…and this is a 
I don't think Tom Willis likes us very much
Category: Creationism • Kooks
Posted on: June 11, 2008 10:12 PM, by PZ Myers
Gosh. I sure hope the creationist extremists never get any substantial political power, because guess what some of them would like to do: they want to violently expel use crazy evolutionists. Ask Tom Willis, an utterly insane creationist (who is also, scarily, active in Kansas politics):
The arrogance displayed by the evolutionist class is totally unwarrented. The facts warrent the violent expulsion of all evolutionists from civilized society. I am quite serious that their danger to society is so great that, in a sane society, they would be, at a minimum, denied a vote in the administration of the society, as well as any job where they might influence immature humans, e.g., scout, or youth, leader, teacher and, obviously, professor. Oh, by the way… What is the chance evolutionists will vote or teach in the Kingdom of God?
But, of course, I myself, am not deluded. "Kingdom Now" theology notwithstanding, I have no expectations that such a proposal will ever be implemented, for the simple reason that delusion is ordained by God to reign until Christ returns. (2 Thess 2:10)
(Yes, the big yellow smiley face is actually part of his essay. So are the spelling errors.)
What great eliminationist rhetoric! Our only consolation, I suppose, is that so far he thinks his god has decreed that we shall be allowed to exist until he annihilates us in the end times.
Comments
Posted by: OctoberMermaid | June 11, 2008 10:18 PM
I can't believe he actually put in a smiley face. You kind of get the impression that he typed this up during craft hour, while all the other mental patients were hogging all the glitter and crayons.
Shame it's a .pdf. I bet the hard copy has letters cut and pasted from various magazines.
Posted by: foxfire | June 11, 2008 10:26 PM
PZ - Now go read "The Family" by Jeff Sharlet (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060559799)
This year I will be casting my vote very carefully....
Posted by: Sadie Morrison | June 11, 2008 10:27 PM
Willis wouldn't happen to be a fourteen-year-old girl, would he?
Posted by: Milo Johnson | June 11, 2008 10:27 PM
"But, of course, I myself, am not deluded."
---Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
Posted by: tony (not a vegan) | June 11, 2008 10:28 PM
I had to read that twice to understand what 'violently expel use crazy evolutionists' meant -- just a typo!
I was worried that only crazy mass evolutionist purchasers would be the target (of which, I am one)!
phew!
Posted by: matt | June 11, 2008 10:30 PM
BOOKS and LERNING are for HOMOS and GODLESS SIENTISTS
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | June 11, 2008 10:30 PM
And we will know they are Christians by their love (by their love)....
Everybody sing with me!
Posted by: Chief | June 11, 2008 10:31 PM
I have to tell you - the electron cloud on that cross makes it much more palatable and really adds credibility to the phrase "creation science."
Posted by: Andrew Gould | June 11, 2008 10:31 PM
Heh heh. Expelled.
Posted by: matt | June 11, 2008 10:35 PM
my over the top post at #6 aside, I have a step-great-uncle in west virginia or something who once said that atheists can just get in a boat and sail somewhere else if they don't like living in a christian nation. And as I was catholic at the time - he probably didn't know my denomination - I"m sure that my former sect of christ was probably high up on the "load 'em up, ship 'em out" list that so many nuts seem to have.
Posted by: Stephen D. Moore | June 11, 2008 10:37 PM
And people say Fundamentalists are crazy, intolerant loonies.
Oh!
Posted by: Doubting Foo | June 11, 2008 10:40 PM
Doesn't he know that the bible says the GEEKS shall inherit the Earth? One big WOW-fest, baby!
Posted by: daedalus2u | June 11, 2008 10:40 PM
He is just making sure that his God's predictions will come to pass. He knows (on some level) that he can't rely on the evolutionists to be delusional as his God has ordained, so he has to do it himself.
Posted by: DaveL | June 11, 2008 10:42 PM
Wouldn't that be like expelling all the water from a lake, or all the sand from a sandbox? If you throw out all the sane, rational, and educated people leaving behind only the violent religious fanatics, how could there be any "Civilized society" left?
Posted by: IBY | June 11, 2008 10:44 PM
He sounds like he is on crack. Is that guy for real?
Posted by: Tim | June 11, 2008 10:45 PM
The loonies reveal their totalitarian aspirations. The expletive news is starting to sound like a Robert A. Heinlein novel (The dystopic, future history stuff)
Posted by: CalGeorge | June 11, 2008 10:45 PM
"I believe in evolution," McCain said.
