Evolution

It is tiresome to see the same hoary arguments brought up time and again by creationists in the opinion pages of the Pilot (Community Commentary -- "Pilot columnist too accepting of evolution," Feb. 26). For example, the claim that there are no transitional fossils: There are many, for example, whale fossils with legs; see o7 www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-transitional.htmlf7 . Or the assertion that evolution is "just a theory" -- like gravitation.

Intelligent design and evolution advocates, who squared off at UC Irvine last week, found that the chasm between the two theories may not be so great. UCI professors Walter Fitch, Gregory Weiss and Timothy Bradley argued in favor of evolution in nature without supernatural influences. Guest speakers Paul Nelson and Ralph Seelke argued for a designer in nature, although they conceded that minor forms of evolution can occur. "I was surprised and pleased that the other participants arguing for intelligent design felt that the world is 6 billion years old, and that evolution occurred, and that our differences were much narrower than I expected," Bradley said.

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences recently issued a report arguing that evolution, not creationism, should be taught in public schools. The report’s authors argued that teaching creationism alongside evolution confuses students as to what constitutes science. Do you think creationism — or the theory of “intelligent design,” which argues that biological creatures are so complex they couldn’t have come about through natural processes — should be taught in public schools along with evolution so students can make up their own minds as to which explanation to accept?

Without getting into the pros and cons of the various theories of evolution, so-called creationism, or the intelligent design theory, I must take issue with letter writer William Bentley when he states that "...the Roman Catholic Church and most mainstream Protestant denominations accept evolution as the best present explanation for the variety of fauna and flora that we see around us" (Community Commentary, "Teach creationism,...

Rob Yardley I would find the resistance to teaching intelligent design in public school classrooms amusing if the subject wasn't so serious. Why such resistance to such a reasonable hypothesis? In the May 10 Daily Pilot, Mark Gleason wrote: "Evolution is the only creation science backed by a massive body of evidence." Really? Former evolutionist Colin Patterson, in a speech at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, said: "Question is: Can you tell me anything you know about evolution, any one thing, that is true?

Michael Miller John Avise once thought he would never attend graduate school, much less become a distinguished professor. The author and scientist, who for three decades has pioneered the use of molecular genetics in studying evolution, entered the University of Texas in 1970 for survival more than glory. "I went to graduate school only, honestly, to get a deferment from the Vietnam War," Avise said. "I was opposed to the war and all the politics that were behind it. So that got me into graduate school more by chance than by conscious devotion to want to pursue an academic career."

David Pearson’s Dec. 11 letter (“Scientists respect Darwin”) brings up some interesting points that are at the crux of the age-old question of whether God is a creator or we humans are the result of a cosmic accident. The starting point of the cosmic accident viewpoint is that at some time in the primeval past, there was a spark in a pool of water that initiated chemical reactions that built the essential amino-acid building blocks of life. The complex DNA molecule, the building block of life, was discovered by Francis Crick and James Watson, with crucial research from Rosalind Franklin, in 1953.

Ila Johnson ("Evolution is still just a theory," Rebuttal, Thursday) has it partly right: Conclusive, certain knowledge is not attainable through science, but only by direct, personal revelation from God, such as the appearance of Jesus Christ to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. I respect the faith of those who have had such experiences, as long as the truths they proclaim are limited to the spiritual realm. When it comes to truths about the material world, however, we mortals must do the intellectual labor of using our reason and our senses if we are to learn about nature.

I have always been captivated by how humanity explains its presence in the world and how it views itself in the universe. If we go by most accepted historical facts, humanity as we know it, modern homo sapiens, began on the planet some 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, during which there were several ice ages, many floods and a lot of dark cold nights. Each generation had to feed itself, create communities to protect itself and figure out the cycles of the seasons, the sun and, most importantly, the moon.

A Newport Beach hospitality company that manages hotels throughout the state has been hired to manage the iconic Queen Mary docked in Long Beach Harbor. Evolution Hospitality, which manages a Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Anaheim and a Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, among others, took over Monday managing the retired ocean liner, now a tourist attraction and hotel. The company is the third management firm to operate the ship since 2007. The city of Long Beach bought the Queen Mary in 1967 from the Cunard Line shipping company.

COSTA MESA — For many, evolution and creationism are incompatible concepts, but that's not how Rev. Sarah Halverson sees them. The pastor at Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa believes so strongly that science and faith go hand-in-hand that on Sunday she will cede her pulpit to a geochemist researching NASA's Stardust mission. It's all part of Evolution Sunday, a nationwide event that has some Christian churches celebrating, rather than condemning, the work of naturalist Charles Darwin on the 202nd anniversary of his birth.

My wife, Hedy, and I recently checked into a hotel north of the San Francisco Bay Area. The young man behind the counter couldn’t have been more cordial. But, after a warm greeting, he lost us with his next comment. “Are you folks from South Cali?” Excuse me? “South Cali.” South Philly? “South Cali!” South Bali? Slowly I began to catch his drift. How and when did this “South Cali” nonsense come into vogue?

David Pearson’s Dec. 11 letter (“Scientists respect Darwin”) brings up some interesting points that are at the crux of the age-old question of whether God is a creator or we humans are the result of a cosmic accident. The starting point of the cosmic accident viewpoint is that at some time in the primeval past, there was a spark in a pool of water that initiated chemical reactions that built the essential amino-acid building blocks of life. The complex DNA molecule, the building block of life, was discovered by Francis Crick and James Watson, with crucial research from Rosalind Franklin, in 1953.

The other day my buddy Rat Jr. and I were talking and he mentioned my recent column about surfboard makers. After three weeks, he had come up with Del Cannon. “Yeah, that’s another good one I didn’t get,” I said. “He was in San Clemente.” “What about wetsuits?” Rat Jr. asked. That piqued my interest because David Maze, who had e-mailed about surfboard makers, also asked about my first wetsuit. He mentioned a rubber top over a sweatshirt.

Critics, as a breed, tend to shy away from the spotlight as a general rule. The story is the artistry they’re criticizing. Still, despite his self-effacing demeanor, New Yorker music critic and now bestselling author Alex Ross, who talked to a small but devout audience at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach on Friday night, can’t help but absorb the limelight. Reading the opening pages of his 2007 book on the evolution of contemporary classical music, “The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century,” it’s not hard to see why Ross, just older than 40, has attracted so much attention not just from connoisseurs of classical music but from a general public eager to understand how modern classical repertoire can even be called music.

This month marked the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth. His “On the Origin of Species,” has left a lasting impact on how we view our world. How do you think Darwin’s theory of evolution has affected your faith?   The Zen practitioner is a scientist. Through meticulous observation, he or she studies his or her own mind — the way thoughts and emotions actually arise, expire or repeat. People tend to take this inner dialogue for granted and do not question it. Zen practitioners also carefully study the situations and events of their daily life.

We are reminded constantly here at the Daily Pilot just how much the world of journalism is changing. The major catalyst of that change, if you haven’t been living under a rock, is evident. It’s the Internet. Three years ago this February, we launched a website that was officially separated from the website of our parent company, the Los Angeles Times. It’s not that we had anything against our page on www.latimes.com but we were limited in what we could accomplish and the Times staff was limited in its resources to help us. So we struck out on our own with the new www.dailypilot.