Creation vs. evolution debate to be held

The debate will feature Charles Liebert, founder of the Piedmont Association for Creation Education and Research (PACER), and Massimo Pigliucci, a scientist and professor with the University of Tennessee. The free and public event will begin at 7 p.m. in the Benson University Center, Room 401. Bill J. Leonard, dean of Wake Forest’s School of Divinity, will moderate the event.

Liebert teaches and speaks about the scientific evidence that supports creationism. He often conducts seminars on “creation science” called “Creation, Dinosaurs and the Flood” for home school students, churches and other organizations. His educational materials include the videos, “Creation Geology” and “Creation Science.” Liebert, who has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Fairleigh Dickenson University, is the founding director of PACER.

Pigliucci is an associate professor with the departments of ecology and evolutionary biology, and botany at the University of Tennessee. He also runs the ecological genetics lab at the university. Pigliucci’s involvement in skepticism and secular humanism includes writing articles and essays and editing the on-line skeptics magazine, Reality Check. Pigliucci has won three research awards from the Oak Ridge National Labs Science Alliance, as well as the Dobzhansky Prize from the Society for the Study of Evolution. Pigliucci has a doctorate in genetics from the University of Ferrara in Italy, a doctorate in botany from the University of Connecticut and a master’s in biological sciences from the University of Rome. He also did post-doctoral work at Brown University.

The debate is part of Wake Forest’s yearlong celebration, “Science and Technology: The Next Millennium.” The event is also sponsored by the Triad Area Skeptics Club (TASC). For more information, call 336-758-4994 or visit www.wfu.edu/~ecarlson/tasc/events/debate.html.