"I believe in evolution." - Barack Obama
Well, I guess Tom won't be voting this time around!
Posted by: Steve | June 11, 2008 10:51 PM
Egads! Did you read some of the other childish, extreme nonsense on their home page? http://www.csama.org/ These folk have got to be wearing lead lined blinders to believe the trash they spout...
Posted by: charfles | June 11, 2008 10:54 PM
"The arrogance displayed by the evolutionist class is totally
unwarrented [sic]."
Oh my! I haven't heard us be described as a class yet.
Posted by: Chief | June 11, 2008 10:54 PM
Sounds pretty closed to me.
Posted by: lytefoot | June 11, 2008 10:55 PM
To be fair, I think that people who believe that they may at any time disappear unexpectedly from the earth shouldn't be allowed from operating motorized vehicles or holding responsible positions.
Oh, and what was that about professors influencing "immature humans"? College students are almost universally adults in the eyes of the law, eligible to go and die for their country in Iraq, and in theory capable of making their own decisions. In his mind, at what point does a person become an adult? Of course, we know the answer--the evangelical movement feels that ALL humans are immature, and should be kept away from ideas that might induce crime-think.
Posted by: lytefoot | June 11, 2008 10:57 PM
Shouldn't be allowed *to* operate... sorry, rewrote that sentence a couple times. Stupid prepositions.
Posted by: Citizen Seagoon | June 11, 2008 11:00 PM
Ah, Comic Sans. The trus sign of a disordered mind.
Posted by: Dan | June 11, 2008 11:02 PM
Now that's some hard-core Christian
hate-speaklove right there.How do these folks get so freakin' damaged?
Posted by: danley | June 11, 2008 11:06 PM
What a world class ass-munch.
Posted by: S.Scott | June 11, 2008 11:11 PM
Am I the only one who couldn't read that entire piece of crap?
BTW (OT)- The Louisiana legislature passed one of 'those' bills. ugh.
Posted by: S. Scott | June 11, 2008 11:15 PM
Whoops! I forgot to give you a link about that piece-o-crap Louisiana thing. Here you go.
http://sensuouscurmudgeon.wordpress.com/
Posted by: mothworm | June 11, 2008 11:16 PM
He thinks there's voting in heaven?
Posted by: Etha Williams, OM | June 11, 2008 11:20 PM
Wow. Evolutionary theory is to blame for the crimes of capitalists AND communists (and pretty much everyone else...):
I particularly like the "evolutionist, anti-Christian, anti-creationists" bit. It lends a whole new level of demented hysteria to the typical fundie persecution complex.
The thing about "the USSR (from 1918 to this day)" is a bit perplexing, though. Did this guy completely miss the end of the cold war?
Posted by: Nicole | June 11, 2008 11:24 PM
LOL #7
Posted by: Cryptic Philosopher | June 11, 2008 11:24 PM
I think the synopsis for Tom's book "Real Scientists Just Say NO!" says it all (page 3 of the 4-page pdf that PZ links):
That's really what we should all strive for: to achieve understanding by reading as few books as possible. Right?Come the Rapture, I say we all meet up at Tom's house and divvy up his stuff.
Posted by: LeeLeeOne | June 11, 2008 11:27 PM
..."Oh, by the way... What is the chance evolutionists will vote or teach in the Kingdom of God?" smiley.jpg
But, of course, I myself, am not deluded. "Kingdom Now" theology notwithstanding, I have no expectations that such a proposal will ever be implemented, for the simple reason that delusion is ordained by God to reign until Christ returns. (2 Thess 2:10)...
Interpretation:
..."Oh, by the way... Your fly's open/headlights showin'. What is the chance evolutionists... W..T..F.. is an evolutionist?!) will vote or teach in the Kingdom of God?" (insert appropriate jpg here - come on! use your jpg's to the best!)
But, of course, I myself, am not deluded (I did NOT make this up! My dom... er... significant other did to just show you their prowess and power of their use of the comma). "Kingdom Now" (i.e., domonition/dominatrix) theology notwithstanding, I have no expectations that such a proposal will ever be implemented (baaaah, nooooobody likes me), for the simple reason that delusion (human state) is ordained by God (he's made up - suckers!) to reign until Christ returns (which ain't gonna happen, he still owes me from last month). (2 Thess 2:10)...
sick challenge - come up with a better interpretation please!
