong evidence in favor of the Biblical Account of Creation and strong evidence against the Theory of Evolution. Both sides of the debate over our origins are considered and answered in the articles of this site.”
The main page of the site provides a brief statement about the purpose of the site and a section that provides links to the newest evidence. There you also learn that that site is still under construction.
To explore the content of the site you can click on three links found on every page of the site. The three links are
The Articles link provides an outline of what topics the web author hopes to include in the completed web site. As of this date, there are links to seven different articles on the web site. Four links are found in the section entitled Evidence Against Evolution and include
The other three links are found in the section entitled Creation and include
The Links link on each web page provides access to links of external websites. These external websites are arranged into different categories that include
In the words of the web author, “feel free to browse through the evidence presented here, but you must decide for yourself what you choose to believe.”
| Web Site of the Month - June 2011 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| The Doorway Papers: Evolution or Creation? |
This month’s web site review looks at a site that I recently discovered on the internet. Searching for articles on creation and evolution yields many results. Some are more interesting than others.
This particular web site presents five papers that provide insight into the creation versus evolution controversy. On the home page of the site you will find a table of contents that will guide you in the exploration of the material available on this site. A link to General Preface provides the reader with an introduction to the five papers found on the site. The five papers are
Some of these papers are much longer than others, but the table of contents will guide you to the material you wish to explore.
The author of the papers found on this site presents some unique insights into the nature of man and how this is related to questions regarding creation and evolution. He summarizes his papers by stating that “It is all of a piece: herein is the meaning of reality and experience. Truly we are far too wonderfully and fearfully made for any blind evolutionary process to prove a sufficient explanation.”
You may not agree with everything found in the papers on this site, but I am sure you will find the material very interesting.
| Web Site of the Month - July 2011 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| Evolution should not be taught as Fact |
This month’s web site review looks at a site that discusses many alleged finds that try to prove that “ape-men really did exist and that we have evolved from them.”
The site provides interesting discussions about the following discoveries you might have read about in your early school science books:
The events surrounding these discoveries make for interesting reading. The site points out that “hysteria and excitement of finding a missing link in the evolution of man dominated science for many years. Unfortunately, the integrity of many of those scientists diminished to the extent that fraudulent exhibits were used to support the theory of evolution.”
Reading about Nebraska Man you learn that the bone fragments used to construct the complete Nebraska Man were not from an ape-man but from a wild pig. Although the discoverer, Professor Henry Osbourne, himself admitted that his findings were really that of a pig some modern text-books still use Nebraska Man as evidence for proving evolution.
The same is true for many of the other discoveries. The site points out that “evolutionists control the great mass media, the textbooks, libraries and museums, and their propaganda is relentless.” You really have to study deeply in order not to be deceived by fraudulent discoveries.
| Web Site of the Month - August 2011 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| Why Creation Is Foundational To Science – Not Evolution |
This month’s web site review looks at a web site blog that I discovered while searching for a site to review for this month. If you are not familiar with blogs, a blog is a type of website or part of a website which is maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary that are displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blogs usually are highly interactive and allow for visitors to leave comments.
For this month we are reviewing a blog entry made on January 16, 2009 that has the title “Why Creation Is Foundational to Science – Not Evolution”. This entry provides quotes from many scientists and others that provide insight into the creation versus evolution controversy. Wernher Von Braun, the Creationist rocket scientist stated that “For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without invoking the necessity of design. One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose…To be forced to believe only one conclusion—that everything in the universe happened by chance—would violate the very objectivity of science itself.”
You will find quotes from CS Lewis, GK Chesterton, Michael Denton, Wolf-Ekkekard Lonnig, Jonathan Wells, L. Harrison Matthews and Professor W.R. Thompson. All of them make for interesting reading.
At the end of the blog the author states that “If our children are to have a proper understanding of science, evolutionism mortal flaws must be published. Evolutionism must be placed critically under the microscope instead of being carefully guarded from criticism by a High Wall of Protection.”
By looking through the Archives of the blog you can find many more interesting blog entries. The main blog page also has many links to topics of interest regarding creation and evolution.
| Web Site of the Month - September 2011 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| Campaign heats up the creation vs. evolution culture war |
The Question Evolution! Campaign was launched by the prominent creationist group Creation Ministries International (CMI). This campaign encourages students to wear “Question Evolution!” t-shirts and hand out “question evolution” tracts in their schools.
