Pharyngula

Typical bloody Xtianity. Their motto should be killing people in the name of love since 0.

Posted by: Matt | May 22, 2008 5:21 PM

Religion gives people a purpose in life...hating others different than them.

Posted by: H.H. | May 22, 2008 5:21 PM

I'm a bit confused about the course of action that the vandal suggested. Is the note just a general disparagement of the prof, with his property as a sort of an avatar for him--sort of a "fuck you and the horse you rode in on" kind of sentiment? Or is it supposed to be more of a direct threat--i.e., "Like this car you will end up harmed [slashed?] and in heaven"? But given a mindset in which Darwinism is an evil, why would the prof end up in heaven?

It's all very confusing.

Posted by: CButterb | May 22, 2008 5:26 PM

First the F-bomb, then a bizarre directive. Very odd.

Reminds me of the crazed rant that I overheard at the Desert Museum in Tucson when some middle-aged couple noticed a metal sculpture that (simplistically) depicted the evolution of vertebrates. I swear the old man was going to get a hacksaw and cut it down because he--as a good Christian in America--was *so* offended.

Posted by: hje | May 22, 2008 5:31 PM

The mental illness drips out in nearly every word.

Posted by: GDad | May 22, 2008 5:31 PM

Another fundie with a knife story from the west coast. Sent by a friend. Fundies are sick and evil.

Suspicious activity: 9:11 a.m., A man with a knife was spotted in the parking lot of an office supply business. The witness was sitting in a car in the parking lot when she saw a man get out of his car, walk over to another car and raise a large knife in the air. When the man realized he was being watched, he returned to his vehicle and drove away. Police stopped the man as he was leaving. The man said he was driving by when he noticed a "Jesus fish" with "Darwin" written in the center of it on the back of a parked vehicle. The man said he considered this to be a demonic symbol and intended to pull it off of the car with the knife but decided to leave when he was spotted by the witness. Police warned the man about his behavior and took no further action.

Posted by: raven | May 22, 2008 5:33 PM

I think the intended meaning was something like: You're not getting into heaven by your own merit, so drive there in this fancy car SCIENCE made for you. ^^;

Ah! The intended message is coherent, after all, just stupid. So... The vandal is Amish?

Posted by: CButterb | May 22, 2008 5:36 PM

It's a well-known fact that Creationists are douchebags.

Posted by: Alex | May 22, 2008 5:36 PM

Going to have to say it. The more vocal, activist creos and fundies are all just mentally ill. It takes a lunatic to choose lies over irrefutable and commonly known facts and then make the effort to spout them in one forum or another. Which is why when you think you are dealing with wacko lunatic fringers, you are.

The rank and file may fall into that category as well but I doubt it. Most likely, they really don't know or care. Whether the universe started with a Big Bang 13.4 billion years ago or is 6,000 years old doesn't impact someone struggling with $4 gas, rising food prices, and their relatives getting shot at in Iraq.

And not all conservative xians are wingnuts. A lot of the evangelicals and some of the pentecostals don't have a problem with evolution.

Posted by: raven | May 22, 2008 5:44 PM

Stay away from Fresno... if the city one has to go through to reach it from he coast is any indicator... "Hey we are in Los Banos, almost to Fresno!" (No seriously, you have to go through Los Banos [the toilet for the monolingual] to get to the 'No' as we call it)

CA's central Valley is nothing like the coast or the northern redwoods

Posted by: jj | May 22, 2008 5:47 PM

Here we go again, persecuting Christians for defending their right to Believe What They Want. They're just fighting back against MILITANT atheism. You know, that's the atheism where atheists attack what people have the Right to Believe What They Want. Dr. Earley could be a Christian, and it makes no difference. It's still MILITANT atheism if you tell people they can't believe what they want. Darwinism isn't what they want. They have a RIGHT to believe what they want.

Or, perhaps, we are now persecuting Christians by implying that Christianity had anything to do with this at all. That guy was just a vandal anyway, looking for an excuse. It would or could or should have been some reason other than what it looks like, because Christianity is the everybody-be-nice religion. And we wouldn't even have science if it wasn't for Christianity.

