Once I planted a tomato seed and it came out a tomato.
CHECKMATE, EVILUTIONISTS!
Our Knowledge vs. Their Knowledge
September 28, 2012 By 33 Comments
A day when certain quotes line up. From Slacktivist, here’s Fred talking about the Creationist facing counter-evidence and recieving advice from a creationsim proponent:
They will tell you that all of these others — these outsiders with their “evidence,” these people who claim to “know” things — are evil liars. They will explain to you that these others are part of a conspiracy. It is a huge, vast, global conspiracy of wicked people that encompasses everyone — everyone except, of course, them. And they will invite you to join them in opposing this conspiracy. They will invite you to join them in believing — without basis or evidence — the very worst things you can imagine about millions of people whom you have never met. They will invite you to join them in celebrating yourselves as uniquely righteous and as better than everyone else — the sole remnant of innocence in an irredeemably wicked world.
From Everyday Nature, Sarah Gronim’s history of the diffusion of scientific knowledge in colonial New York:
In the long run, matters of truth are always functions of social relations. People are moved to change their minds—or to refuse to do so—depending upon the social resonance of what they are being asked to change. Who advocates or adopts the change is as important as what the change itself is. [...] Whose claim to enhanced social authority was strengthened if the new claim was accepted’? Whose beliefs and practices would now be denigrated as foolish or superstitious? Whose assertion about the nature of God would be affirmed or denied?
One of the ways that Creationists can hold out against an overwhelming scientific consensus against them is by turning the argument from a “fact vs. fiction” debate to an “us vs. them” debate. The argument becomes less a matter of evidence and reason and more of a matter of competing authorities and personal identities.
Honesty Not Allowed
September 19, 2012 By 7 Comments
Continuing on the theme of Ben Stein, here’s an article in Scientific American which details some of the more blatant lies in Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
1) Expelled quotes Charles Darwin selectively to connect his ideas to eugenics and the Holocaust.
2) Ben Stein’s speech to a crowded auditorium in the film was a setup.
3) Scientists in the film thought they were being interviewed for a different movie.
4) The ID-sympathetic researcher whom the film paints as having lost his job at the Smithsonian Institution was never an employee there.
5) Science does not reject religious or “design-based” explanations because of dogmatic atheism.
6) Many evolutionary biologists are religious and many religious people accept evolution.
I recommend reading the whole article for the detailed breakdown of these points. They certainly don’t paint Stein or his production crew in a very honest light.
A New Creation
August 29, 2012 By 24 Comments
Another Creation museum in Kentucky? Why not!
If the dream of a New Jersey group comes to fruition there could be another creationist attraction located in Northern Kentucky.
Founders of the Creation Science Hall of Fame, which now exists only as a website, would like to develop a brick-and mortar structure along Interstate 75.
“When we have the funds, we would like to locate on the highway, about halfway between the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter,” said Terry Hurlbut, secretary/treasurer of the group. “What better place to locate than between these two attractions? We envision that as people fly or drive in to see them, we will be a stop along the way.”
“When we have the funds …” I’ve worked for a number of museums whose ambitions were greater than their endowment. It’s not pretty. Given the fact that the Ark Encounter theme park may never see the light of day, I would be very cautious on Mr. Hurlbut’s part. Those other museums may help your attendance, but most museums can’t keep the lights on just from the proceeds from ticket sales. They will all be competing for a limited pool of fund-raising donations, and I doubt they’ll see too many government grants.
Plus, there’s something sad about thinking of yourself as a stop-over between the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter. It’s like setting up your museum next to the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota in hopes of catching some of their run-off.
Incidently, who will be in their Hall of Fame?
The list includes Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Isaac Newton, Samuel F.B. Morse, Louis Pasteur and George Washington Carver.
Living inductees include Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum.
“We honor these people, not because we believe everything they say, but because they made critical contributions to creation science and to the explanation of the Genesis story,” Hurlbut said. “In Ken Ham’s case, he popularized it and brought it to the masses.”
I can’t think of anything worse than having to suck up to Ham from the very beginning.
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