Posted by: shane | June 11, 2008 11:38 PM
Yep, I think he's missed the point of the whole kingdom of god thing.Posted by: Jack Krebs | June 11, 2008 11:43 PM
Willis is the guy who conspired with BOE chairperson Steve Abrams in writing the YEC-influenced Kansas science standards of 1999. Fellow Kansas Citizen for Science Board member Peter Gegenheimer and I did the detective work that uncovered the secret "citizen's draft" that Willis and others wrote, and that Abrams then copied from without admitting Willis's involvement. (We found the secret draft by following links on Willis's website. Duh!) Steve Case and I blew the whistle at an BOE meeting in late 1999, which contributed, I think, to the eventual downfall of the creationists in the BOE elections of 2000.
Willis also was in attendance at the 2005 science hearings (he shows up in the background a few times in the documentary Kansas vs. Darwin), and he and others in his group continue to provide support for the Intelligent Design network despite their fundamental disagreement with ID as not being Biblical enough.
If you want to read more of Willis, see his newsletter site at http://www.csama.org/CSA-NLTR.HTM.
Posted by: Jack Krebs | June 11, 2008 11:45 PM
Oops
http://www.csama.org/CSA-NLTR.HTM
Posted by: nanoAl | June 11, 2008 11:49 PM
@#8 - I thought it was barbed wire...
What is with creationists and not getting the whole irony thing? He even used the word expel!
OT, but kinda funny: here in Canada, CSA is the Canadian Standards Association, My summer job requires that i be CSA certified, does this mean I have to renounce evilution to test concrete?
Posted by: Patricia | June 11, 2008 11:57 PM
They actually believe this.
Posted by: Matt | June 12, 2008 12:03 AM
Isn't it ironic that this man is saying that by violently expelling (i.e. killing) all evolutionists, they'll go away from society and it will be better - the irony being, his statement is Social Darwinism.
Posted by: Venger | June 12, 2008 12:08 AM
If it was possible to make sure we took the cool toys (like all the nukes) with us I'd say maybe its time for a mass exodus from the United States of Batshit Crazy. Think about it, if we organized it so we all up at left at the same time in the dead of night we could really fuck with their heads. They'd wake up one morning and all the sane people would just be gone, they almost certainly think for just a moment that the rapture had come and they weren't on the invite list. Admittedly in some parts of the country they may not notice at all, sane people being so thin on the ground as it is. But I'm starting to get more than a little worried that the batshit crazies out number us so badly.
Posted by: Etha Williams, OM | June 12, 2008 12:16 AM
What is it about Queensland and creonuts?
From an announcement in the newsletter:
Posted by: CalGeorge | June 12, 2008 12:21 AM
He thinks there's voting in heaven?
That's right! Heaven is not a democracy. Just ask Mark Twain (from his Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven):
"You have got the same mixed-up idea about these things that everybody has down there. I had it once, but I got over it. Down there they talk of the heavenly King--and that is right--but then they go right on speaking as if this was a republic and everybody was on a dead level with everybody else, and privileged to fling his arms around anybody he comes across, and be hail-fellow-well-met with all the elect, from the highest down. How tangled up and absurd that is! [...] Well, this is Russia--only more so. There's not the shadow of a republic about it anywhere. There are ranks, here. There are viceroys, princes, governors, sub-governors, sub-sub-governors, and a hundred orders of nobility, grading along down from grand-ducal archangels, stage by stage, till the general level is struck, where there ain't any titles."
Tom probably thinks he's going to have an opportunity to hug Adam. Jeez.
Posted by: Narc | June 12, 2008 12:25 AM
I'm guessing the Kingdom of God is the post-Rapture utopia after Jesus returns and has been made King of the World. Of course, at that point no one will be voting, since Jesus will be in charge because he's God and will rule by divine fiat.Never forget, the ultimate goal of fundamentalist Christianity is the destruction of democratic government.
Posted by: Ken | June 12, 2008 12:29 AM
I liked this bit
"Therefore, in a sane society, evolutionists should not be allowed to vote, or influence laws or people in any way!
They should, perhaps, make bricks to earn enough to eat."
I have a picture of a prison camp where they have us all in chains making bricks.