The campaign will initially focus on the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Singapore. Many different means will be used to advance the campaign including the use of internet, television, radio, various Christian organizations, and social media websites.
You can learn more about the campaign by visiting the Creation Ministries International Question Evolution! web page at http://creation.com/question-evolution where you will find the tract “15 Questions for Evolutionists” in pdf format.
Space does not allow for listing all of the questions. Here are a few:
Time will tell if the Question Evolution! Campaign will have a major impact on how people view the creation versus evolution controversy.
| Web Site of the Month - October 2011 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| wazooloo’s Channel |
This month’s web site review looks at a web site recommended by a reader of our newsletter. The site is the YouTube web site of a “young earth creation researcher and lecturer, and also the founder for Canada’s first creation museum”. He also produces videos (usually related to creation) and has also started production of a weekly creation show.
On the main part of the YouTube web page you will find a link to a video entitled “Persuaded by the Evidence, Part 1, and Volume 1”. Below the video link you will find some more links titled
From the Info link you learn that the above video is “Part 1 of Volume 1. In this series, Creation speaker Ian Juby interviews six scientists who abandoned the evolutionary dogma in favour of the young earth, Biblical creation model, because of their own research”. The View comments link yields 235 comments, as of today, that show how people typically react to questions regarding the creation versus evolution controversy.
Beside the main video on the website, you will find links to other videos that have been uploaded by wazooloo (user name of Ian Juby) to this web site. These videos are categorized under these titles:
Some videos are fairly short and others are up to about an hour. All video links show a small image from the video that show the running time for the video and how many people have viewed the video.
There are many videos you can watch from this web site, so just explore the site and select videos with topics that you find interesting. You can also subscribe to the site if you want to post comments.
| Web Site of the Month - November 2011 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| Article from Museum News July/August 2005 |
This month’s web site review looks at an article published in the newsletter of the American Association of Museums which provides insight into how films are produced and selected for showing in various science centers and museums located around the United States. The introduction to the article points out that “questioning the primacy and even validity of Darwin’s long accepted theory about the origins of the human species has become almost commonplace; a generation ago it was unthinkable.” This shows how the Internet has impacted the views of people regarding questions about creation and evolution.
The IMAX film, Volcanoes of the Deep Sea, created a controversy when it was released in 2003 for showing in the science-center and natural-history museum markets. The script of the film says, “five billion years ago, a giant star, a hundred times greater than our sun, blew itself into a super nova.” Later it makes this statement regarding thermal vents: “There is a good chance that this is where life began on earth.”
Before films are shown in science centers and museums, they are reviewed by audience focus groups. One group reported that the film presented “the theory of evolution … as fact”. This was enough for one science center to reject showing the film. A commercial IMAX theater in South Carolina rejected showing the film for fear of offending its audience.
The rest of the article presents the views of four people involved in the production and selection of showing films for science centers and museums. These individuals where interviewed by Museum News and asked interesting questions regarding the controversy surrounding Volcanoes of the Deep Sea and science and religion in general.
| Web Site of the Month - December 2011 |
| by Lothar Janetzko |
| Decide for yourself, after hearing both sides. |
This month’s web site review looks at a site that seeks to provide an answer to the question “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” The web site is organized into two main sections. The right section provides some general information about the author of the site and the left section provides links to the main content of the site. Here you will find links to an IQ Quiz, information about human cells, and a free creation vs. evolution comic book. At the bottom you will find a brief summary of the featured article of the site.
The featured article has the title “The Chicken or the Egg”. The summary states “Which came first? Do you think it was a chicken? Or do you think it was an egg? The answer is …… neither! It was not A chicken …. nor was it AN egg …. It was two chickens!"
The main article provides the details why the web site author believes that two chickens is the answer to the question. He also points out that there are major differences in how evolutionists would answer this question and provides a detailed description of these differences.
The main point the web site author, Bill Morgan, makes is that it is important to ask two questions regarding the theory of evolution:
"Could evolution have happened?" and "Did evolution happen?"
He believes the first is a science question and the second is a history question.
At the end of the article he writes, “believe whatever you want to on Creation vs. Evolution, but base your belief on observation (Science) not blind faith (time)”.
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