New Covenant

Slain in the Spirit: or not (v. 2)

In 2007 I wrote the post, Slain in the Spirit: or not, which referred to a woman who had sued a church in Michigan because she injured herself falling backwards after being slain in the Spirit. I wrote,

I've often wondered about the Slain in the Spirit phenomenon. Essentially, when one is Slain in the Spirit, one falls to the ground, ostensibly from the power of the Holy Spirit entering your body, flooding you with His presence. While you hear it spoken of, quite a bit, in pentecostal churches, there is virtually no scriptural basis for the practice.

From Touchstone Magazine's Mere Comments comes the post, Mr. Lincoln Injured in the Spirit. James Kushiner writes,

Not slain, just injured, and now the church must pay, or so says Matthew Lincoln, 58, of the Knoxville, Tennessee area, who fell and was injured last June during a church service after receiving the Spirit.

A description of the lawsuit can be found here.

As I said, last year,

If the Holy Spirit was truly involved in dropping this [person] to the floor, then wouldn't it be reasonable to conclude that He would protect [him] as well? Was [he], then, incorrect in believing [he] was Slain in the Spirit, or is the entire notion incorrect? If it is possible for someone to get hurt, possibly seriously hurt, by incorrectly believing they are being Slain in the Spirit, then shouldn't we discourage the practice within the church?

My youngest child still has the habit of moving her body in one direction, while looking in another. It's not a wise practice and, given the laws of physics, does not generally bode well for her body. Letting yourself fall backwards onto furniture and/or the floor is about as smart as not watching where you are going.

On the differences between male and female

From Ron's Bloviating, a link to The freedom to say 'no' (Boston Globe). From the article,

When it comes to the huge and persistent gender gap in science and technology jobs, the finger of blame has pointed in many directions: sexist companies, boy-friendly science and math classes, differences in aptitude.

In other words - cultural influence.

Yet,

Now two new studies by economists and social scientists have reached a perhaps startling conclusion: An important part of the explanation for the gender gap, they are finding, are the preferences of women themselves. When it comes to certain math- and science-related jobs, substantial numbers of women - highly qualified for the work - stay out of those careers because they would simply rather do something else.

Hmmm, you mean that women have minds of their own and are capable of actually choosing what they'd like to do? What a concept!

These studies looked at different slices of the working world, but agree that in a world in which men and women both have freedom of choice, they tend to choose differently.

They have a provocative echo in the conclusions of Susan Pinker, a psychologist and columnist for the Toronto Globe and Mail. In her controversial new book, "The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women, and the Real Gender Gap," Pinker gathers data from the journal Science and a variety of sources that show that in countries where women have the most freedom to choose their careers, the gender divide is the most pronounced.

So, does a free culture cause a "gender divide" in choice? Or does a free culture allow an inherent gender difference to flourish?

However, detractors remain.

To some sociologists and many feminists, the focus on self-selection is a troubling distraction from bigger questions of how society pushes girls and boys into different roles.

Rosalind Chait Barnett, at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis, says that boys and girls are not, at root, different enough for such clear sorting to be seen as a matter of "choice."

"The data is quite clear," she says. "On anything you point to, there is so much variation within each gender that you have to get rid of this idea that 'men are like this, women are like that.' "

Except, when they are.

America Alone (v. 7)

Mark Steyn's book, America Alone, isn't a call for more war, more bombing, or more killing, but for more will. Herein follows a series of posts either highlight Steyn quotes, or listing current events which, indeed, indicate that America is alone in her fight against Islamic terror.

Re: the aging demographics in Europe, and the west.

Ron's Bloviating, Where are the children? 

Japan celebrated a national holiday on Monday in honor of its children. But Children's Day might just as easily have been a national day of mourning.

For this is the land of disappearing children and a slow-motion demographic catastrophe that is without precedent in the developed world.

The number of children has declined for 27 consecutive years, a government report said over the weekend. Japan now has fewer children who are 14 or younger than at any time since 1908.

Jennifer Roback Morse, Collapse of the Family in Europe.

