They're at it again...

Don’t you just hate the discovery institute? I know I do, and not because it’s a religious group (and it is a religious group). The reason I hate the discovery institute is for one simple reason… they are lying scum!

You may think that this sounds like a harsh appraisal, however, if you take the time to actually read through their literature you will see what I mean. The so called scientific papers published by this group contain so many falsities and mis-truths that I can’t help but to call them liars.

For example the articles below (I would check out the PDF and read the whole thing) are a revision of the work done by Jonathan Wells (a man who is quoted as having said that destroying Darwinism was his motive for gaining a PhD in biology) using Wells’ original “grading system.”

Website: http://www.discovery.org/a/17841

PDF: http://www.evolutionnews.org/DiscoveryInstitute_2011TextbookReview.pdf

Essentially the guy wanted to grade descriptions/images of evidence supporting evolution, which is fine; in science we are constantly evaluating and re-evaluating our work to make sure it is up to date and accurate in lines with all known information, however, unlike Wells we do not make up our own grading system to fit in with our own beliefs (if you didn’t already spot this go back and take another look at the “Icons of Evolution Explained”).

Here is where the truth of the discovery institute lies, Wells’ paper back in 2000 was rejected by the scientific community, why? Because it doesn’t follow the scientific method, so doesn’t pass peer review. If Wells’ original paper was rejected why is it still being used as a basis for Luskin’s paper? Quite simple; the discovery institute publish their own journals without need for rigorous peer review in an attempt to smear genuine science. This is why I call them lying scum.

Just what are you so bothered about?

I often in times of boredom find myself perusing creation "science" or "news" websites, usually just so I can laugh myself silly at their attempts to disprove science by using their own "science". Today I just happened to stumble upon the below article by Kenneth P. Green and Hiwa Alaghebandian titled "Science turns Authoritarian":

http://www.american.com/archive/2010/july/science-turns-authoritarian

Go on, take a quick read, trust me it's worth it! Essentially the authors of this idiocy seem to think that science is losing it's credibility due to demanding statements in published articles. I think the thing that stands out above all else (except maybe their fantastic Excel graph) is the fact that their are no figures anywhere to be seen; tell me guys where does your research show that science is losing credibility?

Apart from the above there are just so many holes I can punch through this page, such as the fact that the "statements" they have collated have no context whatsoever, my assumption is that most of those statements were directed at the research itself or towards those in the field of research i.e. science dictates that we follow process X, Y and Z which of course is in no way authoritarian or demanding.

In general I see the findings in this article to be, for lack of a better word, pathetic. Even if statements in articles were becoming more demanding in their wording, maybe that's because the studies were looking into what we need to achieve to change certain outcomes, in this eventuality a demanding statement is not only fair but required.

At the end of it all my question for the authors is why do you care? What is your article trying to achieve? In my opinion this quote sums up the article:

"you must change your life in this way, that way, or the other way.” I believe the authors of this article are trying to make out that scientists are attempting to manipulate everyone's way of life, trying to make out that science is a deplorable, but most of all trying to make out that science is failing and people are losing their trust in it.
I say...you are deceiving yourselves!