{"id":639,"date":"2008-07-05T12:54:15","date_gmt":"2008-07-05T16:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=639"},"modified":"2008-08-31T15:56:32","modified_gmt":"2008-08-31T19:56:32","slug":"please-correct-the-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=639","title":{"rendered":"Please correct the record"},"content":{"rendered":"

A persistent letter writer to the TCPalm looks to be having his way with his creationist fantasies in the newspaper. Have a look<\/a> (bold highlight mine):<\/p>\n

Roger Hule recently wrote in answering mine and several other letters objecting to his support of evolution.<\/p>\n

The letter was long on rhetoric and short on evidence. In neither letter he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s written has he presented any scientific evidence for evolution; he simply states it as an a priori fact.<\/p>\n

The simple answer to this is that there is no scientific evidence for evolution.<\/p>\n

Nothing exists in the fossil record, no laboratory experiment has been performed, and it has never been observed in nature.<\/p>\n

To believe evolution, you must accept it by faith and, since there is no supporting evidence, blind faith.<\/p>\n

In my previous letter, I quoted an evolutionist who said evolution was unproved and un-provable.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hule never answered that statement, so I will try again with the statement of another evolutionist.<\/p>\n

At three separate venues, Colin Patterson, a senior paleontologist at the British Museum, asked his colleagues a simple question: Can you tell me any one thing you know to be true about evolution?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At two of the seminars, his question was met with silence. At the third, one person spoke up and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Yes, I do know one thing. It ought not to be taught in high school.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Mr. Hule also mentions separation of church and state in both his letters.<\/p>\n

This term is not in the Constitution, but rather in a letter to the Danbury Baptists by Thomas Jefferson.<\/p>\n

Jefferson was reiterating what the Constitution already said: The federal government would not establish a national church that everyone must adhere to.<\/p>\n

I wish people would stop using this straw man as an excuse to keep religion from influencing society.<\/p>\n

Knowingly or unknowingly, our religious beliefs, whether atheistic or theistic, influence every decision we make.<\/p>\n

Kevin Molter
\nPort St. Lucie<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First, we need to know what specifically Molter is referring to when he claims that Colin Patterson threw out a question supposedly challenging evolution. A quick search on Google turns up Patterson’s being constantly misquoted, used and abused by creationists, so I have no doubt this is just more of the same. Here is one example from TalkOrigins<\/a>. However, here is a writeup about the quote<\/a> this letter writer is apparently talking about, but it comes from the Access Research Network, which works from an “intelligent design perspective” so I can’t vouch for its veracity. Anyone know any reliable, accurate information about this? And with the real information at hand, then write an informed rebuttal to this letter?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A persistent letter writer to the TCPalm looks to be having his way with his creationist fantasies in the newspaper. Have a look (bold highlight mine): Roger Hule recently wrote in answering mine and several other letters objecting to his … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-aj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=68","url_meta":{"origin":639,"position":0},"title":"Our response to the letters to the editor","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been waiting to post here on our blog our answers to the previous letters to the editor talked about here. However, we learned that the newspaper chose not to publish our letter. On the positive side, they did publish Dr. Scott's letter. I realize our letter is long, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":282,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=282","url_meta":{"origin":639,"position":1},"title":"Waiting for the evidence","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"September 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Daniel Jarvis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 second installment in his series of articles about evolution and intelligent design is just as disappointing as his first. What sticks most in my mind is that he entitles this series \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Consider the evidence\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and yet he hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t presented any evidence. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an odd incongruity to say the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=400","url_meta":{"origin":639,"position":2},"title":"A letter to the editor worth noting","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"January 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been staying away from posting letters to the editor on this blog, because there are so many of them. But this one I thought was worth taking note of due in part to what it says and in part to who wrote it. This was in the Palm Beach\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alert"","block_context":{"text":"Alert","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=6"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":443,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=443","url_meta":{"origin":639,"position":3},"title":"News roundup","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The St. Petersburg Times has an editorial up supporting evolution in the state science standards. On Tuesday, the state Board of Education will vote on new science standards that finally insist that Florida's students receive comprehensive biology instruction that includes evolution as its underlying concept. It is an economic imperative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Our Science Standards"","block_context":{"text":"Our Science Standards","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=53","url_meta":{"origin":639,"position":4},"title":"Darwin or Design letters","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"September 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"FlCfS board member Jonathan Smith got our news release published in Winter Haven's News Chief newspaper. (I think free registration is required to read the online paper.) Of course, a response popped up a few days later. See the letter below the fold ... A recent letter to the editor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":761,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=761","url_meta":{"origin":639,"position":5},"title":"Just the facts, buddy","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a letter published in the Lakeland Ledger today feeding the \"debate\" over evolution this newspaper and its readers like to keep alive. Regarding a recent letter concerning evolution and education, the writer concluded her remarks by suggesting that one consider the difference between science and faith. Science verses\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 6 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 6 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=761#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}