The Times of London reports on this massive EU study of the family. Highlights:

It said that almost one million fewer babies were born in the 27 EU countries last year than in 1980. There were six million more over65s than under14s in Europe last year, against 36 million more children than pensioners in 1980.

The institute said: “Europe is now an elderly continent.” Almost one in every five pregnancies ends in abortion. The marriage rate fell by 24 per cent between 1980 and 2006. Two out of three households have no children, and nearly 28 per cent of households contain only one person.

Crunchy Con, Demographic winter chills financial markets.

The aging pensioners of Europe and Asia must find young people to pay interest into their pensions, and they do not have enough young people at home. Germans aged 15 to 24, on the threshold of family formation, comprise only 12% of the country's population today and will fall to only 8% by 2030. But one-fifth of Germans now are on the threshold of retirement and half will be there by mid-century.

SmartChristian, Population declines in Europe.

There is a major natural population decline in Europe, but not in immigrants. Many of these immigrants are Muslims. Europe faces a shaking future.

Jennifer Roback Morse, The Empty European Village.

The average woman’s age at first marriage has increased from 23 in 1980 to almost 29 in 2005. Not all those women are living celibate lives. Some are sexually active in situations that can not possibly support a pregnancy. Nearly one out of every five pregnancies ends in abortion, making it the leading cause of death in the European Union. The number of abortions across Europe each year equals the entire population of Slovenia.

One out of every four European household is a lone individual. Two out of three households have no children. Half of European children have no siblings. So much for the Fraternity part of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

For the love of the game

Shoeless Joe Jackson:  Man, I did love this game. I'd have played for food money. It was the game... The sounds, the smells... Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face? 

Ray Kinsella:  Yeah.

Shoeless Joe Jackson:  I used to love traveling on the trains from town to town. The hotels... brass spittoons in the lobbies, brass beds in the rooms. It was the crowd, rising to their feet when the ball was hit deep... Shoot, I'd play for nothing!

- From the movie Field of Dreams

Why evolution can't win (v. 3)

From the Thumb,

The title gets the principal objection of any creationist out of the way: yes, this population of Podarcis sicula is still made up of lizards, but they're a different kind of lizard now. Evolution works. (emphasis in original)

So, the thinking must go, if we see the evolution of one kind of lizard into a different kind of lizard (in only 30 years), then imagine what can occur over the course of millions of years? Unwarranted extrapolation at work, once again.

The reference, from the Thumb, is to a National Geographic article titled, Lizards Rapidly Evolve After Introduction to Island. From the article,

Italian wall lizards introduced to a tiny island off the coast of Croatia are evolving in ways that would normally take millions of years to play out, new research shows.

Yet, if the changes seen normally take millions of years to occur, shouldn't one be skeptical of either the evolution documented or the claim that it normally takes millions of years? And, if the changes were the same as one would expect over millions of years, aren't we now in a position to perform experiments in much the same manner as animal breeders? Indeed, the next step we should take, from these different kind of lizards, is to attempt to force speciation. Regardless, there would seem to be a lot of questions that need answering.

Or, maybe not.

Also reference Reasons to Believe's Science News Flash podcast for April 25, which covered this article. Dr. Fuz Rana notes that the evolved lizard is genetically identical to the original lizard. He argues that the changes seen are micro-evolutionary in nature (with a special footnote regarding the emergence of a new valve in the evolved lizard).

Introverts, marketing, and evangelism

From the Introverted Church, a link to the top 10 ways to market to introverts. Some of my favorites (with my comments in [brackets] as applied to church evangelistic efforts,

• Introverts are territorial. This includes their personal space. [Are we ever! Imagine how I feel when a pastor asks me to turn around and hug a complete stranger?]
• Introverts are not impressed by personality. [Why do you try and reach me with a stand-up routine?]
• Introverts hate being rushed. [What if I still have questions?]
• Introverts say what they mean. [If I say I'm still thinking about it, it means I'm still thinking about it.]

