CREATIVE WRITHING

Dear Kyle,

Creationists like to take advantage of the origin of life question for several reasons. The greatest is that few scientists even are familiar with the current research, and so will often fail to be able to discuss it.

However, based on previews of "Expelled" the question was further obscured by dishonest reporting. In the case of Dawkins, as I recall, he was asked if there were any scenario he could imagine that would allow for an "intelligent designer?" The space alien response was in fact one frequently given by Intelligent Design creationist superstars such as William Dembski, and Mike Behe. Intelligent Design creationists in their effort to hide their actual religious origins theology have asserted that spacemen or time travelers could be the creators of life on earth. When these ideas have been discussed by actual scientists, they have been discarded as silly, unworkable, or meaningless. But they have been reincarnated by the creationsits
who then have exploited the absurdity for this movie.



The derision given to the idea that crystals contributed to the origin of life is an excellent example of how scientific ignorance is exploited by the film.

Consider for a moment, your bones are made from calcite- a crystal of calcium carbonate. Those bones and your teeth also need another crystal, apatite, or hydroxylcalcium phosphate. Marine shells are made from calcite and aragonite- both crystals. Plants, particularly grasses need silicon crystals called phytoliths to exist. The bodies
of diatoms are mostly crystal silicon. Silicon or calcium crystals are found in nearly all life on earth. Another crystal of iron oxide, magnatite, is found in nearly all life on earth, even bacterial.

Is it then silly, or irrational to think that these essential crystals were part of the origin of life? Not at all. You will die without them.

You got taken in by Stein.

Dr. Gary Hurd