Todd's Blog

Earlier this year, I attended some workshops for nonprofit organizations in Chattanooga.  I got lots of great advice, and there were some things about running nonprofits that finally "clicked."  It was a great time to learn from others in the nonprofit sector, and Core Academy will greatly benefit from my time there. I was also reminded of one other nagging problem: our mission statement.  Every nonprofit needs some kind of reason to exist.  We need a succinct statement of what it is that we do.  That statement should set us apart from everyone else.  I've had lots of  people tell me about this for the five years that Core Academy has existed.  Our current mission statement is "Helping Christians better understand and appreciate science."  As a friend of mine said, "That's a terrible mission statement." He's right.  It doesn't really tell you how we're different from everyone else.  It doesn't tell you what issues we tr...

What a year!  I was in a movie!  Core Academy got a new home!  There was a solar eclipse just outside my front door!  It was unforgettable. As I look back with gratitude, I'm also looking forward to what the Lord has in store for 2018.  Core Academy's ministry is growing, and we're looking forward to reaching even more students in the new year.  We're expanding our Creation Retreats (to the Shenandoah Valley ), which is our most popular event.  Tickets to the Smoky Mountain Creation Retreat are already half gone!  Next year will be another exciting year of growth for Core Academy! At this time of year, ministries everywhere are asking for special holiday donations.  At Core Academy, we receive about a third of our annual income between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  This year is a little different since we had a big fundraising push in the summer for our new building.  Donations always drop off sharply after a big fund drive....

I'm excited to announce the Core Academy of Science schedule for spring, 2018.  When we got our new building, I promised that we would have an expanded schedule of activities, so here we go.  First of all, we're introducing a monthly seminar series at Core Academy (245 California Ave, Dayton, TN).  I'm going to handle the first batch of talks, but then (God willing), we'll branch out to host other speakers in the future.  The seminars will be Tuesdays at 7:00 pm, and we'll try to keep them all family friendly and not too technical.  They are free to the public, but we'll give an opportunity for contributions.  Here's the inaugural schedule: January 30: A History of the Supposed War between Christianity and Science Contrary to common assumptions, Christianity has long viewed science favorably, and even nurtured the rise of modern science.  Come learn the surprising but true history of Christianity's relationship to science. February 20: The Quest...

Some of you might vaguely recall I had started a series about a year ago on biblical chronology.  It started with a commentary on some research into human lifespans and continued with an overview of questions about biblical chronology and a discussion of William Henry Green's influential article , and concluded with a commentary on arguments from incredulity .  I hadn't intended to just drop the subject, but you know how this year's been.  First, I was in a movie, and then we had a busy summer with conferences, and then we bought and renovated a building!  I never stopped thinking about the subject though, and now I wanted to post a few comments on Bede's Letter to Plegwin. Say what?  Okay, a little background is in order.  The Venerable Bede was an English monk who lived in a monastery way up in the northeastern part of England (Tyne and Wear) back in the eighth century.  He was a really important English author who, according to Wikipedia , "m...

Seventeen years ago, when I was just starting to research and write  Understanding the Pattern of Life , I needed to find what creationists had written on a wide range of subjects.  Skimming through creationist journals and magazines was time-consuming and tedious, so I decided to create a creationist PubMed.  So while I was busy researching and writing a book, I was also creating a new database of creationist literature in my spare time.  I called it CELD, the Creation-Evolution Literature Database. We maintained CELD pretty well for slightly more than a decade, but in the turmoil of launching Core Academy, we put it aside.  It was always available online, and occasionally people would ask me if we're ever going to update CELD.  I always told them that someday it would be revived.  Well, someday has finally arrived. I'm pleased to announce that CELD now has an official sponsor, Is Genesis History? .  With their generous support, Core Acade...

My little post about Piltdown on Monday stirred up some interesting reactions in my email inbox.  Well, maybe "interesting" is a little generous. The basic reaction goes like this: You are wrong.  We should pay close attention to Piltdown because it could happen again.  Scientists are prone to believe what they assume to be true in the first place. OK, let's review what I actually wrote in my first post .  I was trying to make two points.  First, Piltdown doesn't mean a thing for modern hominin fossils .  Everybody knows that Piltdown is fake, and modern hominin fossils are not fake.  Second, Piltdown (like Paluxy) could be a warning against confirmation bias, the human tendency to believe things that we already think are true. So these email reactions are kind of weird, because I said that Piltdown was a warning against confirmation bias and my critics replied by saying, "You're wrong! Piltdown is a warning against confirmation bias." ...

Piltdown reconstruction (Wikimedia) I spent a few minutes recently reading comments on the Is Genesis History?  Facebook page.  I was struck by how many people who commented on my human origins video are obsessed with Piltdown.  So let's take a deep breath (OK, I need a deep breath) and sort this out.  What is Piltdown?  Why does it matter? In 1912, an "amateur archaeologist" named Charles Dawson reported to the Geological Society of London that workman in Piltdown (south of London) had recovered human remains from a gravel pit.  Subsequent digging turned up remains of a skull that was said to be a primitive form, something of an "ape man."  Forty years later, the remains were decisively exposed as a fraud.  Someone had doctored the jaw of an orangutan and combined it with a human cranium, giving the appearance of a mix of ape and human features.  The most likely culprit was Charles Dawson himself, a lawyer with a history of fraudulent...