Next up on the list of Enemies of Reason is a little creationist ministry called "Creation Moments." I was first made aware of them through email forwards; I have a contact who regularly sends them to me, presuming that I agree with them (I don't), and I assume that by forwarding them he agrees with them as well. Creation Moments, a daily radio broadcast on five major radio networks with transcripts available on their website, was founded over forty years ago by a man named William Lang, a minister in Idaho, was disturbed by the trend he was noticing, not just in his church but in numerous other churches in which youth attendance was declining sharply in the first one to two years of college. "Evolutionary theory, with its godless worldview, was poisoning young minds in Lang's church. These young people were taught evolutionary theory as fact, with no mention of Biblical perspectives and creationism theories (taken from the "About" section on the Creation Moments website)." In response, Lang created was was originally called the "Bible-Science Association," now more honestly called "Creation Moments", because there is frankly very little in the way of science involved. In addition to their broadcasts, the organization provides seminars, books and various other publications such as church-bulletin inserts.
Of course, encapsulated in the founding of the ministry is the oft-repeated argument that evolutionary theory is "godless" and "taught as fact" without balance by creationist ideas. I hardly have to repeat that calling evolution a theory is correct, but based on a misunderstanding of what "theory" is. "Theory" in science is an explanatory framework encompassing a good number of facts, well-supported and one of the highest levels of certainty based on the evidence currently available. Creationists, on the other hand, don't have "theories", they have conjectures, ones that are not based on evidence but upon their reading of Scripture and extrapolated from the text. They remain unsupported by the facts, and in fact the facts continue to put the lie to their supposed "scientific" notions.
As an organization whose "Creation Moments" transcripts I have regularly browsed, they follow a set formula. Start with a Bible verse. Then follow that with a known fact or observation about the world (I have dealt with several of these in the past, focusing on the "Tropical Arctic" as supposed proof of creationism, linked here as well as their take on the benefit of trees here). The anonymous authors then go on to mention why evolution supposedly fails to explain this fact about the natural world, when really they are perfectly explained already (but of course they don't care to look) or even examples of evolution rather than special creation. They then end with a prayer and the reference to the scientific paper or article that their information came from (I do give them credit for citing sources; it's a good practice that I wish more online writing would engage in).
Their most recent "Moment" uses the symbiotic relationship that exists between some plant and bacteria species to demonstrate that evolution is "inadequate" to explain their sophisticated interactions and is thus proof of creationism. But this just isn't so. This is a very good example of evolution, in which the host plant and bacteria evolve simultaneously for the benefit of both. We need not invoke the blinkered explanations of creationism to understand why this is the way it is. Many of the arguments from Creation Moments are like this, arguments from willful ignorance. They don't understand why something in the natural world is the way it is, and they don't care to look at the scientific literature long enough to find out, so they invoke a Creator when it is not needed, an intellectual laziness of the highest order.
For actively promoting creationism, for willfully misconstruing the facts to fit their agenda and blinding themselves to the valid scientific conclusions that exist, and for actively targeting churches for their material, thus reinforcing the link between creationism and certain Christian denominations, Creation Moments is an Enemy of Reason. On a scale of one to ten, they are a five, reaching a smaller audience than Answers in Genesis but sprouting the same, easily refuted nonsense.
Of course, encapsulated in the founding of the ministry is the oft-repeated argument that evolutionary theory is "godless" and "taught as fact" without balance by creationist ideas. I hardly have to repeat that calling evolution a theory is correct, but based on a misunderstanding of what "theory" is. "Theory" in science is an explanatory framework encompassing a good number of facts, well-supported and one of the highest levels of certainty based on the evidence currently available. Creationists, on the other hand, don't have "theories", they have conjectures, ones that are not based on evidence but upon their reading of Scripture and extrapolated from the text. They remain unsupported by the facts, and in fact the facts continue to put the lie to their supposed "scientific" notions.
As an organization whose "Creation Moments" transcripts I have regularly browsed, they follow a set formula. Start with a Bible verse. Then follow that with a known fact or observation about the world (I have dealt with several of these in the past, focusing on the "Tropical Arctic" as supposed proof of creationism, linked here as well as their take on the benefit of trees here). The anonymous authors then go on to mention why evolution supposedly fails to explain this fact about the natural world, when really they are perfectly explained already (but of course they don't care to look) or even examples of evolution rather than special creation. They then end with a prayer and the reference to the scientific paper or article that their information came from (I do give them credit for citing sources; it's a good practice that I wish more online writing would engage in).
Their most recent "Moment" uses the symbiotic relationship that exists between some plant and bacteria species to demonstrate that evolution is "inadequate" to explain their sophisticated interactions and is thus proof of creationism. But this just isn't so. This is a very good example of evolution, in which the host plant and bacteria evolve simultaneously for the benefit of both. We need not invoke the blinkered explanations of creationism to understand why this is the way it is. Many of the arguments from Creation Moments are like this, arguments from willful ignorance. They don't understand why something in the natural world is the way it is, and they don't care to look at the scientific literature long enough to find out, so they invoke a Creator when it is not needed, an intellectual laziness of the highest order.
For actively promoting creationism, for willfully misconstruing the facts to fit their agenda and blinding themselves to the valid scientific conclusions that exist, and for actively targeting churches for their material, thus reinforcing the link between creationism and certain Christian denominations, Creation Moments is an Enemy of Reason. On a scale of one to ten, they are a five, reaching a smaller audience than Answers in Genesis but sprouting the same, easily refuted nonsense.
Intellectual laziness indeed. Have you considered forwarding this post in an email to the one who sends you these heartwarming Creation Moments?
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