Why Not Darwinian Medicine?

antibiotic resistance, biology, Darwinism, Evolution, evolutionary theory, healthcare, ID The Future, Jonathan Wells, medical students, Medicine, Podcast, Ray Bohlin, The Myth of Darwinian Medicine (series)
Editor’s note: As biologist Jonathan Wells observes, “[T]he measures being taken against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic owe nothing to evolutionary theory.” Yet a persistent claim from evolutionists is that medical research would be crippled without a Darwinian framework. Evolution News presents a series of our previously published work addressing the myth of “Darwinian medicine.” On an episode of ID the Future, host Ray Bohlin interviews fellow biologist Jonathan Wells about the interaction of evolutionary theory and medicine. Has Darwinism furthered healthcare? What about our understanding of antibiotic resistance? And might learning about evolution become a requirement for medical students? Download the podcast or listen to it here. Photo: Doctor draws blood from a patient while explaining the importance of evolution for his healing practice, by Linda Bartlett [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.…
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Viruses: An Intelligent Design Perspective

ACS Nano, Apollo moon landings, bacteria, bacteriophages, buckyballs, capsid, cell machinery, cell membrane, COVID-19, crystals, DNA, Elizabeth Pennisi, icosahedron, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, Iqbal Pittalwala, lipid bilayer, Medicine, Michael Behe, molecular motor, nano-vehicles, polyhedron, protein, Purdue University, RNA, Roya Zandi, SARS-CoV-2, Science (journal), snowflakes, T4 virus, U.C. Riverside, U.C. San Diego, vaccine, viral genome, viruses
The COVID-19 virus is on a rampage in the world, killing thousands in the U.S. so far, shutting down whole countries’ economies, and possibly altering aspects of modern life for the future, after the virus has waned. What the complete impact will be is of course unknowable. In the meantime, though, questions arise about this and other, related sub-microscopic entities. Viruses seem so evil. What is their place in life? And like other aspects of nature, do they give evidence of intelligent design? Certainly, in a context of global anxiety, this is a subject that needs to be approached with sensitivity and humility. It isn’t the purpose of this article to adequately address great philosophical questions. That can wait for another occasion. But before such questions can even be considered,…
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Are Evangelicals “Crippling” Our Coronavirus Response?

Alabama, americans, anti-Christian bias, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chernobyl, China, churches, coronavirus, COVID-19, Darwinism, doctors, Donald Trump, Earth Day, Easter, Evangelical Christians, Evolution and Ethics, Faith & Science, Federal Government, global warming, Katherine Stewart, Medicine, New York City, New York Times, nurses, pandemic, pastors, Scientific consensus, stock boys, Thomas Huxley, truck driver, United States, Wuhan, Yan Fu
Yep, according to this New York Times op-ed by Katherine Stewart: This denial of science and critical thinking among religious ultraconservatives now haunts the American response to the coronavirus crisis. Stewart, whose disdain for evangelicals is passionate, objects particularly to the President’s invocation of Easter rather than “mid-April”: Mr. Trump’s expressed hope that the country would be “opened up and just raring to go by Easter.” He could, of course, have said, “by mid-April.” But Mr. Trump did not invoke Easter by accident, and many of his evangelical allies were pleased by his vision of “packed churches all over our country.”  “I think it would be a beautiful time,” the president said. Perhaps a Presidential wish that we will be back to business by Earth Day would have mollified Ms.…
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In Argentina, Doctor Sentenced to Prison for Refusing to Terminate Pregnancy

abortion, adoption, animal personhood, ape, Argentina, BioEdge, bioethics, Culture & Ethics, doctor, gynecology, habeas corpus, Hippocratic Oath, human exceptionalism, human life, Leandro Rodriguez Lastra, legal impossibility, medical conscience, Medicine, moral impossibility, orangutan, pregnancy, rape, Rodríguez Lastra, Sweden, zoo
In Sweden, midwives can be fired and deemed unemployable for refusing abortion. In Ontario, Canada, doctors can face professional discipline for refusing to administer (or refer for) euthanasia. Ditto to refusing an abortion in Victoria, Australia. In California, a Catholic hospital is being sued — with the explicit blessing of the courts — for refusing to allow a transgender hysterectomy. But now in Argentina, the right to obtain an abortion has been declared so fundamental that an objecting M.D. can be held criminally culpable for refusing to terminate a pregnancy. An Impossibility? That would seem to be a moral and legal impossibility. But Argentina just elevated the “medical conscience” controversy to a whole new level of concern — from the potential of not “only” having one’s professional license revoked, but…
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Listen: Biochemist Michael Behe Puts Coronavirus in a Helpful Scientific Perspective

Andrew McDiarmid, chimpanzee, Clorox wipes, coronavirus, Evolution News, Facebook, human genome, ID The Future, Intelligent Design, Lehigh University, Medicine, Michael Behe, Neil Shubin, Podcast, Social media, virosphere, viruses
What to do during a full-country shutdown? Sit at home and stare at increasingly toxic Facebook and other social media, as I’m sorry to say I did for too long on Sunday? Fortunately there’s an alternative to blithe reassurances and doomsday handwringing: Michael Behe! On a new episode of ID the Future with host Andrew McDiarmid, the Lehigh University biochemist and intelligent design advocate puts coronavirus in an objective scientific perspective. I found that oddly comforting, and I think you will, too. He explains what a virus is, what makes this one special, how viruses originated (no one knows), what he meant in a post at Evolution News about a “storm” in the virosphere, and more. 8 Percent Virus? Meanwhile, as Andrew McDiarmid notes, evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin has a…
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China Credibly Accused of Organ-Harvesting Atrocity