Posted by: bipolar2 | June 12, 2008 12:30 AM
** look nihilism in the face **
For 2,000 years one hallmark of xianity has remained its hatred of natural science and skeptical philosophy. The Stoics and Epicureans of Athens laughed at Paul of Tarsus when he spoke to them. Paul's anti-intellectual rejoinder is still holy writ:
20-Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21-For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22-Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23-but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles . . . . 1Cor1 20-23 NIV
In short, Paul and his fellow revenge seekers created a god sharing their nihilistic valuations.
27-But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28-He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are . . . . 1Cor1:26-28 NIV
Xianity still appeals to those who believe themselves mistreated. To those in whom resentment surges. To those who must punish their guilty selves. To those who must blame others.
Xianity is practical nihilism. Directed inward, hatred of self. Directed outward, hatred of others and the world.
Psychologically I don't see much difference between the Taliban in Afghanistan and bible-worshipers (fundies) spread like pond scum across the US. Without a vigorously enforced secular state, you and I would burn at the stake or receive a bullet in the head for disbelief.
For all true believers, this is their doctrine: "those not with us are against us." Luke 11:23 NIV
Their hatred is not some peripheral ideological stance -- it is the dark heart and sick soul of Paul's life-negating world view, tarted up as a religion of "love".
bipolar2
© 2008
Posted by: phantomreader42 | June 12, 2008 12:36 AM
Doubting Foo @ #12:
No, it's FREAKS who will inherit the Earth. Said the guy with the tail.
The geeks can have the world...of warcraft. :P
Posted by: Interrobang | June 12, 2008 12:37 AM
Did this guy completely miss the end of the cold war?
Etha,
Yeah, a huge percentage of the US right operates as though they just dialed the Talking Political Clock and it said, "The ideological time at the tone is 1957. *beep*"
Posted by: Phoenician in a time of Romans | June 12, 2008 12:40 AM
Our only consolation, I suppose, is that so far he thinks his god has decreed that we shall be allowed to exist until he annihilates us in the end times.
It's going to be difficult to sleep at night in teh face of this threat, but somehow I shall manage.
Posted by: Dahan | June 12, 2008 12:44 AM
"What is the chance evolutionists will vote or teach in the Kingdom of God?"
Oh no! You mean I won't be able to vote in an impossible, non-existant future world?! Shit!
Posted by: anaglyph | June 12, 2008 12:52 AM
Well, like I'm fond of saying: If God is so smart, why did he make Evolutionists?
Posted by: Kseniya | June 12, 2008 12:54 AM
No? It's a hybrid class, with some rogueish skills (training is optimized for 1HE weapons like Occam's Razor) and the ability to spellcast spells relying on Natural and Sorcerous energies (such as "Speciate" and "Violate Law of Thermodynamics"). It's flashy, yet dark. Though playing an Evolutionist is fun and satisfying (and may give you the power to destroy all that is good in the world) you'll have a hell of a time trying to pile up a lot of coin.
Posted by: BobC | June 12, 2008 12:55 AM
This is off topic but it's about creationists. I just read something from Americans United for Separation of Church and State that surprised me. The Louisiana House of Representatives voted 94 to 3 in favor of a bill that could make possible the teaching of magical creation in biology classes. 94 to 3 is amazing. Virtually every politician in Louisiana is a creationist.
http://tinyurl.com/56b2j9
Posted by: Wes | June 12, 2008 12:55 AM
In the Exodus myth, the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrews and forced them to make bricks (with insufficient straw, no less). God then sent a shitload of plagues on the Egyptians for being such douchebags.
This guy doesn't seem to have thought things through very well. He's practically begging for frogs and locust.
Posted by: ndt | June 12, 2008 1:00 AM
And I remember how much you just love the use of smiley faces as an adjunct to the written, PZ. Maybe he put that in there for you personally.
Posted by: ShadowWalkyr | June 12, 2008 1:02 AM
I'm not sure I understand this. Is he saying that creationists aren't Homo Sapiens (Pan troglodytes, maybe)?
Or is he saying that even if Crusaders (for example) had access to assault weapons, mass transport, high explosives, air power, radio communication, water treatment, food preservation and the training to use them effectively, the body count of the Crusades would have been no higher?
Seems to me it's got to be one, the other or both.
Posted by: ndt | June 12, 2008 1:04 AM
written word, I meant.
Posted by: Wowbagger | June 12, 2008 1:13 AM
Etha, #40 wrote:
We're not all like that, I promise. Though I've lived in another state for 10 years; perhaps it's all gone downhill since then.
