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Naturalism run amok:The seeds of naturalism began in the 17th century with Rene Descartes, who believed that all physical nature could be described in mechanical terms. Scientific method and the discovery of natural laws established a framework where naturalism could flourish.
Scientific naturalism began with such great minds as Sir Isaac Newton and Galileo. Their discoveries and observations started a journey which quantified the laws of nature into rational, causal, and mathematical absolutes. (It should be noted that both Newton and Galileo believed that God was the Author of Natural Laws, and that by discovering and studying them, one gave glory to God.) Orbital mechanics, calculus, and mathematical predictability fostered the view that the entire universe was like a giant clock that operated and responded exclusively to natural laws which only needed to be discovered. The outstanding success of this method led others to emulate them, and a comprehensive exploration of the universe began. The biggest hurdle in 'naturalizing' the universe was biology, but a brilliant man by the name of Charles Darwin theorized that since varieties of life could be developed via deliberate breeding or 'artificial selection', small changes might also be made via 'natural selection' in response to the environment. He then theorized that larger changes, (new species or improved systems) could occur given enough small changes using natural selection - if given enough time. The discovery of genetics completely demolished the belief that hereditary changes in offspring can occur in response to the environment. All features and traits are directly inherited from parental genes, and the idea that the environment affects one's offspring became as ridiculous as a child inheriting a parent's scar or loss of a limb. This forced ardent evolutionists into neo-Darwinism, which used the mechanism of 'mutation' instead of 'adaptation' and set about trying to show how chance mutations in the gene might create enough variations which might assist a species' survivability or 'fitness'. This variation, if passed on, might flourish and ultimately replace a population group with a 'better adapted' one. However, with the discovery of DNA and the nucleotide language, this is becoming more and more untenable, since most mutations are damaging, the occurrences of mutations are very rare, and the odds of a 'new positive trait' surviving long enough to replace a population group are practically null. In addition, Natural Selection destroys genetic information as non-survivable traits are weeded-out; leaving only the 'selected' traits. (Hence the term "Natural Selection".) The 'survivors' are never superior or improved. They simply manifest un-noticed genetic traits that pre-existed in the population before the environment removed the 'weaker' or less-fit (based on environment) traits from the group. Not Darwin's fault! Darwin must be forgiven, however, since he was limited by the science and paradigms of his day. Nobody then could have ever guessed the incredible complexity and information that resided in a living cell; something that was regarded as a 'blob of protoplasm'. Darwin DID succeed in fostering a belief system which precludes any and all invocation of the supernatural or divine. This 'methodological naturalism', which is the bedrock basis for modern science, allows only naturalistic explanations in the pursuit of science, and this stricture forces scientists into some very ridiculous positions. A major difficulty with naturalism is that it must insist that information is purely a component of matter and/or energy despite overwhelming observation and research indicating that it is a separate, fundamental component of our universe on par with matter and energy. The purpose of this site is to demonstrate that 'methodological naturalism' is horribly old-fashioned; based on the paradigms of 19th century philosophies which understood nothing about life sciences, information theory, or probability and design inference. You are welcome to post articles and topics to our forums, and be sure to visit often as new quotes, material, and articles are constantly being added.
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