Respect: earned, and obliged

A few nights ago our Senior Pastor had a meeting at church with the parents of teenage children, as well as those others interested, regarding the direction the youth ministry would be going. It seems that the current youth pastor, for various reasons, has decided to leave the church.

During a Q&A time, at the end of the meeting, the Senior Pastor fielded several comments from individuals who, evidently, were not pleased with the direction the church is going. One comment, in particular, struck me as odd. A twenty-something male stated, with regards to any individual intending to guide the youth,

You have to earn their respect!

The comment was echoed by at least one other person during the meeting.

Now, I don't disagree that anyone teaching and guiding a group of people, regardless of whether or not they are in an age-specific category, has the responsibility to extend respect to the group they are shepherding. But I was intrigued by the fact that no one offered up just what responsibilities the youth have with regards to those placed in leadership of them.

Respect is not a one-way street, and the fact that one is a teenager young-adult does not excuse them from having responsibilities of their own.

Quick-Book-Review: State of Fear, by Michael Crichton

After writing essays and giving speeches on the reasons he disagrees with the "consensus" that human-induced global warming is a direct threat to our planet, Michael Crichton, evidently, decided to write the techno-thriller State of Fear (2004).

In State of Fear he essentially presents the same arguments he's made in his speeches, albeit in the context of a fictional story. The book follows the exploits of a lawyer, government security agent, and company, as they criss-cross the globe on the trail of eco-terrorists intent on causing massive catastrophes, all to further their cause (that being the universal acknowledgment of human-induced global warming of the doomsday variety). Unlike some of his other thrillers, Crichton notes that all references to real people, institutions, charts, and data, are documented (through his use of footnotes). Besides including a bibliography (for a work of fiction), he also includes a section titled Author's Message, as well as two appendices.

In the Author's Message, he clarifies his position on the topic of global warming, basically stating that we know very little about the complex process of climate change, that there is a variety of data on the subject, and that we do not have the knowledge or the ability to effectively manage the environment. Some have criticized Crichton for writing, in State of Fear, nothing more than a long op-ed piece. Yet, it's his book, so why shouldn't he write about what he wants?

In the first appendix, Crichton provides prose on why he considers politicized science to be dangerous. He gives an interesting history lesson on how a previous scientific theory predicting impending crisis, and was accepted as valid by the authorities of the time. The theory? Eugenics.

I found State of Fear to be an exciting page-turner of an adventure. There were a few slow points, mid-way through the book, as well as a few personality caricatures I thought to be too extreme. Note: There was also a fair bit of unnecessary sex, and quite a bit of R-rated language.

Recommendation:  I'd recommend reading the book if, for no other reason, than to get a glimpse of the data that is typically not found in the general media. Save your money though, and look for it at a used bookstore or at your local library bookstore (I picked up the hardback for $1.00 at our library bookstore).

On fossil fuel dependence, new technology, and predicting the future

Technological Innovation is an interesting phenomenon (not to mention that it is mind-driven, and intelligence-based). It's through such innovation that we have been able to progress from crossing the country in a covered wagon, to using a jet airliner. Yet, what of our dependence on fossil fuels, and the implications of such dependence? Current alternatives render electricity as a viable power source, yet current technology limits the means with which we can provide ample electrical power.

Consider, if you will, a future in which powerful batteries are small, very long lasting, and essentially universal in application. Would such a technological environment spell the demise of the domination of fossil fuel technology?

Enter three very interesting posts at ScienceDaily. In Sweet Nanotech Batteries: Nanotechnology Could Solve Lithium Battery Charging Problems, we read,

Nanotechnology could improve the life of the lithium batteries used in portable devices, including laptop computers, mp3 players, and mobile phones. Research to be published in the Inderscience publication International Journal of Nanomanufacturing demonstrates that carbon nanotubes can prevent such batteries from losing their charge capacity over time.

And in New Nanowire Battery Holds 10 Times The Charge Of Existing Ones,

Stanford researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to reinvent the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power laptops, iPods, video cameras, cell phones, and countless other devices.

