News to Note, March 10, 2012

1. Australian Take on the Creation Museum

Australian television program gets up close with the Creation Museum.

2. Tomb Trackers

Tomb trackers are at it again.

3. Fossil Gap Closes More Missing Links

The gap closes but transitions are still lacking.

4. Common Ancestor Hidden in Burgess Shale

Burgess Shale said to shelter “the most primitive known vertebrate and therefore the ancestor of all descendant vertebrates, including humans.”

5. Which Version of History Do Fossils Reflect?

Fossil diversity “accurately reflects history”—but which version of history?

And Don’t Miss . . .

• The “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” takes a new twist with discovery of Neanderthal tools on the large island of Crete, the Greek mainland, and the Greek islands of Lefkada, Kefalonia, and Zakynthos. The “Mousterian” stone tools ordinarily associated with Neanderthals have provided a trail of “stone breadcrumbs” across stretches of deep Mediterranean water as much a 40 kilometers across. The seabed there is too deep for a lower Ice Age sea level to have created a land bridge. Thus, George Ferentinos, in the Journal of Archaeological Science, suggests Neanderthals had a well-established sea-faring culture. The more we learn about Neanderthals, it seems, the more we find they were pretty much like so-called modern humans, genetically and intellectually and socially. In fact, from the Bible we know God only created two original human beings, Adam and Eve. Neanderthal people were fully human people descended from them. Read more about them in Those Enigmatic Neanderthals and Get Answers: Apemen/missing links
• A new ABC-TV series called GCB mocks Christianity in a profane and hateful manner “unthinkable if aimed at any other religious group,” according to Constitutional law expert Michael Farris. Farris describes the suggestive ways the program “ridicules Christians, Christianity, the Bible, and Christian symbols,” pointing out that the Muslim community would not sit silently by and watch symbols of their faith be so shamelessly treated. He fears public defamation of Christianity is becoming the norm and will erode the freedoms of Americans as it is already doing in Canada. The latest Canadian example of government intrusion into the family is Alberta’s new Education Act. This law prohibits home schooling families, private schools, and Catholic schools from teaching children that “homosexual sex is sinful.”1 According to Paul Faris of the Home School Legal Defence Association (HSLDA) of Canada, Alberta’s government is “clearly signaling that they are in fact planning to violate the private conversations families have in their own homes,” adding, “A government that seeks that sort of control over our personal lives should be feared and opposed.”2 Michael Farris, meanwhile, as chairman of the HSLDA in the United States, is calling Christians in general and home school families in particular to recognize, “Our freedoms go with our faith. If they can attack our faith, they surely will attack our freedom.” Those freedoms include the freedom to live by and share biblical truth—the cherished freedoms of religion and speech. Farris is encouraging Christians to make their feelings known to ABC Television and to the program’s sponsors. Popularizing this sort of anti-Christian propaganda can only encourage disrespect for the biblical principles on which the United States was founded, from the halls of government to the individuals who vote—and even to their children.
• Chick-fil-A’s presence on several college campuses is under protest by student groups—such as a vocal minority at Boston’s Northeastern University—claiming the restaurant company has an anti-gay agenda. While Chick-fil-A, according to company president Dan Cathy, is not “a Christian company,” it is “founded on biblical principles.” Chick-fil-A has donated over 1.7 million dollars to charitable causes, and the list includes several Christian organizations. None has an “anti-gay” agenda, but “as Christian groups, they do uphold and support heterosexual marriage.” Chick-fil-A is considered by “both fans and detractors” to be “one of the country’s most overtly Christian businesses” due to its charitable giving, its popularity at “large religious rallies,” and its choice of Christian music in its stores. The company has responded to the accusations, saying, “We are not anti-anybody and Chick-fil-A [has] no agenda, policy or position against anyone as some reports continue to represent.” More and more in today’s society, even being associated with Christian morality is painted as intolerance, but those doing the painting are the ones who are truly intolerant, accusing any who do not espouse their positions—such as support for unbiblical “gay marriage”—of being full of hate.