Take your pick. We're not nice, so it's our fault, I'm sure. Mea Culpa. Mea Maxima Culpa.

Posted by: Sastra | May 22, 2008 5:49 PM

I've told many a creo here to fuck off, and had whiny creo concern trolls comment on how mean we Darwinist atheists are, but I've never, ever, punctured someone's tires or left a cowardly note.

Posted by: Brownian, OM | May 22, 2008 5:49 PM

They DO have the right to believe what they want; everyone does. They do NOT have the right to vandalize property or threaten harm to people. Those two things are illegal, even in the Valley.

Posted by: Eximious Jones | May 22, 2008 5:56 PM

Noodle@#9

I agree that there is no way to shame the nutziod fundies that do this sort of thing. But that is not why this sort of thing should be publicized. Rather, it should be used to shame the silent moderates, for whom this sort of behavior is in contradiction to their concept of Chritianity, into finally stepping up and saying, "No, you nutziod can believe whatever you want, but that is not what the rest of us mean by Christian." The nutzoids only have power because the moderates stay silent and allow the nutziods to represent christianity. The nutziods cant be shamed, but I have hope that the moderates can.

Posted by: Dave | May 22, 2008 6:00 PM

And here I thought the pressing question was whether dogs go to Heaven.

Posted by: Sili | May 22, 2008 6:02 PM

I was born and raised in California's Central Valley and most of my family is still down there, sprinkled around Fresno and Tulare counties. They and most of their neighbors are deep red (and I don't mean communist!) when it comes to politics. The Central Valley still has lots of registered Democrats, but they're Reagan Democrats who have lost their allegiance to the party of FDR (who was the much-admired president under whose administration my parents grew up).

The Central Valley has a constant brain drain as young people head out for brighter opportunities elsewhere. It's not only dummies who stay put (my brother, for example, is bound to the family farm he loves and operates), but most of the upwardly mobile have up and went. The Central Valley counties suffer a perpetual mini-depression (of both the economy and the mind). And they vigorously vote for people determined to maintain the regressive status quo.

The towns with big colleges (like Fresno, Modesto, and maybe Visalia) have a leavening influence, but even those places are dominated by the right-wing. In Merced, where the 10th University of California is growing, local conservative activists are terrified that the campus culture will attract godforsaken liberals to their pristine territory. (Merced could become another Davis or -- God forbid! -- another Berkeley!)

When I was a youngster it was still okay to vote for JFK or LBJ, but soon thereafter Nixon was the one and folks down there have never wised up about Bush. And the pastors in the pulpits (of which there are many) lace their sermons with denunciations of anything even slightly progressive. The priest in my home parish fulminated every Sunday. In retrospect, I think his rants made me take religion less and less seriously. Thanks, Monsignor!

Posted by: Zeno | May 22, 2008 6:03 PM

Architeuthis@#17 - Sorry, but San Diego scores pretty high on the conservative/fundie/loony scale.

Posted by: SES | May 22, 2008 6:18 PM

Fresno is saturated with evangelicals from top to bottom. At the recent National Day of Prayer (hosted by Fresno mayor Alan Autry), only evangelical churches were invited. Some choice quotes:

..I believe in separation of church and state...but if you have separation of god and state, you are doomed. (Alan Autry)

and

...I don't see how a teacher working for me can be moral unless they accept jesus christ as their savior. (A local school principal)

...his injuries could be worse, but fortunately he has a higher power to believe in (chief of police, talking about a police officer who was injured in the line of duty). The chief had some problems with an underage girl, but evidently was forgiven by the local mega church, so all was ok.

The mayor also keeps the 10 commandments on the wall behind his desk, and sponsored an anti-same sex marriage demonstration at city hall. He also has guest-host on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Posted by: Tully Bascomb | May 22, 2008 6:23 PM

only evangelical churches were invited

interesting.

that's a point that should be stressed, IMO.

show that these fundies are fighting not only against "godless darwinists" but against any and all who don't vehemently agree with them, including all other xian churches.