...The greatly expanded storage capacity could make Li-ion batteries attractive to electric car manufacturers. Cui suggested that they could also be used in homes or offices to store electricity generated by rooftop solar panels.

Finally, in Newly Discovered Fundamental State Of Matter, A Superinsulator, Has Been Created,

Scientists could eventually form superinsulators that would encapsulate superconducting wires, creating an optimally efficient electrical pathway with almost no energy lost as heat. A miniature version of these superinsulated superconducting wires could find their way into more efficient electrical circuits.

Imagine, powerful, small batteries, capable of holding large charges for long periods of time. Will there be a time when one buys a laptop computer never expecting to have to recharge the battery? Will there be a time when one makes their monthly stop at the local "filling" station to  exchange a standard battery pack for their electric powered vehicle?

Would people, in such a time, view the internal combustion engine as quaintly as we now view the covered wagon?

Words, and their meanings

At The View from Her, Jan has an interesting post titled, WORDS HAVE MEANING(S) (HT: Intellectuelle). She makes the very good point that we, as Christians, must make the effort to insure that the words we communicate are being understood as intended (which is always a good thing when one is making an argument).

However, I was a bit bemused by a reference to what a New York Times reporter said, at the conference Jan had recently attended. From Jan's post,

The assumption is that because we're all speaking English, we're speaking the same language. Michael Luo, a reporter at the New York Times, and a believer, spoke at one of the sessions and inadvertently clarified one fundamental, doctrinal issue between the two camps. Asked if he had any advice for church people invited to comment on a situation by the news media, Michael said, "Well, be careful about using too much church language. Like... well 'sin' is a good example. That word doesn't mean what you think it means to people outside church. 'Sin' is actually, like... good." And everyone chuckled.

The word "sin" is one of the most divisive words in the heresy battle between the generations. The modernists rail that "sin" only has one meaning, and that the post-moderns don't like it because it makes them uncomfortable. The word "sin" is black and white. It has an absolute meaning in Christian doctrine.

...Except when it doesn't. If the world thinks "Sin" now stands for all the fun things people like to do that used to be forbidden, using that word is just a bad translation... like saying, "Jesus died for the good stuff." It fails to convey the correct meaning across cultural divides. Yes, words do still have specific meaning. But it's clear that we have to work harder, ask more questions, actively seek to understand, and define our terms to make sure we really understand what the other person is really saying.

On the one hand, I agree that we need to make sure our words - our terms - are understood. On the other hand, I think we need to make every effort to fight against the unwarranted hijacking of the definition of words by a lazy culture.

For example, the implication that Michael Luo seems to be making is that when the world thinks of the word "sin," they think of "good" (and, I suppose, "fun"). Yet, this is new? Hardly. The writer of the book of Hebrews wrote about the fleeting pleasures of sin (to which Steve Taylor wrote a CCM song, back in the 80s). And one can hardly get through the first section of the book of Proverbs without noticing that the admonitions to get wisdom are laced with the acknowledgment that sin has its pleasures.

Simply put: "sin" is "fun", and pretty much always has been.

Of course, now we need to define "fun"...

Saturday links, 4/26/08

What is the Language KOG?

...in the Language KOG I hope to remove some the mystery surrounding scientific language so that when a student reads a scientific work the language won’t confuse, bemuddle, or otherwise intimidate them out of having any interest in the subject they are reading.

So... words have meaning within the context of application?

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Virtual lives vs. Real lives

What does it mean to be human in a world in which we are increasingly connected by nothing more than zeros and ones, dots on a screen, projections of ourselves in a medium that has no real consequences for misbehavior? Where we can create our own identity and pass ourselves off as anything we want?

It means we not let go of our humanity.

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Tylenol, and how it interferes with public education

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iPods vs. a ride in the country

Giving your child an iPod simply because you would have loved one when you were a kid doesn’t really help them become a stronger person, but spending a week with them in the countryside of a foreign nation and exposing them to new cultures in a way you dreamed of as a child can change their world.

