…and this is a 
Krazy Kansas Kook wants to eliminate all biologists
Category: Kooks
Posted on: August 23, 2008 6:25 PM, by PZ Myers
When last we heard from Tom Willis, big-wig in the Creation Science Association for Mid-America, he was pondering whether evolutionists should be allowed to vote. Since Tom Willis is batshit insane, he decided that no, they should not, because they're wicked godless atheists with no moral sense (you theistic evolutionists aren't spared — you're even worse).
Now he has upped the ante and is wondering, Should Evolutionists Be Allowed to Roam Free in the Land?. I wonder what his answer will be?
After declaring evolutionists incompetent, unproductive, dangerous, at war with Christianity, and to have demanded the elimination of Christians (what powers of projection he has!), Willis finally explains what must be done with us.
Clearly then, "evolutionists should not be allowed to roam free in the land." All that remains for us to discuss is "What should be done with evolutionists?" For the purposes of this essay, I will ignore the minor issue of Western-style jurisprudence and merely mention possible solutions to the "evolutionism problem," leaving the legal details to others:
Labor camps. Their fellow believers were high on these. But, my position would be that most of them have lived their lives at, or near the public trough. So, after their own beliefs, their life should continue only as long as they can support themselves in the camps.
Require them to wear placards around their neck, or perhaps large medallions which prominently announce "Warning: Evolutionist! Mentally Incompetent - Potentially Dangerous." I consider this option too dangerous.
Since evolutionists are liars and most do not really believe evolution we could employ truth serum or water-boarding to obtain confessions of evolution rejection. But, this should, at most, result in parole, because, like Muslims, evolutionist religion permits them to lie if there is any benefit to them.
An Evolutionist Colony in Antarctica could be a promising option. Of course inspections would be required to prevent too much progress. They might invent gunpowder. A colony on Mars would prevent gunpowder from harming anyone but their own kind, in the unlikely event they turned out to be intelligent enough to invent it.
All options should include 24-hour sound system playing Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris reading Darwin's Origin of Species, or the preservation of Favored Races by Means of Natural Selection. Of course some will consider this cruel & unusual, especially since they will undoubtedly have that treatment for eternity.
Kansas breeds attracts the most amazing kooks. (I have been informed that quite a few of the looniest creationists in Kansas come from elsewhere.)
Politics
Comments
Posted by: TSC | August 23, 2008 6:31 PM
Kantard.
Posted by: Physicalist | August 23, 2008 6:32 PM
Wow! That's weapons-grade crazy.
Posted by: scooter | August 23, 2008 6:34 PM
I kinda like the last option, especially if they throw in the complete works of Twain, Voltaire, Bill Hicks, Carlin, Paine, Jefferson, and Patricia reading Pharyngula
Posted by: John C. Randolph | August 23, 2008 6:35 PM
Seems to me that this guy's doing more to discredit creationism than we could have possibly hoped for.
-jcr
Posted by: Sauve | August 23, 2008 6:35 PM
Wow.
Posted by: Carlie | August 23, 2008 6:37 PM
Will he pay for me to go to Antarctica? I'd love to go to Antarctica.
Posted by: Zeno | August 23, 2008 6:37 PM
Curses! He found us out! I guess we didn't pretend to believe well enough.
Of course, Tom Willis can be relied upon to be sincere. As a lesson to others, it would be instructive to waterboard him in witness to his resolute faith. Even under the most drastic conditions, I'm certain he would never abjure his faith. It would inspire our Christian nation!
Disclaimer: The above comments are rendered moot and inoperative in the unlikely event that Willis breaks under pressure, begs to be freed, and denounces God while bargaining for his freedom. This disclaimer is included only as a formality, because everyone knows that sincere faith in God is indestructible.
Posted by: scooter | August 23, 2008 6:37 PM
Kansas breeds the most amazing kooks.
As we used to say, back in the daze of wine and blotter acid. he ain't in Kansas anymore, is he Toto?
Posted by: catta | August 23, 2008 6:38 PM
Is it even possible to comment on this without triggering Godwin's law?
Incredible. And I was having such a nice evening...
Posted by: Creet | August 23, 2008 6:40 PM
Wait, this is a joke right?
...
Stupid poe's law.