J was, as usual, incorrectly claiming that the atheists should be embracing the moderates in this fight. It's no that atheists need to embrace the moderate xians, it's that the moderate xians need to get off their collective butts and join the fight on their own terms.

Yes, YOU TOO, are being attacked by the fundies.

Posted by: Ichthyic | May 22, 2008 6:29 PM

Christianity is not a religion of peace, but a religion of DEFERRED VIOLENCE. Unfortunately some of it's followers simply can't wait to defer the violence to their 'heavenly father', and feel compelled to act for themselves on his behalf. Dr. Hector Avalos has written a book about the subject called, 'Fighting Words: Origins of Religious Violence'.

"It is a myth that religion is essentially good and that violence is a fundamentalist deviation from it. The foundation texts of the Abrahamic religions all, in places, endorse violence.
For example, "You shall annihilate them , the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; just as the Lord your God has commanded" -Deuteronomy 20:17.
or, "Slay the pagans wherever ye find them" -Koran, Sura 9:5.

The New Testament supports DEFERRED VIOLENCE, promising that unbelievers shall be plunged into eternal torment. There are no similar explicit commands for genocide even in Hitler's Mein Kampf.

In these holy books you can find either a peaceful or a vengeful god. Both are in the text, both are equally unverifiable. Which bits of the texts do you choose to take literally? Take your pick - liberal or evangelical? Protestant or Catholic? Shia or Sunni? It's all equally arbitrary and subjective, and all equally fundamentalist.

Religious writers blame nationalism, secularism, colonialism and globalisation, anything but religion - for wars, but the holy texts all predate these modern phenomena. Avalos writes; "All three Abrahamic religions have imperialism, control of the entire earth, as a fundamental goal if one judges by their basic sacred scriptures. The Hebrew Bible speaks of God's (Elohim) possession of all the earth (Psalm 82). Jesus commands the spreading of Christianity over the entire world (Matt. 28:18-19), thus following the model of the Roman Empire long before the rise of Constantine. Islam, likewise, envisions the whole world under the command of Allah. If there is anything essential or fundamental in all of the Abrahamic religions it is the idea that the particular god each worships has or should have universal dominion. A perfect formula for perpetual conflict."
-William Podmore, from here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fighting-Words-Origins-Religious-Violence/dp/1591022843

Also,

'Fighting Words: Origins of Religious Violence', by Hector Avalos.

"I just read the book by Hector Avalos and am wondering if anyone else has and what they thought of it.
My thoughts so far are thus:
1) Concept of group and individual privilege.
2) Concept of a "higher calling" and a monopoly on absolute truth and sacred spaces and/or texts.
3) Concept of having God's most perfect revelation(s).
4) Concept of salvation and being "saved" from God's wrath and judgement because of the beliefs followed.
5) Very often, there is contempt for those who do not believe the "revealed truth".
6) Violence is an acceptable punishment - by believers or God(s) in the "now" or future (deferred violence when Christ returns in the Xian religions, for example).
7) The belief or system of beliefs are considered the most important focus - more important than the here and now of life and what it offers - always looking for what is beyond this life and the "rewards" the afterlife supposedly contains.
-From here: http://iidb.infidels.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=215125

The guy who slashed the tyre and left the note was simply acting on his delusion, rather than suppressing it and merely imagining the prospect of his god inflicting violence on the infidel at some time in the future. He is the consequence of a violent myth. Of course, he's also a 'deluded fuckwit'(TM). ; )

Posted by: DingDave | May 22, 2008 6:33 PM

People forget that California gave us Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. Most of the state -- geographically speaking -- is very conservative. It's mainly the largest population centers that are not so along with a few Redwood Empire and Sierra Foothills enclaves. Fresno definitely isn't any of those.

Posted by: Mike O'Risal | May 22, 2008 6:36 PM

That's where I'm going to college next year. Yay.

