edinburghcreationgroup.org

Jan 29th, 7.30pm: Stenhouse/Gorgie Baptist Church

Feb 26th : Dunbar (time and venue TBA)

To be confirmed:

March 3rd, 10th (and possibly 17th): Bruntsfield Evangelical

Stuart Richie and Dr Marc Surtees debate Evolution and Creation in the Pub. The event will be held in the Newsroom pub on Leith Street (map).

This year marks two very special Darwin occassions. The first is his 200th birthday in February, the second event is even greater- in November we will celebrate 150 years since Darwin’s book, “On the Origin of the Species” was published.This book revolutionised the world and sent the creationist groups (temporarily) running for cover.

To mark this great event, SitP will be holding a debate to discuss Evolution in the 21st Century as well as the other side.

Edinburgh University Humanist Stuart Ritchie will be defending Evolution. His opponent is zoologist Dr. Marc Surtees a member of the Edinburgh Creation Group.

The two met earlier in the year and a great debate it was too. We hope the rematch will be just as lively.

Dr Marc Surtees, Edinburgh Creation Group’s most regular speaker has reopened his science shop Paradigm Shift on Leith Walk (267b Map). The shop has been closed while due to tram work. It sells microscopes and telescopes and books and videos about creation. You are welcome to drop in and ask any questions you have about creation. If you want to speak to Marc specifically phone ahead to check when he is manning the shop.

Phil has just released a demo of Song Server. Free lyrics projection software that uses emerging web technologies. Download Firefox 3.5 and give it a go.

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

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?

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

Edinburgh Creation Group wishes to thank the Institute of Ideas and Humanist Society Scotland for the invitation to debate the subject should creationism be taught in schools?

We found the debate was well organised, with an excellent standard of hospitality. In the run up to the debate any concerns we raised were dealt with swiftly and every effort was made to provide a neutral environment for the debate. The meeting was chaired impartially, with the appropriate speakers being given the opportunity to speak in relevant arguments. While humanists may have disagreed with many of our ideas, they treated us with warmth and respect as people. The IoI and HSS have set a high standard here for open debate and we commend them for this.

We would also like to thank the National Library Scotland for proving an excellent venue for the debate. The staff were both welcoming and helpful.

Julian Baggini, one of the Humanist speakers in the National Library debate on teaching creation in schools wrote the following article in The Hearld before the debate.
Science and religion don’t have to be enemies