Yes, in many ways Qld is like the American south - rednecks, hillbillies, anti-intellectualism - but there is a massive difference in religious beliefs. Fundamentalism just doesn't happen on the same scale.
And not many people play the banjo...
Posted by: noncarborundum | June 12, 2008 1:32 AM
This would certainly explain the existence of Tom Willis. Note: "Until Christ returns" == "forever".
Posted by: Brownian, OM | June 12, 2008 1:34 AM
Who are you, thou nonpareil truest-mannered
welsh cheese?nose-herb?cuckoo-bud?shoulder-clapper?pittikin?something-cool-that-Shakespeare-wrote?Posted by: calladus | June 12, 2008 1:39 AM
Unfortunately I've experienced this sort of Christian love first hand, from a life-long former friend.
His last words to me were that he thought Atheists should be denied the right to vote.
Just my anecdotal evidence that Christianity destroys friendships.
Posted by: Kel | June 12, 2008 1:43 AM
I don't think Tom Willis has a very good grip on reality, so it doesn't matter whether he likes us or not.
Posted by: Etha Williams, OM | June 12, 2008 1:52 AM
@#60 Kel --
Unfortunately, even people with a poor grasp of reality can do things that impact reality, especially if their particular delusion is socially sanctioned.
Posted by: Brownian, OM | June 12, 2008 1:56 AM
His last words to me were that he thought Atheists should be denied the right to vote.
Just my anecdotal evidence that Christianity destroys friendships.
That's really sad, Calladus. Sorry to hear that.
Posted by: Michael | June 12, 2008 1:58 AM
I'm a creationist, and I don't agree with Tom Wills, this isn't communist China nor is it the old atheistic Soviet Union, this is America which has different points of view which can be displayed in various ways.
Posted by: Timothy | June 12, 2008 2:06 AM
Anyone else catch today's letters to the editor in the NY Times. They printed a real gem:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/opinion/lweb12evolution.html?ref=opinion
Someone wrote in to say that during their work as a high school teacher they definitively disproved evolution through his mastery of mathematics and statistics. Damn, wish my high school teachers were half as gifted.
Posted by: Steve | June 12, 2008 2:29 AM
Lots of good tard there. Best one might be the fact that one of their current speakers is, um, "deceased". He probably makes the most sense of all of them now.
Why do they keep referring to their degrees "the" as in as "Mr. Smith has *the* BSc. from Wackaloon U"? It is like they know the terms but not the context and don't quite know how to use idioms properly...
... oh yeah, they don't...
Love the fact one guy "searched and searched" (riiiiiight) for "macroevolution" (sic) in his industrial safety job (?) bombarding organisms with massive radiation and yet nothing lived - presumably - much less "evolved" (sic again, because they probably expected some bacteria to grow into an giant multicelled armoured X-men type things as opposed to increased radiation resistance in a population over generations)
Posted by: geb | June 12, 2008 2:55 AM
It makes me do my sadface dot jpeg that people can actually think like this. Are we such a danger to their beliefs? It's not as if we're holding their children hostage (apart from with our ideas, of course), raping their women (apart from with our ideas, of course), and pillaging their villages (apart from with our ideas, of course...?).
No matter what the case, they seriously need to gtfo my internet - apart from a minimal number of caged trolls, who will be kept for entertainment purposes. If they want to refute the very principles of science, they don't get to share its booty!
Posted by: Richard Wolford | June 12, 2008 3:00 AM
Michael, are you under the impression that science is just a "point of view" on par with fairy tales? Don't give that bullshit, creationism is simply dead fucking wrong. Teaching anything other than evolution is wrong, as there is no scientific alternative to TOE. Teaching anything other than science in a science class is wrong. Teaching creationism or its bastard cousin ID is not only stupid, but a clear violation of the the first amendment.
Posted by: epsilon | June 12, 2008 3:12 AM
"It was also a major justification in the defense of slavery in the 1800's against Christian opponents."
[Citation Needed]
In 1857, 2 years before Darwin published On the Origin of Species, Chief Justice Taney ruled that blacks were an inferior class of beings and were not included among those who were created equal. Could you kindly explain how the judge knew about the theory of evolution before it was published?
Posted by: Tz'unun | June 12, 2008 3:13 AM
Shame it's a .pdf. I bet the hard copy has letters cut and pasted from various magazines.
