$250,000 Evolution Challenge Accepted!

[johndcal]

SUN VALLEY, CA - October 1, 2002 - A long-standing offer to prove evolution has been accepted by John D. Callahan, a theistic evolutionist and president of Faith & Reason Ministries: Reconciling Christianity with Accepted Science, http://www.faithreason.org/ . The offer is being made by Dr. Kent Hovind, a young-Earth creationist and leader of Creation Science Evangelism, http://www.drdino.com/ .

Callahan writes Dr. Hovind, in a widely distributed open letter: "I accept your offer to prove evolution and win $250,000. I will prove secular, scientific evolution as it is appropriately taught in our schools. As you stipulate, this includes both the large-scale evolution of the universe, from the Big Bang, and Darwinian biological evolution. I could appeal to the mountain of empirical evidence (observation and experimentation) from many areas of science, which puts evolution beyond doubt to almost all scientists. However, this would be overkill, and since evolution is so simple to prove, I will do it in this letter. You insist evolution is an unsubstantiated, immoral religion; this is incorrect."

"First consider biological evolution. Besides innumerable transitional fossils -- dating billions of years to very primitive forms -- there are many living species (of the millions on Earth) and breeds that are obvious cousins and direct descendants of one another. An illustration is the domestic dog, which can produce a generation 30 times faster than man. From gray wolf populations the domestic dog has evolved (naturally and via human intervention) into dozens of species and hundreds of breeds (enormous gene pool) over the last 10,000 years. These are more than minor variations and indicative of macroevolution. Further, since a gray wolf has evolved into a pug dog, an ape has surely evolved into a Homo erectus and then a man."

"As far as large-scale evolution, the cosmic background radiation confirms the Big Bang and structure of the universe. Also light travels at 186,000 miles per second. Thus when astronomers look at distance objects, they are looking back in time. This 'time travel' clearly shows the evolution of the universe, from quasars and primitive galaxies (billions of years ago) to the modern appearance of our local universe. In addition we see stars in various stages of evolution, nucleosynthesis in supernova 1987A, molecules in space, and solar systems forming from dust and gas. Not every detail is understood, such as dark matter and energy, but this in no way negates the basic age and evolution of the universe."

"However, evolution makes no statement as to the existence of God. (For proof of His being, please see http://www.faithreason.org/ .) Therefore I address your point, '1. Time, space, and matter came into existence by themselves,' by stating that God created the universe with physical and spiritual laws facilitating evolution. Moreover, God is present and working in our lives and the universe, but not as envisioned by modern creation mythology: young-Earth creationism (your conviction), old-Earth creationism, and intelligent design theory."

"Please send my $250,000 to the address above. Thanks. If you wish more detail, from the ever-increasing mountain of empirical evidence, I would be happy to present before your review committee (or debate) provided you sponsor a public event and pay my traveling expenses (outside the Los Angeles, CA area)."

Dr. Hovind's challenge has been a rallying cry for creationists, and he asserts few, if any, legitimate inquires have been made -- and certainly no proof. However, evolutionists contend Dr. Hovind is not open to empirical evidence and scientific method. How will Dr. Hovind respond to the Callahan letter, which claims to concisely prove evolution consistent with belief in God?

 

[ocean]

YES!

Someone is finally standing up to Hovind.

 

[Douglaangu]

The same way he does with everything else: Either saying its not proof, removing anything of substance before it goes before his 'committee', or ignoring it.

 

[Pete Harcoff]

Originally posted by ocean
YES!

Someone is finally standing up to Hovind.

Finally?

 

[Nathan Poe]

LOL...

Good luck getting Hovind to pay up. Even if by some miracle (and it would be a miracle indeed), Hovind opens his eyes and actually looks at the evidence, he'll still pull one of his worn-out, logically flawed, and already-refuted "theories" to "prove" Callahan wrong.

If, by an even greater miracle, Hovind doesn't pull one of his old tricks out of his bag, he'll most likely fall back on Scripture to "prove" how the whole thing never happened, and you'll burn in hell if you think it did.

IF, by a miracle of miracles, Hovind runs out of excuses, does the honorable thing, and decides to cough up the dough, he's probably already spending every last dime on his legal defenses.

WHEN his defense team fails, it'll be difficult to sue him for breach of contract. A man doing hard time in Attica has little more to lose.

 

[secularfuture]

Hovind is such a FRAUD! He doesn't know anything about evolution science. He doesn't even have a PHD (like many evolutionary scientists) in the subject of biology. How can he make claims about something he knows nothing, or very little, about? Ugg...

 

[Douglaangu]

I cant see it doing much good.

<BIG>Throughout northeast Kansas, from public forum to public forum, a familiar figure stumps for creationism, toting a sign and a stack of flyers declaring a "$250,000 Award to Prove Evolution." The announcement is intended to raise doubts about the scientific facts supporting evolution, but it should raise eyebrows about the ethics and lawfulness of false advertising. The creation advocate, knowingly or not, is promoting a sham perpetrated by Florida creationist Kent Hovind.