Posted by: JStein | May 22, 2008 6:38 PM

4) Concept of salvation and being "saved" from God's wrath and judgement because of the beliefs followed.

having a few atheist jewish friends, I can tell you what they always tell me:

"where the fundies went wrong is in thinking that it's beliefs that make the man, instead of deeds."

Posted by: Ichthyic | May 22, 2008 6:43 PM

Oh man, now you got me started. Some more of the official City of Fresno "the church is the state" philosophy:

From the local paper (Fresno Bee)
Police security decision saves Graham event about $80,000 ...
The Central Valley Billy Graham Crusade saved nearly $80,000 because Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer decided enhanced security was necessary in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the East Coast and the bombing in Afghanistan.

Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said his officers also will be making extra checks at selected places of worship that might be targets of attack.
or

Mayor's stance ignites debate ...
Alan Autry, Fresno's actor-turned-mayor, slips into a new public role this Sunday: cheerleader for the idea that marriage should unite a man and a woman and not homosexual couples.

Autry will speak on the grounds of City Hall in support of the traditional definition of marriage at an event called Marriage Commitment Day. He also will conduct a ceremony in which heterosexual, married couples can renew their marriage vows

Police chaplain growth pursued ...
Fresno pastor Elias Loera spent Friday night with police officer Jesse Herring and came to this conclusion:

"Fresno needs help," said Loera, 32. That's exactly the point, Police Chief Jerry Dyer said, in launching his latest crime-fighting idea: an army of volunteer police chaplains giving solace to victims and their families and friends.

or

Autry leads Pledge rally ...
A federal appellate court decision to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance is "dangerous," Fresno Mayor Alan Autry told a crowd at a rally Friday at City Hall.

Posted by: Tully Bascomb | May 22, 2008 6:56 PM

Come on! Don't you see this is progress?
Just take the historical view--
It's not, after all, like such pinheaded treatment
Is even remotely brand-new.
We ought to be grateful for punctures in tires--
This change, it is all for the best.
It's not long ago that the note would be pinned
To a knife that was stuck in his chest.

Posted by: Cuttlefish, OM | May 22, 2008 7:02 PM

It's OK......this person has learned all his morals and ethics from his Bible and his church. Leave it to atheists, who have no moral compass, to imagine that someone outside the pale of this persons religion is worthy of being treated with the same morals and ethics as real people.

Posted by: S. Fisher | May 22, 2008 7:11 PM

John Hamilton and Ichthyic:

Both claims have been made.

Posted by: Brownian, OM | May 22, 2008 7:15 PM

That's Fresno for you.

Bakersfield's worse.

http://www.turnto23.com/news/15793197/detail.html

Posted by: MikeM | May 22, 2008 7:36 PM

Ah, the Valley. The I grew up in the dead center of the southern half of the valley. A little town called Pixley, one hour north of Bakersfield, one hour south of Fresno.
While I love my state in general, the Valley seems to relish its role as a disgusting fucking armpit of ignorance and standard conservative self-righteousness. There are more churches than schools, libraries, and book stores put together, and a nice hefty prison population as well. Many bright folks crop up every generation, but as noted before they all get the hell out as soon as possible.
On a side note, I saw more crime and racial and social tension living in Bakersfield than I did living in the ghetto end of Hollywood. And don't get me started on Fresno. More crime, more gangs, more cops and more religion than anywhwere I've ever seen. Amazing what religion and head-in-the-sand conservatism can accomplish.

I have lived just two hours away on the coast for almost 15 years now, and while you see some of the same political trends, especially among the older or horribly ignorant folks, it's almost like a different planet.

In all fairness, there is a largish minority of moderate liberals who try to keep things sane, but between the crybaby farmers, ultra-conservative business owners, hundreds of thousands of hateful rednecks and hundreds of thousands of superstitious, patriarchal catholic immigrants, and of course the all-powerful evangelical/fundie flag-waving noise machine, it's all they can do to keep the public schools from being entirely gutted.
Best of luck to Prof. Early. I'll go back and help when hell freezes over.

