Fw: Shermer/Gish & Out of Africa

From: Jim Hofmann (jhofmann@fullerton.edu)
Date: Thu May 31 2001 - 21:59:29 EDT

  • Next message: Jonathan Clarke: "Re: Fw: Shermer/Gish & Out of Africa"

    Of possible interest from Michael Shermer via e-skeptic:

    SHERMER-GISH DEBATE

      Tomorrow night (Friday, June 1) at 7:00pm I will be debating Duane
    "the fossils say no" Gish in what I am told will be the final debate of
    his career. I am anticipating an overwhelming turn-out of Christians in
    support of Gish so I am posting this for any and all skeptics,
    humanists, free thinkers, scientists, etc. in the Phoenix area to please
    come in support. The debate is being held at:

      Calvary Community Church
      12612 N. Black Canyon Highway, on the west side of I-17 south of the
      Thunderbird Rd. exit.

    I've got a whole new approach I'm taking, although that won't matter to
    Gish since he'll be using the same slides, jokes, and stories as he did
    when he started this shindig over 30 years ago. I'll post a report next
    week.

    In the meantime, back in the real world of science, I recommend that you
    all go to www.science.com and check out the new research reported on the
    Out-of-Africa v. Multi-regional theories of human origins. It looks like
    the former is going to win hands down. As a wonderful example of how
    science differs from religion, Science reports Vince Sarich, one of the
    most prominent supporters of the multi-regional theory (and one of the
    most outspoken and opinionated scientists I know--and I say this with
    great affection for Vince), as admitting he was wrong in the face of new
    evidence:

      "I have undergone a conversion--a sort of epiphany. There are no old Y
    chromosome lineages [in living humans]. There are no old mtDNA lineages.
    Period. It was a total replacement."

    (Here Vince is referring to the genetic study showing that every human
    population today can be traced back to a single population in Africa
    sometime between 35,000 and 89,000 years ago, and that all other
    hominids living around the globe were totally and completely replaced.)
    Now THAT takes intellectual courage and honesty to say, and you'll not
    often see such statements in the journal of the Institute for Creation
    Research!



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