Skip to main content

A Reservoir of Stupidity

Great news from Answers in Genesis; they're spreading the lies and stupidity of creationism to the Arab world, where, presumably, they should have their work cut out for them. While perhaps the message of Biblical creationism won't be particularly welcome to the devout, creationism is already well at home in many Arab or majority Muslim nations (after all, the only surveyed country that ranks lower than the U.S. in acceptance of evolution is Turkey). But, Ken laments, AiG can only do so much. While they can send Terry Mortenson, one of their speakers, to Egypt to talk about biblical creationism, they don't have the resources to send their emissaries everywhere, a fact for which I imagine that we should be grateful. However, he sees his organization, and their massive output of articles, books, DVD's, etc (some of which, including a website, are now available in Arabic), as a "reservoir" of resources for others to use in promoting creationism. Answers in Genesis is indeed a reservoir. Not of resources, naturally, but of stupidity and inane arguments which have been addressed countless times in the past both by educated non-specialists and PhD. credentialed scientists.

Whether it is promoting a literal Noah's Flood, one unsupported by any evidence in the fossil record, or arguing that evolution is the foundation of an immoral worldview that led to slavery and racism (which existed long before Darwin), Answers in Genesis is in the vanguard of the science-denial movement. They are no different from people who hate vaccines, think the earth is flat or that the sun revolves around the earth (they still exist, unfortunately). All their articles and assorted media items do is retard the progress of science in the public sphere by stirring up false doubt about a topic that's been generally accepted by most scientists for over a hundred years, based on the evidence available. The case for evolution was strong then, and it's only grown stronger since, no matter what lies and distortions Ken Ham and his ilk would promote.

Calling it stupidity, brash, bald-faced stupidity, is not a desperate slur. It's reality.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Today I Am Ashamed of My Alma Mater

Over a week ago, my alma mater, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, released what it touted as a "bold" and "ambitious" workforce plan for the next several years. The backlash was both strong and immediate, forcing the University Administration, currently headed by President Karen Whitney, to release a " Frequently Asked Questions " for its plan. The outrage on social media, as well as a MoveOn.org petition with several thousand signatures, doubtless have already channeled the displeasure of the community, alumni, and students with the plan. The University is accepting public feedback, but this seems to be only a political window-dressing for a plan that Whitney herself was  quoted  as saying "...is 95-98% a done deal." For over a week I debated over what form a blog on the topic would take, and while I realize that what I have to say here is little different from what I and others have already stated elsewhere, I feel the need to address thi...

How I Left Creationism

There is a discussion going on right now in the science community about whether or not we should debate creationists: it is a debate within a debate, if you will. There are good arguments on both sides, but I have to think that we should debate creationists, and we should do it as often as we can stand it. Why do I think this? Last week, I saw that Michael Shermer posted a link to a story of a woman who argued this very point. As a former creationist, it was going to debates between Shermer and Kent Hovind that began to convince her of the legitimacy of evolution and of science. I too was once a creationist. Without ever having read anything about it, without it ever having been mentioned in class (I never heard a word about evolution in high school), I was ready to pounce at the merest mention of the topic as false and godless, two of the favorite creationist talking-points. I look back at this self in amazement, at how ignorant and proud of that ignorance I was, how I failed to ...

What Creationists Don't Understand

There are quite a number of concepts that one could successfully argue that creationists fail to understand; whether this is out of a simple lack of knowledge or willful ignorance is hard to say and certainly can't be generalized to every creationist. Some, the everyday creationist, I would like to think simply haven't been exposed to the evidence. Others, the holders of Ph.D's in various fields, especially in the sciences, who happily reject evolutionary theory are willfully ignorant (John Whitmore comes to mind). But I think there is one idea that creationists of all stripes simply fail to understand; evolution is based on solid, visible evidence. Evolution is not some tenant of a "science religion" that descended down to Darwin from on high, it is an explanatory framework based on quite a lot of facts and mountains of evidence. It is evidence that leads to the conclusions of evolution, that life changes over time and, given the long history of the earth, all ...