Edinburgh Creation Group is an active forum where scientifically minded people meet to discuss evidence supporting the biblical account of creation. (Programme)
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Event: Evolution vs Creationism discussion
Title: "Edinburgh Creation Group meets Humanist Edinburgh Group"
What: Club/Group Meeting
Host: Edinburgh Humanists
Start Time: 06 April at 19:30
End Time: 06 April at 21:30
Where: Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2JL
Title: "Edinburgh Creation Group meets Humanist Edinburgh Group"
What: Club/Group Meeting
Host: Edinburgh Humanists
Start Time: 06 April at 19:30
End Time: 06 April at 21:30
Where: Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2JL
The video from the National Library of Scotland event organised by the Institute of Ideas and Humanist Society Scotland is now online. Please take time to watch it. Please also tell friends about the debate and send them a link. The event was oversubscribed and many people had to be turned down tickets. If you have a blog or website you may want to embed the debate. You can find out how to do that as well as see the debate in a larger window here:
Should school teach Creationism?
Should school teach Creationism?
Over the past few weeks numerous creationists have been contacted by Stephen Moss who has been preparing an article for the Guardian on the subject of UK creationism. To his credit Stephen spent over 7 hours talking to creationists before writing this article. It features comment by Paul Garner (ECG video: The Grand Canyon), Silvia Baker (ECG video: Darwinism Under The Microscope) and Dr Monty White (testimony in The Evolution Crisis). You can read the article here: Defying Darwin.
Charles Darwin visited the Santa Cruz river valley in 1834. He interpreted
the valley as having been formed over millions of years. In a new 10-minute
video, geologist Steve Austin shows that the landscape that Darwin saw was
formed rapidly by a giant flood. Two hundred years after Darwin's birth, he
asks: what else was Darwin wrong about?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3darzVqzV2o
Subscribe to this feedSpring Term - Series 5
Tuesday, January 20th:
The God Delusion Debate DVD.
The famous debate between Dr Richard Dawkins and Dr John Lennox in the USA. The BBC said: 'Darwin's Rottweiler is about to get a run for his money...'
Tuesday, January 27th: Fossils:
Fact and Fiction, Dr Marc Surtees.
Many people believe that fossils provide hard evidence for evolution. However, the fossil record is full of surprises and a critical examination of the fossils shows that the evidence is still a serious challenge to the evolutionary paradigm.
Tuesday, February 3rd:
Faith and Reason in an Age of Science. Dr John Meldrum
A former maths lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, once supervised Dr John Lennox at the University of Cambridge. Come and hear him present the evidence for God.
Tuesday, February 10th:
Tracing your Ancestors through History, Paul James-Griffiths.
Ever wondered where your ancestors came from? The Table of Nations in Genesis has proved to be an accurate historical document showing the dispersion of our ancestors since the Flood.
Tuesday, February 17th:
The Quest for Life in the Universe, Dr William Worraker.
Recently there has been a concerted effort by scientists to find extra-terrestrial life. Is evidence of water on Mars and in the Universe evidence for life? Is there any other intelligence, or are we alone?
Tuesday, February 24th:
Human Language: No Plausible Alternative to Natural Selection? Dr Nancy Darrall.
We have been taught that language evolved from ape-like grunts to the complexity we now experience. But is this really true? Does the evidence reveal that language has always been complex?
Tuesday, March 3rd:
Creation Models: Science or Pseudo-science? Dr Stephen Lloyd.
As soon as you mention the word 'Design' in science, Darwinists protest. However, recent evidence is growing that it is possible to do real science and propose alternative models to Darwinism.
Tuesday, March 10th:
Mount St Helens: Insights into the Flood, Paul Garner (Fellow of the Geological Society).
When Mt St Helens erupted in 1980, scientists discovered that they had the perfect natural science laboratory in which to study how geology works. Does the evidence point to a global catastrophe known as the Flood?
Tuesday, March 17th:
The Watch Maker Returns: Evidence for Design, Dr Alistair Donald.
Darwinists have responded to the Intelligent Design movement and discarded it as being pseudo-science. However, more recently scientists have been accumulating evidence to show that the case for ID is actually getting stronger and Darwinism is becoming weaker.
Tuesday, March 24th:
The Easter Story: The Historical Jesus Christ, Paul James-Griffiths.
We have often heard that there is little evidence for the death and resurrection of Christ. However, there is so much evidence that it is difficult to fit it into this presentation!Location
Buccleuch Free Church, Buccleuch St. (next to The Human Bein, opposite Edinburgh University - David Hume Tower)
Comments About The Group
Dr Marc Surtees has a first degree in Applied Biology and a PhD in Zoology. His doctoral research was in the hormonal control of seasonal breeding of the grey squirrel. He investigated some of the control mechanisms which ensure that squirrels breed at the right time of year to maximize the survival of their young. The hormonal control of breeding is an example of a switchable feedback control mechanism. Engineers use feedback control mechanisms in many types of machine. The existence of feedback control systems in nature is one of the many evidence of design that biologists work with all the time.
"It's exciting to be part of this group that exists to explore the evidences of design. So much of biology supports the theory of intelligent design, and I hope that discussion of the evidence will help people to see that the Biblical account of creation is as scientifically reasonable as Darwinism."
Dr Marc Surtees - PhD Zoologist, Marc and his wife run
Paradigm Shift a science shop on Leith Walk that also sells books on creation
"I am delighted to see the Creation Group being formed in Edinburgh as a timely forum for looking at evidence on the origins of life. Too often we have assumed that certain beliefs are fact, thus it is refreshing to see a group willing to address the scientific basis on this topic. As an Engineer I can see incredible structure and organisation in nature, with complex, yet perfectly constructed, building blocks for life. The question that then follows is whether such a construction can occur through random events, or whether there is some design underlying it."
Dr Dave Laurenson, PhD in Electrical Engineering, The University of Edinburgh
"I am very pleased that the Edinburgh Creation group has formed. Edinburgh has a long prestigious history of careful scientific endeavour - men of the stature of James Clerk Maxwell and James Simpson come to mind. With such a heritage, it is in keeping with the Christian convictions of many of these scientists that a careful and rigorous examination of the modern evolutionary story of origins should take place. The superstitious religious fervour in which evolution is held by so many today has attempted to stop the voice of critics being heard. However there is a growing awareness in academic circles that alternative scientific paradigms must be considered. My earnest desire is that the Edinburgh group will help many of the student population to carefully reconsider the facts and be brought to a robust understanding of the evidence for design in nature, and the recognition that much of the fossil record bears great testimony to a flood that covered the globe and its aftermath."
"My knowledge of thermodynamics has shown me that all mechanical systems (such as an engine or fridge or aeroplane etc.) require not only energy but ordered machinery in order to work. Thus simply adding energy to a lump of matter will not turn this into a machine which can do useful work. Clausius and other great thermodynamic scientists of the past, demonstrated this in the precise expression of the second law of thermodynamics which states that some of energy for useful work will in any system always be lost irretrievably. It has been argued that with an open system, useful energy can be put back in, but this will only be of use if there is an existing machine! One can never get round the 2nd law even for open systems. Working machinery or coded information (when dealing with digitally controlled machines such as in DNA) is always required before anything works."
Professor Andy C. McIntosh DSc, FIMA, C.Math, FEI, C.Eng, FInstP, MIGEM, FRAeS (Professor of Thermodynamics and Combustion Theory)