One bright spot, though. All of the ignorance, apathy, and redneck jingoism has, over the last decade, sewn the seeds for a vibrant and growing metal music scene. All of that hopeless rage has to go somewhere, I guess.

Posted by: Neil | May 22, 2008 7:47 PM

@#25 Nick Gotts --

Come on now, how do you know it was a Christian? Could have been a rogue Lamarckian!

LMAO. Or maybe a rogue Lysenko-Michurinist. Yeah, that must be it. Those damn godless commies...giving True Christians™ a bad name with their anonymous crimes.

Posted by: Etha Williams | May 22, 2008 7:52 PM

Oh, worse than *THAT*, Mike:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_Blue_(duo)

(Used to be a local group, moved to Montana or some other third-world area.)

Posted by: Randomfactor | May 22, 2008 7:55 PM

What's car heaven look like anyway? Does it only get Christian Rock music on the radio?

Posted by: Emmet Caulfield | May 22, 2008 8:03 PM

Neil @ 58: there is a largish minority of moderate liberals who try to keep things sane, but between the crybaby farmers, ultra-conservative business owners, hundreds of thousands of hateful rednecks and hundreds of thousands of superstitious, patriarchal catholic immigrants, and of course the all-powerful evangelical/fundie flag-waving noise machine

Hey, Neil, my family intersects with only the three highlighted segments of your demographic list. As the Catholic influence wanes, however, we'll probably pick up some of that fundie flavor through future marriages. Lordy, I fear so.

Posted by: Zeno | May 22, 2008 8:12 PM

"Of course Silicon Heaven exists. I mean, where do all the calculators go?"

Posted by: Facehammer | May 22, 2008 8:24 PM

This is quite unfortunate. Dr. Earley is a wonderful guy and one of the most popular professors at Fresno. Even as new faculty, his lab is packed with students.

It is sad how educated people have to fear the ignorant.

We have been working hard to educate the valley, but it has been no easy task.

http://collegian.csufresno.edu/2008/04/09/brain-drain/

Posted by: Fresno-GradStudent | May 22, 2008 8:30 PM

.....But our dear Mayor Bubba did something unusual this year at the National Day of Prayer. He violated the prerequisites laid down by the NDoP folks, and actually asked speakers from non-evangelical churches (and even [gasp!] non-xians) to speak.

No, he didn't. Interfaith protesters holding signs for TV embarrassed him into acknowledging their presence, so he brought a few up for a photo op. When one of them spontaneously gave a blessing, the pained look on his face was priceless. They were then quickly ushered off.

I video-recorded almost the entire sordid affair. There were many more memorable "christianity good/all others bad" moments.

Posted by: Tully Bascomb | May 22, 2008 8:51 PM

Its interesting how quick some of you are to sterotype a group of people based on the actions of a few.

Posted by: Randy Stimpson aka Intelligent Designer | May 22, 2008 9:14 PM

People forget that California gave us Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.

And Aimee Semple McPherson.

Posted by: CalGeorge | May 22, 2008 9:22 PM

Its interesting how quick some of you are to sterotype a group of people based on the actions of a few.

just how many morons doing and saying the exact same thing, and exhibiting the exact same behavior, do you need before the stereotype more accurately resembles a definition?

a thousand?

ten thousand?

30 million?

why should exceptions, assuming there are any (and there certainly AREN'T wrt to ID as a "scientific theory"), define the labeling of a group who's aims and methods have been entirely obvious?

Posted by: Ichthyic | May 22, 2008 9:28 PM

Oh, right. those can't be True Scotsmen, they don't wear a kilt.

Posted by: DLC | May 22, 2008 10:36 PM

Seems like the Christian meant that the Darwinist isn't going to get to heaven via the usual manner (salvation, etc.) so there is the sarcastic suggestion that he should try driving there.

Posted by: aporeticus | May 22, 2008 11:18 PM

Might they have MEANT to say "Drive your car straight to Hell"?

or maybe it simply meant: "Drive off a cliff!"

who knows.

Posted by: Ichthyic | May 22, 2008 11:28 PM