Science and Creation

A local club that was considering making a donation had one of its members object because we "teach creation rather than science". People who aren't versed in science seem to share this misconception about what science is because they cannot differentiate between scientific knowledge and the stories that scientists tell. They therefore think that evolution is science because a lot of scientists tell evolutionary stories, and therefore creation cannot be scientific.

In reality, science is not a thing, but rather a method of investigation. The scientific method is to make a hypothesis (an idea about how something works) and then arrange tests of the hypothesis to determine if experiments confirm the idea. The hypothesis is adjusted as needed and then retested. There is nothing in the scientific method that dictates what ideas can and cannot be tested. Therefore, ideas about a creator can be tested and evaluated scientifically just as evolutionary ideas can be tested. Politics, religion, comedy, the arts, baseball...all of these subjects can be studied using the scientific method.

Creation and evolution are on similar footing scientifically since neither have been proven. Conisider for example, the foundation of both hypotheses, the origin of life. All of our scientific knowledge indicates that life never comes from non-living material. It's such a well established piece of information that there is a scientific law of biogenesis, that life always comes from life. We never see otherwise. Nevertheless, evolutionists will continue to tell the story of evolution because they believe one day an exception to the law of biogenesis will be found. The key word is "believe". They are violating the scientific method when they continue to promote an idea that has been falsified, but faith is a powerful motivator.

Scientists have a right to believe things and to continue to perform research to identify evidence for their beliefs. They have that right regardless of whether they believe in evolution or creation. Their studies in support of either hypothesis can be completely scientific even though the impetus for studying is based upon faith. As scientific consumers however, we have to be careful not to accept their beliefs as science.

NASA Education in Huntsville Alabama

Peggy and I just returned from a great trip to Huntsville, Alabama...home to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (a tax-funded museum) and the Marshall Space Flight Center (a NASA research center). The picture on the left provides a unique view of the rocket that took the Apollo astronauts to the Moon 40 years ago. The room that houses this Saturn V is over 400 feet long. You can see a few more photos at this link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049923&id=1393465136&l=f6117eac25

I was there to attend a three-day seminar. Each morning we had workshops demonstrating how to teach principles of space flight and exploration. Each afternoon we toured the Marshall complex to hear first-hand from NASA scientists about the work being done on the new generation of Ares launch rockets and Orion crew vehicles.

It is a terrible shame that the space program has been essentially directionless for the last 30 years or so. Even now, when the Federal government is looking for ways to spend money, they just aren't interested in space exploration in spite of the fact that the space program has spawned such economic boons as the telecommunication industry (satellite TV, global positioning technology, wireless communication), enhanced medical technology, and all the technology that depends on the miniaturization that space exploration precipitated.  Even in its underfunded condition, NASA employees thousands of highly paid technicians and represents the last bastion of American manufacturing. Ares rockets are NOT made in China.

Speaking of China, they are trying to get to the Moon before we get back there again. Seems a little reminiscent of Spain and England competing for ownership of the Americas several centuries ago. Back then some people probably said "what good is the American wilderness anyway. You can't make money with that."

Some of my seminar classmates were interesting. Have you ever heard of a space artist? Here's a link...    www.edwinfaughn.com.  It was also fun to see how even the high-tech guys have problems. Our last activity of the seminar was building solid fuel rockets and taking them out to the rocket range to test fly them. Our NASA instructors were very smug about knowing the best way to build and fly model rockets. Sounds like a natural for NASA to lead, right? Well none of the rockets would fire no matter what the NASA educators tried. Turns out they recieved a bad batch of solid fuel igniters. Made in China.