My research of Darwinian evolution has led me to believe that there is little room for spirituality of any kind in a truly rigorous scientific theory of the origin of life. This is disconcerting, to say the least. Obviously we have outgrown a strictly creationist lens, but has religion become completely obsolete? Does spirituality have a real place amongst the scientific tenets of evolutionary theory, or is it merely a crutch that we lean on? Can God and Darwin co-exist?
The constantly mounting collection of evidence for evolution by natural selection is almost impossible to ignore. However, there is a neo-creationist school of thought, called "intelligent design," attempting to modernize the concept of a God to fit the challenge presented by a Darwinian explanation of life. Proponents of this theory, such as Michael Behe, claim that the cellular structures and pathways in living organisms possess "irreducible complexity," meaning that minus any one component, they become functionless. This implies that these components could not have evolved in a step-by-step process, but would all have to be present simultaneously. Cilia and blood-clotting are commonly cited examples. Taken a step further, irreducible complexity can also be applied to complex organs, such as the eye, and complex behaviors, such as flying. How could they have evolved in gradual increments, with each one providing an adaptive advantage? Evolutionary theory according to Darwin is certainly not a complete and irrefutable account of the origin of life. In many instances, the door has been left open and the explanation remains unresolved. Additionally, the claims of Behe, and other natural theologists, are not just religious superstition anymore. Their interpreta...
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...und here on Earth. However, Darwin's theory alone seems to be an inadequate interpretation of the entire scope of life.
My thoughts on religion changed significantly as I researched the creationist perspective on evolution. I am not at all convinced by the intelligent design hypothesis, despite the fact that natural theology has become a great deal more sophisticated since Genesis. In a way, I agree with evolutionists who claim that until the existence of God can be proven, no creationist theory will hold water against Darwin. It's frightening to abandon the idea of a higher power, but after reading several creationist texts, I question His place in the scientific community.
Works Cited:
1.) Mayr, Ernst. What Evolution Is. New York: Basic Books, 2001.
2.) Pennock, Robert T. "Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics." Endeavour 26 (2002): 118-119.
Viola Gregg Liuzzo, the eldest daughter of a coal miner and a teacher was born in California, Pennsylvania on April 11, 1925. Due to the Great Depression the family moved to the South, first settling in Georgia then eventually moving to Tennessee where Viola’s mother Eva Gregg, would secure a teaching position. During Viola’s childhood, the family continued to move around in the southern states, never staying in one place to allow her to complete a full year of schooling in one location. Against the parent’s better judgment she was allowed to discontinue her education in the tenth grade and would soon marry her first husband of one day at the young age of sixteen. The family would move to Michigan during World War II where Viola would soon meet and marry her second husband, George Argyris, in 1943. Soon after she would meet her life long friend Sarah Evans, an African American woman, with whom she shared a mutual background of a southern childhood. Six years later, the couple would divorce and in 1951 she would marry the union organizer for the Teamsters, Anthony James Liuzzo and have three additional children.
“Buddy Holly Biography.” Rockhall. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, 2013. Web. 8 Nov. 2013.
There has always been controversies as to whether juvenile criminals should be tried as adults or not. Over the years more and more teenagers have been involved in committing crimes. In some cases the juries have been too rough on the teens. Trying teens as adults can have a both positive and negative views. For example, teens that are detained can provide information about other crimes, can have an impact in social conditions, and serve as experience; however, it can be negative because teens are still not mature enough for that experience, they are exposed to adult criminals; and they will lose out on getting an education.
Daly, Kathleen, Goldsmith, Andrew, and Israel, Mark. 2006, Crime and Justice: A guide to criminology, third addition, Thomson, Lawbook Co.
Schmalleger, Frank, Criminology Today: An Integrative Introduction. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1999.
Wilson, James and Herrnstein, Richard. "Crime & Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime" New York: Free Press, 1998.
Call of Duty’s fourth installment “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” was released in 2007 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. At the time, nobody would have expected the game to get very far due to Halo’s reign over the FPS genre. However, to many people’s surprise, Modern Warfare took the market by storm, rivaling Halo. This was part due to Cod’s innovative multiplayer, which included multiple arcade-like features to keep players interested in playing for hours on end. Cod also appealed to many gamers and non-gamers by making gameplay an easy-to-play experience. This of course allowed thousands of inexperienced gamers to have fun playing Cod without the stress of a skill based multiplayer, such as Halo’s. Increasing in popularity, a new Cod installment was to be released every year following Modern Warfare to rake in the cash and to make the game’s reputation more prominent. This is how Cod became the juggernaut it is today.
Muraski , R. & Roberts. A.R. 2009. Visions for Change: Crime and Justice in the Twenty-First Century, 5th ed. UpperSaddle River, NJ. Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Ronald V Clarke originally developed the idea of situational crime prevention in the 1980’s (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005). This particular crime prevention theory addresses techniques that increase the effort required to commit the crime, increase the risks involved with committing the crime, reducing the reward gained by the offender after committing the crime, reducing the provocation between the offender and others and remove excuses (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005). Majority of crime is believed to be committed because there are no high risks of being caught and the rewards outweigh the risks (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005). Increasing the effort by controlling access to locations and target hardening can deflect many offenders, as more effort is needed to commit the crime (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005). Another main technique would be to increase the risks; this may be achieved by extending guardianship, creating natural surveillance or artificial surveillance such as CCTV (Brantingham & Brantingham 2005).
Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (2005). A life-course view of the development of crime. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,602(1), 12-45.
Vaccines are becoming increasingly hazardous for many children and parents are not being informed about the safety of their children. Current reports are linking vaccines to serious life-threatening disorders such as asthma, autism, immune system dysfunction, and mental retardation (Williams). These recent revelations are causing an increasing amount of people to claim religious and medical exemptions from vaccines. From 1999 to 2006, exemptions have more than doubled from 9,722 to 24,919 (Cronin). It is very clear that vaccinations are posing many problems for parents everywhere. Each day researchers are finding out about vaccines and are realizing that there are a lot more risks than benefits. Dr Phillip F. Incao explains: “Today, far more children suffer from allergies and other chronic immune system disorders than from life-threatening infectious disease. It is neither reasonable nor prudent to persist in presuming that the benefits of any vaccination outweigh its risk” (qtd in Spaker). While infectious diseases are becoming uncommon there is no need for any person to get vaccinated.
Video games have come a long way. They have evolved from the simple game of Pong into a complex, multi-platform, multi-genre, multi-billion dollar industry.
Community crime prevention programs play a vital role across the world in regards to the “community” style of police service. These types of programs heavily involve participating members of the community along with the police to achieve community and police oriented goals to improve the quality of life for all members of the community.
Worrall, J. L. (2008). Reducing criminal opportunities through environmental manipulation. In Crime control in America: what works? (2nd ed., pp. 295-296). [Vitalsource for Kaplan University]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781269308267
Cyberbullying has become a serious dilemma because of the harm and pain it can leave. It affects so many teens and can potentially change their future. Cyberbullying can change a person’s mood, character, and even destroy someone’s motivation. This is an important issue that will hopefully be stopped in the near future.