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters (v. 1)

From my review of Meg Meeker's Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, I wrote:

Teach her that modesty is simply another form of self-respect, that it honors her integrity. Set up a dress code. 

Listening to the Laura Ingraham radio show, on Friday, I heard of the website for Pure Fashion. Pure Fashion, per it's "about" page, states,

Pure Fashion is an international faith based program designed for girls 14-18 to help young women re-discover and re-affirm their innate value and authentic femininity.

Pure Fashion is a character formation program that enhances not only a young woman's external appearance, but more importantly, her interior beauty and balanced self confidence.

Our goal is to emphasize a young woman's inherent dignity and therefore create in her a desire to dress and act in accordance with that dignity. We understand that many young women today are losing their sense of innocence at a very young age, and Pure Fashion aims to reverse this trend by offering a fun, exciting and effective virtue formation program that can impress the hearts and minds of young girls at a very critical stage in their lives.

In an age when even Christian teenage girls are wearing more revealing and revealing clothes, it's refreshing to see the approach that Pure Fashion is taking.

"Mindless-Process" Design: on being students without a teacher (v. 3)

Natural Process Evolution (aka Neo-Darwinism, Naturalism, etc.) rests on the Blind Watchmaker argument in which mindless processes, via the natural realm, are responsible for the diversity of life on planet earth (indeed, responsible for the very cosmos we exist in).

We are told that we, as humans, have evolved to the point where we have minds that think, that reason, that design and, that engineer. Yet, if this is the case, how is it that we now seem to take our mind-driven cues, as shown below, from the alleged products of a completely mindless process? Common sense, from our evolved minds, should tell us that if we see a well designed and engineered product, then it is reasonable to conclude that it, in fact, came from a mind.

Therefore, I'd like to present a series of examples that we find in nature, of so-called MD (i.e., Mindless-process Design) and how, in doing so, we acknowledge the inescapable conclusion that there is design / engineering in what we behold:

Over at the Thumb, in a post titled, Eppur si muove!, we read,

The Harvard multimedia team that put together that pretty video of the Inner Life of the Cell has a whole collection of videos online (including Inner Life with a good narration.) Go watch the one titled F1-F0 ATPase; it's a beautiful example of a highly efficient molecular motor, and it's the kind of thing the creationists go ga-ga over. It's complex, and it does the same rotary motion that the bacterial flagellum does; it has a little turbine in the membrane, a stream of protons drives rotation of an axle, and the movement of that axle drives conformation changes in the surrounding protein that promote the synthesis of ATP. It's a molecular machine all right. Makes a fellow wonder if possibly it's "irreducible", doesn't it?

Well, it's not. It can be broken down further and it still retain that rotary motion. (emphasis added)

Let's ignore the fact that simply retaining its rotary motion does not equate to retaining its function. Instead, let's focus on the use of the words: "motor", "turbine", "axle", and "machine". You got that? Motor, turbine, axle, machine. Repeat after me - motor, turbine, axle, machine.

Now, let's apply the oxymoron of Mindless-process Design as the means by which we get a... motor, turbine, axle, machine.

Still... it's designed.

America Alone (v. 4)

Mark Steyn's book, America Alone, isn't a call for more war, more bombing, or more killing, but for more will (see my review here). Herein follows a series of posts either highlight Steyn quotes, or listing current events which, indeed, indicate that America is alone in her fight against Islamic terror.

Re: The Anything They'll Believe In: Church vs. state; the post-Christian aspect of much of Western culture.

An[t]i-war protesters attack Catholic parishioners in Chicago, via HotAir

A group of anti-war protesters interrupted an Easter Mass in Chicago yesterday, stunning parishioners with their shouts during Cardinal Francis George’s homily. They then squirted stage blood on the congregation, leading to their arrest and an angry confrontation in the gathering space outside the hall.

As Ed Morrissey asks, imagine what would have happened had such a demonstration taken place at a mosque.

