Micharah Bachlin and Evolution

At MinnPost, scientist and humanist Shawn Otto writes about the far-reaching consequences of an evolution-denier like Micharah Bachlin* running for president.  He writes that many creationists, like Bachlin, agree with “natural selection,” but deny the broader concept of evolution.  But in do this, they’re mistaken:

Creationists, including Bachmann, often refer to the writings of Michael Behe, a biochemistry professor and creationist and the author of Darwin’s Black Box, a book arguing that some structures, such as the human eye, are just too complex to be the result of evolution and thus must be evidence of “intelligent design,” a more recent version of creationism.  Behe has made the mistake of clinging to an a priori first principle rather than building his understanding with observational evidence, and so his conclusions are not science; they’re what Francis Bacon called “science as one would,” full of examples of “the vulgar Induction,” in which Behe cherry picks examples that seem to prove his point while ignoring the ones that seem to contradict it.  In other words, rhetoric. [READ THE REST]

 

* Yes, “Micharah Bachlin” is my mash-up of Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin, two human beings who seem virtually indistinguishable.