Shmuley Boteach Doesn't Understand Evolution<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is an aggressively self-promoting rabbi to the stars.\u00a0 Now he\u2019s coming out with a book about evolution being a religion.\u00a0 Or\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/09\/shmuley-boteach-doesnt-understand-evolution.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shmuley Boteach Doesn't Understand Evolution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is an aggressively self-promoting rabbi to the stars.\u00a0 Now he\u2019s coming out with a book about evolution being a religion.\u00a0 Or\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/09\/shmuley-boteach-doesnt-understand-evolution.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-12T02:54:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. 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{"id":463,"date":"2011-09-12T02:54:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-12T02:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/09\/shmuley-boteach-doesnt-understand-evolution.html"},"modified":"2011-09-12T02:54:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-12T02:54:00","slug":"shmuley-boteach-doesnt-understand-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/09\/shmuley-boteach-doesnt-understand-evolution.html","title":{"rendered":"Shmuley Boteach Doesn’t Understand Evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Now he is coming to the defense<\/a> of Republican know-nothing Rick Perry.\u00a0 The fact that Perry doesn\u2019t accept the realities of evolution as uncovered by science is laudable in Boteach\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 After all, evolution is just a \u201ctheory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here we go again.<\/p>\n

For the sake of Shmuley Boteach and everyone else who needs a refresher course, here is the definition of a SCIENTIFIC theory<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A scientific theory comprises a collection of concepts<\/a>, including abstractions<\/a> of observable<\/a> phenomena<\/a> expressed as quantifiable<\/a> properties, together with rules (called scientific laws<\/a>) that express relationships between observations<\/a> of such concepts. A scientific theory is constructed to conform to available empirical data<\/a> about such observations, and is put forth as a principle<\/a> or body of principles for explaining a class of phenomena.<\/p>\n

It is not a hypothesis.\u00a0 It is not a philosophical theory.\u00a0 It is not a guess.<\/p>\n

Boteach also contrasts scientific theories with scientific laws thus demonstrating that he doesn\u2019t know what the hell he\u2019s talking about.<\/p>\n

In a point he makes about the \u201cgaps\u201d in the theory, he brings up the non-existent so-called major debate between the late Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins about punctuated equilibrium.\u00a0 Dawkins has thoroughly explained what is actually a remarkably minor difference of emphasis in The Blind Watchmaker<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Blowhard that he is, Boteach brags that he\u2019s debated Dawkins about evolution and that he won.\u00a0 Actually the debate, sponsored by the rabbi\u2019s Orthodox group at Oxford fifteen years ago, wasn\u2019t about evolution at all.\u00a0 Boteach comes across like a self-righteous know-it-all.\u00a0 He\u2019s got a lively delivery, but it\u2019s empty of actual knowledge:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLD0F5D4454E2E4822<\/a><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll be hearing a lot more of his uninformed and misleading evaluation of evolution when his book appears. \u00a0It will undoubtedly be another important contribution to the dumbing down of America.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"