On the differences between boys and girls

From ScienceDaily, Boys' And Girls' Brains Are Different: Gender Differences In Language Appear Biological,

Although researchers have long agreed that girls have superior language abilities than boys, until now no one has clearly provided a biological basis that may account for their differences.

For the first time -- and in unambiguous findings -- researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Haifa show both that areas of the brain associated with language work harder in girls than in boys during language tasks, and that boys and girls rely on different parts of the brain when performing these tasks.

Is it possible that the biological differences, which not only establish the physical differences between boys and girls, are also responsible for cognitive processes (note: not cognitive levels)?

If so, then what other physiological differences might we discover?

Book review: Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker

In Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, Meg Meeker, M.D., lays out her argument as to why a young girl's father is the most important person in her life. Building on over twenty years of medical practice, including counseling girls, Meeker has come to the conclusion that the father is primarily the one who shapes the path of his female children. The subtitle for the book is, 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know, and Meeker outlines each secret in the book's 10 chapters. Yet, in reading her book I discovered that, while some of Meeker's claims may run counter to what our culture tells us, most of the methodologies she posits are very intuitive, demonstrating a common sense approach towards the task of fatherhood. Was it, then, a waste of time to read the book? Certainly not! While the points Meeker explains should be common knowledge, in my opinion, I fear that our culture has denigrated the decidedly male role of father to nothing more than that of breadwinner. I also fear that too many men have been derelict in their responsibility of being their children's, and in this context, their daughter's fathers. What Meeker does, so elegantly, is lay out the very real and very important influence that fathers have on their daughters.

That said, here is my review of Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters.

Spring Break, debauchery, and the degradation of our women

Via Crunchy Con, an op-ed from the L.A. Times, regarding the female degrading debauchery which happens at Spring Break. In Raunch is rebranded as 'confidence', Meghan Daum writes,

A few years ago, I went to Cancun during spring break to research a magazine article. I was hoping to arrive at some grand psychological and existential reason as to why many of today's college women (who, after all, were presumably pursuing higher education because they wanted to be more than sex objects) seem so happy to let men lick tequila shots off their body parts.

I didn't exactly succeed. But after a week of talking to people in various states of undress and intoxication, I can tell you this much: What's happening on spring break beaches isn't just boys being boys and girls going wild. It's young people, women especially, deciding that the way to measure their readiness for the adult world is not in terms of education or emotional maturity but sexual desirability.

Is this what the feminist movement has delivered to the young women of the 21st century? What have we done to our children, particularly girls, that they now grow up believing themselves to not be worthy unless said worthiness is tied to sexual desire?

The raunchy contests and general debauchery were something that these women had prepared for, almost as though for a final exam. They'd logged hours at the gym, in tanning booths and at body wax salons. They'd save up money for breast implants and then timed the surgery so they'd be healed by spring break. Some seemed to have practiced drinking, experimenting with different alcohol combinations to see what afforded the fastest buzz with the least amount of calories and dollars spent.

One word I heard again and again, oddly, was "confidence." As they psyched themselves up for wet T-shirt contests or debated whether a given guy was worth flirting with, a lot of women told me that they saw spring break as the proving ground for their attractiveness. "If I can be considered hot here, I'll be hot anywhere," a rather morose woman sitting on a bar stool in a bikini and high heels told me. "I'm here to get confident."

While Islamic terrorism threatens our very existence, our culture writhes in the throes of self-gratification, thinking itself in ecstasy.

The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” And to him who lacks sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol. - Proverbs 9:13-18

The words remain true.

Saturday links

It's only taken about 40 years, but it looks like we've progressed from the entertaining Pirates of the Caribbean animatronics, to the ability to rent female robots, ostensibly for product demonstration. From Kokoro, the company responsible,

Absolutely looks like a real human! The "Actroid" humanoid, developed with a cutting-edge technology attract you with its human look-alike appearance and astonishing high expression ability.

Freaky. Can anyone say... Westworld?

