Shaun Johnston

{{crenav|1}}
'''Shaun Johnston''' is an [[United States|American]] [[author]] and [[intelligent design]] (or [[creationism]]) advocate. Johnston is a [[humanist]] and claims to be a "science writer" yet does not have any qualifications in science. He is the author of a number of intelligent design books such as ''Save Our Selves from Science Gone Wrong: Physicalism and Natural Selection''.<ref>[http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/shaunjohnston Biography for Shaun Johnston]</ref>

==Intelligent design==
Johnston claimed on the internet for a few months that he only rejects [[natural selection]], since in his opinion natural selection denies "the conscious self" and "[[free will]]" of humans. However, Johnston later admitted that he rejects biological [[evolution]] in favour of intelligent design. According to Johnston in other publications, evolution and natural selection cannot explain [[consciousness]] or the [[biodiversity]] of life on earth, so [[metaphysics]] instead of science is needed to explain it.<ref>[http://www.prweb.com/releases/intelligent-design/science-classroom/prweb9376539.htm Author Explains How Science Alone Can Never Account For How We Evolved ]</ref><ref>[http://takeondarwin.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20:how-i-came-to-doubt-natural-selection&catid=3:doubting-darwinism&Itemid=13%20 Take on Darwin Article]</ref>

He is the owner of a website called "Take on Darwin", where he pretended in some articles to be a "[[non-Darwinian evolution]]ist", yet it was later revealed he denies evolution and supports intelligent design. He has described himself as a creationist, yet in another publication writes he has proposed a "third alternative" to replace both creationism and "[[Darwinism]]".<ref>[http://www.evolvedself.com/alternative/free.pdf Book by Johnston]</ref> Johnston has shown his anti-evolutionary views by writing that no scientific mechanism at all can ever explain evolution.<ref>[http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/6/prweb9604432.htm Evolution Issue of the Month 2. Natural Selection &mdash; Not the Best Idea Anyone Ever Had]</ref><ref>[https://sensuouscurmudgeon.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/self-published-genius-challenges-darwins-theory/%20 Blog post about Shaun Johnston]</ref> Johnston is a creationist who rejects all scientific evidence for [[evolution]] based on his personal beliefs, yet sometimes pretends to be a secular evolution theorist to try and get more readers to his articles and books.

Johnston also owns an intelligent design website where he claims [[science]] fails to explain [[free will]].<ref>[http://www.evolvedself.com/ Evolved Self]</ref> He is a radical [[dualist]] and writes that [[mind]] and [[matter]] are both completely separate but somehow interact with each other, though his publications never explains how or why.<ref>[http://www.prweb.com/releases/new-theory-evolution/2012-06/prweb9607590.htm New Theory of Evolution, New Method of Studying Evolution, Applied to Finding Meaning in Consciousness Having Evolved]</ref> Johnston calls his theory the "intelligent genome theory", however his theory does not involve [[evolution]] like he claims it does; it is actually no different than the ideas shared by the [[Discovery Institute]]. His "intelligent genome" is no different than the "[[intelligent designer]]" of the creationists and ID advocates.<ref>[http://www.evolvedself.com/project/index.php?option=com_sectionex&view=category&id=6&Itemid=13#catid24 "The Intelligent Genome" by Shaun Johnston]</ref><ref>[http://www.discovery.org/a/9601 Robert Wright and Free Will]</ref> Johnston admitted his support for intelligent design in an article in July, 2012.<ref>[http://www.redorbit.com/news/entertainment/1112657451/evolution_issue_of_the_month_3__variation_evolutions_white/ Johnston admits his support for intelligent design]</ref>

In August, 2012 he published an article titled ''Urging Evolutionists to Rethink Intelligent Design''. According to Johnston:

{{quotebox|"I know enough not to take what [[evolutionists]] say at face value… I know that to them denial of intelligent design is just a flag they muster behind. But I do think it makes them look silly. It's obviously not true. But it's also silly because they’re saying that they, and you and I, are also not intelligently designed, though we, as human beings, obviously can design intelligently. In fact, that's almost the definition of 'sapiens' in 'Homo sapiens.' Tool making is definitely an example of intelligent design.<ref>[http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebintelligent-design/modern-synthesis/prweb9606798.htm Evolution Issue of the Month 4, Urging Evolutionists to Rethink Intelligent Design, Published at Take On Darwin Website ]</ref>}}

==Science==
Johnston openly rejects [[science]], but on his website has copied and [[quote mined]] many articles from scientists. None of the scientists in his articles would support his intelligent design beliefs or his [[metaphysical]] dualism. Johnston also claims no [[natural]] mechanism can explain any part of evolution, however [[speciation]] is perfectly natural and has been observed.<ref>[http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evo_45 Evidence for speciation]</ref> Shockingly, Johnston is totally silent on this matter.
==See also==
*[[Hugh Dower]]
*[[Charlie Wagner]]
==External links==
*[http://www.takeondarwin.com Take on Darwin]
==References==
{{reflist|2|90%}}

{{crebox|1}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Shaun}}

[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Pissed at us]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]

Categories: Authors, Living people, Pissed at us, Pseudoscience promoters