Title Author Date

Questions to Mr. Brian Spitzer (part 1) Farennikova, Anna Mar 02, 2003

Dear Sir,

My name is Anna Farennikova and I live in Belarus (part of former USSR).
I am twenty four and I majored in library and information science. I am a Christian and read Darwin on Trial several years ago. I am interested in apologetics and the next topic for our discussion is Evolution and ID.
I was impressed by Darwin on Trial and was going to base some parts of our discussion on this book. However, after reading your article on Darwin on Trial, I understand that I cannot use a lot of the points Pr.
Johnson had made in view of what you wrote.

You said that Johnson was criticized for "pretending that the personal views
of a few inflammatory scientists are the consensus view of the scientific community". I feel like I cannot lead that discussion group until I learn
and understand, no matter whether I agree or disagree, the consensus view of the scientific community on some questions that I have, since Johnson's conclusions cannot be trusted. Just to clarify - the goal of
these questions is for me to form an accurate opinion and have definitions
provided by evolutionists themselves and not creationists. I do not intend
to write back lengthy letters in support of creationism. My goal is understanding true evolutionists, what they really believe in. So here are my questions.
1. What is a widely accepted by true scientific community definition of evolution that I can quote to participants of my discussion group and use for my personal research?
2. Do you agree or disagree that in essence evolution, according to its widely accepted definition by true scientific community, is based on materialistic philosophy? Why or why not
3. Are there any scientists of the ID movement or scientists who are theists or Christians and not participants of ID movement whom scientific communities actually respect?
4. If such scientists exist, have they said or suggested any theories, ideas or issues that evolutionists have found valid or worthy to research? Which ones? (you don't have to explain, just name them so I can
start researching).

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Title Author Date

Questions to Mr. Brian Spitzer (part 2) Farennikova, Anna Mar 02, 2003

5. You said that "a large number of evolutionists maintain a deep faith in God". How do these evolutionists (especially scientists, not common people) define the God they believe in? How do most of them describe that God? What attributes does He have? Why do they believe in God? Because they have found valid (scientific) evidence or just for other reasons? I realize you cannot answer for them all, but perhaps some generalizations can be made. If not, how 6. You said that such evolutionists as R. Dawkins "preached atheistideology while calling it science" and that R. Dawkins, J. Huxley, S.J. Gould muddied "the line between scientific conclusions and metaphyscical preferences", and were "criticized harshly and publicly by evolutionary biologists" for that. Could you give me a reference where I can find the names of the evolutionary biologists who criticized them and what exactly they said?
7. Could you name me some respected, prominant scientists-evolutionists who do not mix up ideology and science and are respected? (so that I could use their understanding of evolution, science and etc.)
I would like to correspond more with you but I realize that you may be very busy and not have time to answer me. I would appreciate any sort of reply from you, even if it's a link to a page that has some answers to my questions, or maybe somebody else can answer my questions. However, I would be very interested to hear directly from you because you are
passionate about truth and because you cared to research areas in which Pr. Johnson made mistakes and pursued his response. Your response will really help me to further my research and thank you in advance for your help.

Sincerely,

Anna Farennikova

pS English is my second language and I apologize for any mistakes that I've made.

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Title Author Date

Questions to Mr. Brian Spitzer TalkReason , Mar 02, 2003

Dear Anna: we have forwarded your letter to Brian Spitzer. It he chooses to respond, his reply will be posted here. In the meantime, you may find answers to many of your questions
if you peruse various materials posted on our site as well as on other sites for which the links can be found in our Links section. Views of Spitzer are his own and many other authors on our site have differing opinions, in particular regarding Johnson's output. While Spitzer has concentrated mainly on Johnson's lack of integrity, in other crtitical reviews, both on this and other sites, the deficiencies of Johnson's literary production are discussed from other angles.

Best wishes, Talk Reason

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Title Author Date

Questions to Mr. Brian Spitzer Heywood , Philip Bruce Jul 19, 2004

If this is being read by Anna -- hello -- I suspect you may have to wait some time for Mr. Spitzer. These TalkReason dudes struck me onto their e-mailing list and I can't wait to get struck off it. If they send you my e-mail I'll be very surprised -- disciples of democracy and free speech they don't seem to be, although human reformation, you will agree, is both possible and desirable. Your questions were amongst the few logical things I found on this site, so I will do my poor and humble best to advize you of a source of usefull information. If you are so inclined, you might visit www.creationtheory.com, currently the world's only(?) major, mainstream science, bible-based, origins site. Science has made some remarkable advances in the past few decades. It turns out that the holy Bible was really far more technologically detailed than most mortals - myself included - ever dreamed. At www.creationtheory.com you will also learn of some of the history of the Origins Question, of great men of learning who infuenced our thinking, and of history now being made in this arena. You will be able to download teaching resources for direct use in educational institutions -- materials classified biblical, suited for secular schools. The species were indeed revealed over time; they were evolved, but did not evolve of themselves; Darwin got a few things right and a lot of things wrong; yes, the overwhelming majority of modern scientists agree that evolution occurred but in my experience there was never a consensus on precisely how it happenned. TalkReason - type sites by definition "excommunicate" many respected scientists, from Galileo to Einstein, and do not represent the majority view. (Whether they do or do not represent the majority view, as you know, doesn't alter the truth.)
Sincerely,
Philip Bruce Heywood,
Geologist,
Australia.

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