More Fiction About Israel’s Capital in the UK Media

Joel Kontinen

On the eve of the London Olympics, the BBC did not remember the name of Israel’s capital. The Guardian went one step further, claiming that the capital was Tel Aviv.

This brief video produced by Honest Reporting looks into the issue and fails to find support for the Guardian’s claim:

Our Distant Cousin - the Banana?

Joel Kontinen


From time to time we hear the old claim that chimpanzees are almost humans despite the fact that many studies suggest otherwise. (Read more here and here.)

It would be good to remember what professor Steve Jones, who is definitely no friend of creation, said ten years ago:

“We also share about 50% of our DNA with bananas and that doesn’t make us half bananas, either from the waist up or the waist down.”

Humans are even less apes.

Source:

Jones, Steve, interviewed at the Australian Museum on The Science Show, broadcast on ABC radio, 12 January 2002.

BBC: Israel Does Not Have a Capital

According to the BBC, this flag is not flowing in East Jerusalem. Image courtesy of Math Knight and Zachi Evenor.



Joel Kontinen

The BBC’s sports website is re-writing geography. It lists the names of the countries taking part in the London Olympic Games and their capitals. The BBC informs us that the capital of a country called Palestine is East Jerusalem. However, the capital of Israel is ominously missing.

The BBC received so much feedback that it acknowledged that it might have made a mistake. Even in the new version Israel does not have a capital. It does mention that the seat of government is in Jerusalem and that the foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv.

This is not the first time the BBC has developed it own version of the geography and history of Israel.

Source:

Plosker, Simon. 2012. BBC Olympic Coverage Declares East Jerusalem as Palestinian Capital . Honest Reporting. (19 July).

Sharp Teeth – A Problem for the Creation View?

ICR’s new video examines sharp teeth in the animal kingdom.


Joel Kontinen

In the Darwinian view, nature is red in tooth and claw. Some animals have sharp teeth with which they break the bones of less fortunate animals and eat them.

However, sharp teeth do not necessarily mean that an animal is carnivorous. There are animals like fruit bats and pandas that use their teeth to eat fruit and vegetables.

Thus, sharp teeth are not a problem for the creation view. ICR’s new That’s a Fact video examines this issue.

In the very good world of Genesis, no animal ate other animals. And the prophet Isaiah looked forward to a time in which animals would no longer eat each other.

Craig Venter Sees Precise Design in Cells

J. Craig Venter compares the cell to a computer programme. Image courtesy of PloS Biology.



Joel Kontinen

It is becoming increasingly difficult to deny design in biology.

Bill Gates once said that DNA “is like a computer program but far, far more advanced than any software we’ve ever created.”

Now renowned biologist Craig Venter basically agrees. As quoted in a New Scientist blog, he says:

"All living cells that we know of on this planet are 'DNA software'-driven biological machines comprised of hundreds of thousands of protein robots, coded for by the DNA, that carry out precise functions."

All computer programmes that we know of are designed. Not one of them evolved through Darwinian processes.




Source:


O'Connell, Claire. 2012. Passing the baton of life - from Schrödinger to Venter. New Scientist (13 July).

Why Are Atheists Afraid of a Small Statue?

Atheists are demanding that this statue be removed. Image courtesy of ACLJ.




Joel Kontinen

For almost 60 years, a statue depicting Jesus has stood on a mountainside in Montana, USA. Placed there by World War II veterans, one would think that it is not causing harm to anyone.

However, atheists are calling the statue a sham and are suing to get it removed.

If atheists were consistent, it would not matter to them what others believe, since according to their ideology everything can be reduced to the movements of atoms.

But obviously they are not entirely convinced that their godless worldview reflects reality.

And lawsuits do not speak well of their tolerance of other views.

Source:

Clark, Matthew. 2012. Defending the War Memorial Statue of Jesus Atheists Call a Sham. ACLJ (13 July).

Smithsonian Uses Creation Museum Dino in Its Brochure

Joel Kontinen

The dinosaur models at the Creation Museum in Kentucky are so good that the Smithsonian is using a picture of one of them in its brochure.

Located in Washington D.C., the Smithsonian Institution is a complex consisting of 19 museums, a zoo and a research institute funded by the U.S. federal government.

Many people would associate the Smithsonian with a belief in millions of years of Darwinian evolution. So the use of a Creation Museum dino is somewhat of a surprise.

Dan Lietha, a staff artist at Answers in Genesis, thinks that a photographer must have taken the photo at the Creation Museum and submitted it to a stock photo website that sold it to the Smithsonian.

“There’s no doubt the Creation Museum’s sculptors/designers do great work and at a highly professional and scientific level! And people are noticing,” Answers in Genesis CEO Ken Ham writes in his blog.

Read more here.