Do you think they let him use scissors? Maybe the kiddie kind with the rounded tips so he doesn't hurt himself.
Well, like I'm fond of saying: If God is so smart, why did he make Evolutionists?
Yea, verily, they say we are all God's children, so it follows that the Almighty can't be too happy about Mr. Willis second-guessing the evolutionists' ordained place in His plan. What was it that the Bible said about pride? Oh, yeah:
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
-- Proverbs 16: 18 (KJV)
Posted by: Bride of Shrek | June 12, 2008 3:18 AM
Etha @ #40
Well, there was only two in the whole state and we managed to get rid of them. Nah, actually when I was growing up in teh 70's/80's, and Wowbagger will probably attest to this, we had a bit of a fundie bloke (but seriously mild compared to your fundies) in charge who set us back a bit in terms of social progress ( and I darkly remember the days as a teenager when we couldn't buy alcohol on a Sunday) but those days are long since gone and Queensland is probably one of the most progressive states now. We've had the largest influx of migration from the sourthern states ( primarily because we have a pretty good economy and pretty damn good weather) and that has contributed to rapidly diluting any last remaining vestigial ,um, fundicity, fundamentalness, fund.. um you get the idea.
Posted by: Irishmauddib | June 12, 2008 3:22 AM
Ah, the violent removal of those that you disagree with follwed by the removal of the democratic rights of those who would vote against you. History has heard THAT one before.
Posted by: 12th Monkey | June 12, 2008 4:00 AM
He thinks there's voting in heaven?
Sure, but it'll be like a Soviet election. Only one party. Only one candidate.
Posted by: MJ | June 12, 2008 4:15 AM
I'm just waiting for Willis to state that the KoG "is not a Christian Kingdom, it's a secular one."
It is as though the closest he has come to actually reading the bible is a Sunday School colouring-in competition!
Posted by: Muffin | June 12, 2008 4:15 AM
Why do I suddenly get mental images of a mad Dr. Frankenstein type?
"I am not deluded, THEY are deluded! They are all deluded! But I'll show them! Muahahahahaha!"
:)
Posted by: Emmet Caulfield | June 12, 2008 4:18 AM
Steve@65,
Nah, he probably irradiated half the cats in the state trying to make crockoducks. He got short-lived bald toothless cats with goo oozing from red spots, recognised them as pigoslugs, but then realised they were the same "kind" and dismissed evolution accordingly.
Posted by: Rey Fox | June 12, 2008 4:55 AM
Re: smiley face: One thing I've learned about tribal Christianity as practiced in the United States is that the followers very much can say bigoted things like this and belittle those of other beliefs with a smile. They do it as much as they can too, because no one who is smiling could be a bad person, right? Change the dots in the smiley face into open circles, and you have a pretty good approximation of the vacant-eyed look that many of them have, too.
Posted by: Richard Eis | June 12, 2008 5:01 AM
The yellow smiley is also an ecstasy drug reference. Fitting dontcha think...
Posted by: BobbyEarle | June 12, 2008 5:13 AM
Ecstasy?
Gosh, I wonder what that is? I get so confused this early in the morning...you know, before I've had my coffee and violently expelled an evolutionist.
Posted by: David L | June 12, 2008 5:21 AM
Give the guy some credit PZ. At least he knows the difference between Evolution and Abiogenesis
Posted by: Nomad | June 12, 2008 5:28 AM
Wow... just... wow. Take away the voting rights of nonbelievers and force them into menial labor, only to make enough to barely eat. Accompanied by a smiley face.
I'm making a different kind of face right now. The sort of face you make when you open the refrigerator and take out a wrapped up piece of cheese, but when you unwrap it you find it isn't the color it's supposed to be. The sort of thing where you simultaneously stop breathing because you don't want to smell what you've just discovered, and also you're afraid of inhaling the spores of whatever is now growing there.
Well, Mr Willis, if this is what you want people to associate with Christianity then, well... you have fun now. You can turn more people away from Christ with that kind of talk than I can with science.
Posted by: Roy | June 12, 2008 5:29 AM
Hey PZ, do you have a barf bag? I think I need to throw up.