# # #

I wasn't aware of this, but the late architect Phillip Johnson evidently had quite the fascist tendencies in the 1930s. Ed Driscoll has made a ten-minute video highlighting Johnson's escapades, and the apparent manner such activities were later swept under the rug. Driscoll reports that Johnson, upon being allowed to accompany the Nazis into Poland, in 1939, wrote to a friend,

We saw Warsaw burn and Modlin being bombed. It was a stirring spectacle.

A short list of Johnson's buildings includes:

• The Glass House
• The Seagram Building
• The AT&T Building (now the Sony Building)

Oh, another one of his buildings is... The Crystal Cathedral, in southern California.

# # #

It seems that the University of Texas at San Antonio decided to create a code of honor for its students, in order to encourage them not to cheat or plagiarize. Unfortunately, a significant portion of the code was copied from the honor code at BYU. Said Daniel Wueste, director of the Rutland Center for Ethics at Clemson University in South Carolina,

Young people today have a different understanding of what in the way of ideas and words is property that can be taken without authorization...

That, and the obscenely easy task it is to now cut and paste large blocks of text.

Evolution happens, because we know it happens (v. 2)

From ScienceDaily, Evolution Of New Species Slows Down As Number Of Competitors Increases, (and note the irony),

The rate at which new species are formed in a group of closely related animals decreases as the total number of different species in that group goes up, according to new research.

The research team believes these findings suggest that new species appear less and less as the number of species in a region approaches the maximum number that it can support.

Wow. Just like one would expect to find in a complex system, optimally designed to work at an efficient level.

Further,

In order for new species to thrive, they need to evolve to occupy their own niche in the ecosystem, relying on certain foods and habitats for survival that are sufficiently different from those of other closely related species.

Competition between closely related species for food and habitat becomes more intense the more species there are, and researchers believe this could be the reason for the drop-off in the appearance of new species over time.

So, in order for new species to thrive, they need to evolve. Yet, doesn't the survival of an ecosystem depend on the complex interactions within its members? Since when does an ecosystem have time to spare to allow new species the opportunity to occupy their niche? And if they have time to spare, how much time do they have?

"Okay, guys? You've got 1 million years to get up to speed or else - it's curtains!"

You see, when evolution is the only game in town, then the only reasonable conclusion is to state that evolution speeds up when there are less species walking around, and slows down when there are more. And, since we're dealing with natural selection, environmental constraints, genetic mutations, and such, it's gotta boil down to the competition factor, right?

Yet, consider that nowhere do we see the actual evidence that evolution is the mechanism which accomplishes speciation, much less the means with which the mechanism speeds up and slows down. It's nothing more than imposing an idea on the data. So, when we see, after major extinction events, a quick recovery of new species, it must be due to a quickened evolutionary pace brought about by a rich, open environment (i.e., as caused by the major extinction event).

However, the exquisitely timed placement of the necessary species, so as to provide a complex ecosystem the proper functioning components, also points to the actions of guidance. Unless the evolutionists can demonstrate the physical qualities which mandate that evolution speed up during times of open environments, their claims are simply wishful thinking.

...

ref:  Rare Earth - Ward & Brownlee; Creator & the Cosmos - Ross; Origins of Life - Rana & Ross; The Privileged Planet - Richards & Gonzalez

America Alone (v. 3)

Mark Steyn's book, America Alone, isn't a call for more war, more bombing, or more killing, but for more will (see my review here). Herein follows a series of posts either highlight Steyn quotes, or listing current events which, indeed, indicate that America is alone in her fight against Islamic terror.

Re: Flying the Coop: Big Mo vs. Big Mac; the West continues to be of the mindset that pluralism is the progressive manner with which to deal with radical Islam.

An epidemic of forced marriages in Britain (from HotAir)

A quiet epidemic of missing teenagers has Britain questioning its multicultural beliefs and asking why authorities have not acted to protect these children. Only a few weeks after the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested that the British allow for shari’a courts for Muslims, a new study indicates as many as 4,000 or more Muslim teens and young adults simply vanish every year — forced into arranged marriages by family members through abduction, rape, and threat of death...