The Questioning Librarian

When watching creationists, one is struck by the unintentional irony of so much of what passes for discourse among them. In the first place, many who speak for young-earth creationism clearly do not have the first clue about what evolution really is, its importance in biology, or how it developed as an idea, to say nothing of their lack of understanding of geology, fossils, and chemistry (truly, I think that so many of them don't actually know what carbon-dating is, or that there are other dating methods that are used). I've recently experienced this irony on a creationist internet group, where people who are even more out of touch with reality than the typical young-earth creationist routinely accuse the defenders of evolution of lying and quote-mining...when the only people who are quoting at all are the creationists! But for true irony, we have to turn to Answers in Genesis and our old friend Ken Ham. The irony is rich when it comes from them, an organization that prete...

After their absolute thrashing in the last election, pundits have been eager to weigh in, predicting the death or imminent demise of the Republican Party. This is, perhaps, premature; some of us well recall that after their defeat in 2008 the same pundits were eager to declare that the GOP was dead , only to be unfortunately proven wrong by the emergence of the Tea Party. Yet while it is too early to order a tombstone for one of our two political parties, it is not a stretch to say that the current Republican Party is on a downward spiral and shows no sign of having learned anything from the past two elections. In fact, despite a few Republican figures calling for a time of reflection, many in the right wing seem to think that the problem was not their ideology, it was that they were not ideologically "pure" enough--ironically echoing sentiments expressed following their loss in 2008. While Romney won the majority of white male votes (and those who frequently attend church...

One afternoon last week I was reading an article in Publishers Weekly that I found deeply unsettling in many ways. The column, written by author Mark Sullivan, detailed advice on writing distilled from his experience working with best-selling novelist James Patterson.  As someone who has written on and off for well over a decade, the article gave me a lot to think about, especially after having read other ideas on writing, coming from writers as diverse as Stephen King , Terry Brooks , and the late Brian Jacques (the latter memorably said that to write well one must "paint pictures with words"). I've never read anything by James Patterson, honestly, though I used to read a number of books in that genre, but his status as a constant best seller makes him a force to be reckoned with. Sullivan, one of Patterson's seemingly endless series of co-authors, does give some advice which is valid (advice that other writers would surely be quick to agree with). Characters must b...

One of the most charming things about Answers in Genesis is a series of articles they call " Arguments Christians Shouldn't Use ," citing a number of arguments that young-earth creationists might use in defense of a literal reading of Genesis that even the charlatans at AiG don't think are good arguments. This is, to anyone who has read the standard fare of this organization, ironic in the extreme. A quick glance over the list of these "bad arguments" reveals claims that most defenders of evolution have heard before in one form or another, ranging from the simply inane (" If Humans Evolved from Apes, Why Do Apes Exist Today? ") to those that are outright lies (The infamous " Darwin Deathbed Conversion " fraud).   The ordinary creationist might be forgiven for seeing Answers dismiss these patently bad arguments and thinking that, since the organization isn't willing to use just any  argument to advance their claims, Ken Ham and a...

It's a new year, but there is nothing new about the battles that we can expect from the creationists and their proxies. 2012 was a rough year, and, while a lot of truly terrible candidates lost, the creationists have far too many friends remaining in the Republican Party. Marco Rubio, a rising star within the Tea Party fringe, made some noises that weren't exactly evolution-friendly, seeming to think that the age of the earth is a matter of "dispute amongst theologians." A House Republican, on the Science Committee no less, was caught on video saying that the big bang, evolution, and (oddly) embryology are " lies straight from the pit of Hell ." And Michele Bachmann, a known evolution-denier, narrowly survived re-election. There was good news out of Louisiana, remarkably, as a parish school rejected creationism , but the forces of unreality are unceasing in their efforts to dilute and hinder the teaching of real science in the classroom, with their inane c...