Apple, atrocity, Boeing, brain death, China, cornea, Culture & Ethics, Department of State, hearts, human rights, kidneys, lethal injection, livers, lungs, Medicine, Nike, organ harvesting, People’s Republic of China, PR department, prisoners, private sector, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, skin, South Carolina, United States
Last week, the Independent Tribunal into Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China issued its final report concluding that China engages in the systematic human-rights atrocity of killing political and other prisoners and harvesting their organs. (I wrote about the preliminary report here.) It is a horrific account to which woefully inadequate attention has been paid. Shocking Evidence Over more than 500 detailed pages, the report presents shocking evidence of horrific human-rights abuses, including from witness testimony, analyses of public records, and reviewing of scholarly reports. The question presented could not be more disturbing. From the final “Judgment”: If the accusations are true, then thousands of innocent people have been killed…having their bodies — the physical integrity of their beings — cut open while still alive for their…
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Rats Are People, Too!

ambassador, Animal Welfare Act, animals, anthropocentrism, bioethicists, Culture & Ethics, human exceptionalism, humans, Jane Goodall, Kristen Andrews, lab rats, medical experiments, Medicine, mice, misanthropy, monkeys, Nuremberg Code, philosophy, rats, reduction, refinement, replacement, Susana Monsó
If animal-rights activists ever had their way, all uses of animals by humans would cease — no matter how beneficial to our welfare and thriving. That emphatically includes animal research in medical and scientific experiments.  Animal rights activists falsely claim that no value to humans comes from such experiments — a claim I have rebutted often. Not only does animal research save human lives and offer invaluable information about biology, but it has also been deemed a crucial human-rights protection. The Nuremberg Code specifically stated that animal studies must be conducted before human subject research. International laws and protocols have encoded this wisdom. Rats Are “Empathetic”? But animal rights activists keep fighting. The latest effort — by Kristen Andrews, a professor of philosophy, and Susana Monsó, a bioethicist — argues that…
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In Washington State, Assisted Suicide “Protections” Become “Barriers”

assisted suicide, barriers, Death with Dignity Act, guidelines, HB 2419, Medicine, protections, self-administration, University of Washington, Washington State
Razzle-dazzle them. That’s what good carney pitchmen do to sell their wares. So do assisted-suicide advocates. When pitching legalization, they solemnly promise that they have written, Oh, so “protective guidelines” into the legislation to prevent abuse. Then, once the law is safely in place, advocates grouse that the guidelines they touted are “obstacles” or “barriers” that unjustly prevent suffering people from accessing assisted suicide. Eventually, political agitation begins to amend the law to make things, shall we say, more flexible. A Slippery Slope We see this slippery slope process in action in Washington. Assisted suicide has been legal there for several years, and now a bill has been filed to require a university study into alleged “barriers facing Washington’s residents to the Death with Dignity Act,” and to have that…
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Pressuring a Hospice to Kill

and organ-transplant centers, Angeline Ireland, assisted suicide, Big Government, British Columbia, Canada, caring, conscientious objection, Delta Hospice Society, dementia, doctors, ethics, euthanasia, freedom of conscience, hospice, hospice palliative care, killing, MAiD, medical assistance in dying, Medicine, memory-support facilities, minister of health, nursing homes, organ harvesting, patients, pediatric euthanasia, pediatric hospitals, podiatry, psychiatric institutions, Quebec, religious beliefs, socialism, socialized medicine, United States
Should hospice professionals be forced to assist the suicides of their patients who want to die? Not too long ago, the answer to that question would have been an emphatic “Of course not!” Hospice is not about making people dead. Rather, it seeks to help terminally ill patients live well through intensive medical, spiritual, psychological, and social treatments to alleviate the pain and emotional suffering that dying people and their families may experience. Don’t tell that to the provincial government of British Columbia. After the Supreme Court of Canada conjured a right for anyone diagnosed with a serious medical condition that causes “irremediable suffering” to receive lethal-injection euthanasia, British Columbia passed a law requiring all medical facilities that receive at least 50 percent of their funding from the government to…
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Save Animals, Not Sick People, from Death?

animal shelters, animals, California, cats, Culture & Ethics, doctor, Dogs, euthanasia, Gavin Newsom, governor, health care, Koret Shelter Medicine Program, lethal prescription, Medicine, patients, press conference, Sacramento Bee, UC Davis
Misplaced priorities are California’s specialty. Here’s an example: Governor Gavin Newsom wants to end euthanasia in animal shelters. From the Sacramento Bee story: Gov. Gavin Newsom wants California to stop euthanizing animals, and he’s ready to put taxpayer money toward the cause. “We want to be a no-kill state,” Newsom said during a press conference where he presented his 2020-21 budget. Specifically, Newsom’s budget calls for a $50 million one-time general fund allocation to the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program to develop a grant program for animal shelters, with a goal of helping local communities “achieve the state’s policy goal that no adoptable or treatable dog or cat should be euthanized,” according to the budget summary. Ironically, as the governor works to save animals from death, California has not…
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