Hovind, already in trouble with the American Internal Revenue Service (IRS), is a regular champ at keeping scientific hands off his quarter million dollar wager. But how does he do it?

In one recent instance, a geologist named Kevin R. Henke contacted Mr. Hovind's "ministry," to ask about the contract terms that are necessary to win the award.&nbsp; In the first telephone conversation, Hovind was out of town and he talked with one of Hovind's staff members.&nbsp; The member admitted that the challenge on Hovind's site was vague.&nbsp; When Kevin protested that the challenge was technically unfeasible, the staff member agreed and further added that it was financially impossible as well.&nbsp;&nbsp;

In a second telephone conversation, Kevin talked to Hovind.&nbsp; Kevin was told by Mr. Hovind that the $250,000 award could be collected by recreating the Big Bang in a laboratory. A model or computer simulation of the Big Bang would not do, the applicant must generate an actual new universe. Of course, even if such a ridiculous challenge were technically feasible, the applicant would not be able to spend the money in this time-space continuum.&nbsp;

As a geologist, Kevin made numerous counter-proposals for the reward that dealt with the subjects that he had studied, such as the geologic record, the age of the Earth, the extinction of the dinosaurs, or plate tectonics. Hovind refused. Hovind required that the project must be of his choosing and that it must also lie outside of the Kevin's research area and specific training. Hovind's project for Kevin? "Demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that dogs and bananas had a common ancestor."

If the size of the award was the stickler, how much money would Hovind be willing to gamble against a demonstration of this dog and banana challenge? $100,000? $50,00? $25,000? No, no, and not so. Hovind said he would wager only $2,000, that is, if his committee of hand-picked judges unanimously agreed that Kevin had demonstrated that dogs and bananas had a common ancestor - and $1,000 if the vote was not unanimous but a majority of judges found in Kevin's favor.

Although the project would require him to extensively study molecular biology, Kevin accepted the challenge to "prove that dogs and bananas share a common ancestor" and asked for 550 days to complete the project. The deal was nearly complete, except for the matter of judges. In his telephone conversation with Kevin, Hovind mentioned that a neighbor of his, a court judge, would make a good member of the committee to review Kevin's evidence.&nbsp; Kevin was cool to that idea.&nbsp; How does a court judge qualify as an expert on biology?

A few days after the telephone conversation, Kevin drafted a contract and presented it on the web site of talk.origins, in it he specified the composition of a panel of neutral judges. Kevin required that the judges affirm that they are each theists - believers in God - but otherwise neutral scientists, and that they not be young earth creationists. Kevin, himself an agnostic, reasoned that any agnostics or atheists on the committee might be unfair to Hovind and that any creationists would be unfair to him.&nbsp; A notary public would communicate with the otherwise anonymous judges and confirm to Kevin that the judges had sworn to the terms for neutrality. At this point, Kevin e-mailed the contract to Hovind and sent him another signed copy by mail. These terms were unacceptable to Hovind. Hovind insisted that he pick the judges himself without any confirmation of their neutrality.

Kevin tried again. His rewrote the contract, but still insisted that the neutrality of the committee be confirmed by a notary public. Hovind refused to sign this contract and broke further negotiations with Kevin. No contract. No project. No award money.

In the past two weeks, another scientist, [see Kent Hovind's Bogus Challenge] unaware of Kevin's failed attempt to gain a contract with Hovind, also contacted Kent Hovind. He reported details that show the $250,000 challenge has evolved to become even more difficult to obtain. Hovind now requires that the evidence submitted by the scientist for the judges' consideration must be "filtered" through Hovind before reaching his hand-picked judges. Hovind also reserves the right to eliminate any evidence which he finds unacceptable before the judges see it.

</BIG><!--msthemeseparator-->

 

[ocean]

Hovind will probably just brush it off and quote Scripture and say he "proved" evolution wrong.

sigh

 

[seebs]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Without divine intervention, I don't think *ANYTHING* could be proven by the standards Hovind uses for this particular test. I mean, even if God Himself became incarnate, with full access to His knowledge, I don't think He could produce any sequence of words which couldn't be waved away *somehow*. I think He'd be obliged to actually directly alter Hovind's mind.

This isn't to say I don't think the evidence is "convincing" in the general sense of "reasonable doubt and analysis", but I don't think that matters in this case.

 

[johndcal]

UPDATE: $250,000 EVOLUTION CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

As of October 22, 2002 Dr. Hovind has not responded -- let alone awarded the $250,000 prize to Callahan.

Maybe the check is in the mail?

Maybe Dr. Hovind is waiting until he resolves his legal problems?

Maybe Dr. Hovind is humbly and carefully preparing his statement to the world admitting he was wrong about evolution?

 

[lithium.]

LOL someone has $250,000 if Dr. Hovind will pay up.