Posted by: silentsanta | June 12, 2008 5:30 AM
PZ I don't know what your policy is on blatant book plugs like that (foxfire @ #2) but I would just like to chip in and say Jeff Sharlet has been one of my favourite writers for over a year now. His articles on religion in Rolling Stone and Harpers (eg "Jesus Plus Nothing") were fantastic, but what really sold me on him was a piece called "The many times my Mother died" which is here:
http://www.killingthebuddha.com/dogma/many_times_mother_died.htm
I haven't read 'The Family' yet, but I hope to soon.
Posted by: acj | June 12, 2008 5:52 AM
I just woke from my nap because I had a terrible nightmare. You see, there was this idiot monster with a moronic smile on its yellow face and it wanted me excluded from society and persecuted for having the occasional rational thought, and... oh, wait...
Posted by: black wolf | June 12, 2008 5:56 AM
His use of terms like 'class', 'violent expulsion', 'forced labor' immediately associate his ideology with certain 20th century regimes. That he connects this with his idea of God's will warrants the conclusion that he is a theo-fascist. I can only speak for myself, but another Murrah by him or more likely one of his devout followers would not surprise me much.
Posted by: RedGreenInBlue | June 12, 2008 5:57 AM
I thought we evolutionists were an order - like the Ordo Templi Orientis, you know. "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." Now, that should make Tom Willis and friends freak out!Posted by: Walton | June 12, 2008 5:59 AM
This Tom Willis seems to be a complete lunatic. I'm astounded at the idea that he is actually taken seriously.
Reading through the article you linked to, I think the major problem is that Willis seems to be conflating "evolution as a scientific theory" with "evolution as a philosophy of life", and treating "evolutionists" as if they were a philosophical or religious school of thought - which is simply sloppy thinking. I accept, based on the scientific consensus and my own limited understanding, the reality of biological evolution; but that doesn't mean I base my philosophical worldview on it.
For instance, where he says "Evolution formed the apologetic framework for justifying the harshest of cruelties during this period as well... a logically consistent pursuit of evolutionary theory has been used to justify atrocious crimes on the grandest scale in human history," he's using an argument from consequences, which is, of course, a fallacy; whether or not a belief in evolution has led to immoral consequences has no bearing on whether or not evolutionary theory is factually accurate. And it also seems to be an is-ought confusion. As I said, I am an "evolutionist" in the sense that I accept the probable factual reality of biological evolution. But that doesn't mean I want human society to be governed according to the principles of natural selection (if it were, I would quite possibly be dead, as certainly would all disabled people, the weak and the unhealthy). Willis just doesn't seem to realise that there is a difference between viewing evolution as the reality of how things are, and considering it in normative terms as the way things ought to be. He seems to think of "evolutionists" as a philosophical school of thought, and evolution as a complete normative philosophy of life.
So, in conclusion, Mr Willis is at best intellectually lazy and sloppy in his thinking; at worst, he's a raving lunatic. Please tell me this guy isn't representative of Kansas conservatism?
Posted by: Walton | June 12, 2008 6:01 AM
Sorry for the incorrect italics in my above post. (Italics should end after the end of the quote.)
Posted by: black wolf | June 12, 2008 6:02 AM
correction: he didn't use the term 'forced labor', but states clearly that 'evolutionists' (meaning conflated with atheists) should rather make bricks than anything else. Whis is the same idea the Nazis had regarding their opponents. The people forced to make bricks and ammunition were the lucky ones.
Posted by: Leigh | June 12, 2008 6:03 AM
Rey Fox @ 76: "Re: smiley face: One thing I've learned about tribal Christianity as practiced in the United States is that the followers very much can say bigoted things like this and belittle those of other beliefs with a smile."
Yes, indeedy. Works like this:
Leigh said (smiling sweetly), "We need to pray for Brother Willis, y'all. He can't help being a demented fucktard, bless his heart. God has, for His own reasons, chosen to wire Brother Willis's brain up wrong, so that he's stupid and vicious. We need to ask God to heal him from the diseases of ignorance, prejudice, and evil. Let's pray together, right now (drops smile, face now expresses deep concern and sincerity). . .
Heavenly Father, please turn Your servant Tom Willis from wickedness, heal his diseased mind, and put him where he can't do any further damage to civilization. Amen."
By the way, I am TOTALLY SINCERE in this prayer, even though I wrote it as an example. In the absence of forcibly administered psychotropic medication, it's the best I can do.
I would write him a letter telling I'm praying for him, but unfortunately I scanned his vile content and discovered that this evil loon DISSED ISAAC ASIMOV. This is unforgiveable, and I hereby darn him to Heck.