Posted by: Jared | August 23, 2008 6:43 PM
I think we should make up placards that read "Warning: Scientist! Capable of individual thought - Potentially Dangerous."
Posted by: James F | August 23, 2008 6:44 PM
Talk about bad framing....
Posted by: Wayne Robinson | August 23, 2008 6:45 PM
Yes, Catta, but what does this have to do with Hitler and Nazis?
Posted by: JoJo | August 23, 2008 6:46 PM
For the purposes of this post, I will ignore the minor issue of Western-style jurisprudence and merely mention possible solutions to the "Tom Willis problem."
Denounce him to the Homeland Security Department as a terrorist. Let them handle the imprisonment, waterboarding, etc.
Kidnap him and secretly send him to Iran with 50 Bibles. Tell the Iranian secret police that he's in country and looking for converts to Christianity.
Tell Fred Phelps that Willis is gay.
Posted by: varlo | August 23, 2008 6:46 PM
OK, Bozo. I am 4th-gneration Kansan (in Florida the last 24 years) and DO NOT TAR US ALL WITH THAT BRUSH! I remember when Kansas had sane senators (Jim Pearson, Nancy Kassebaum, even on most things Bob Dole). Willis is a total idiot, and I am getting to the popint that, should I ever be told that I have contracted a fatal illness, I would seriously consider seeking him out and cutting his tongue out. The lunatic element may be alive and well in Kansas, but both expatriates like me, and many still there consider fools like Willis shitheads.
Posted by: Alex | August 23, 2008 6:47 PM
Batshit insane barely does this justice.
Posted by: Geral | August 23, 2008 6:47 PM
Please tell me it's satire..
Posted by: raven | August 23, 2008 6:48 PM
And the creos say Darwin leads to Hitler. Tom Willis has just taken the Nazis' final solution, changed Jew to biologist, and added some torture fantasies.
Kansas, home of fred phelps and Tom "Adolph" Willis.
While it is disturbing that Willis is not locked up in a mental hospital for threats of violence (yet), he does make the creos look like practicing and ugly Death Cultists up close and real.
Rushdooney is still ahead in the "want to kill" contest. His proposals would have killed 297 million of the 300 million US citizens alive now. For those blissfully unaware, Rushdooney was the founder of Xian Dominionism and Pat Robertson's mentor.
Posted by: Wowbagger | August 23, 2008 6:48 PM
Teh stupid! It burns!
Posted by: JStein | August 23, 2008 6:50 PM
This is incredibly funny, and borders on the absurd. I'm very scared of people like this.
Posted by: Reginald Selkirk | August 23, 2008 6:51 PM
I think there already is one: Amundsen-Scott South Pole StationPosted by: Cuttlefish, OM | August 23, 2008 6:52 PM
A modest proposal, on how to dispose all
The Atheist garbage and haul it away--
Although it's Tom Willis, I think that it still is
A decades-old tactic, the Klan used to play.
It may be that laughter is what he is after
It may be he thinks he's a humorous guy
Or maybe some tumor deprived him of humor
He thinks it is funny.... I just want to cry.
Posted by: scooter | August 23, 2008 6:56 PM
Varlo
C'mon Varlo, we love Kansas in Texas.
Yall make us feel so......
rational
BWAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!!
BTW, we gave the world GW Bush just to get even with Kansas for giving us Charles Koch
Posted by: JStein | August 23, 2008 6:57 PM
Cuttlefish, your comments are wonderful, as always.
I'm adding them to my post on this.
Posted by: Cheryl Shepherd-Adams | August 23, 2008 6:58 PM
Umm, PZ, you might want to check on this . . .
It's true that Willis was the ghostwriter of the infamous 1999 Kansas science standards. But I think he's from Missouri and runs a blueberry farm there.
Hey, it's understandable that you'd lump Willis in with Connie Morris, Steve Abrams,Fred Phelps, and Bill Shanahan, but please don't blame us for the Missouri kooks, too!
Posted by: raven | August 23, 2008 6:58 PM
That is not a bad idea!!!
He is clearly making threats of violence and mass murder against an identifiable (and important) segment of the US population. Chances are good Homeland Security would want to have a talk with him. Or two. Or more.
Dembski and another wingnut turned in Eric Pianka to HS for a lot less. Pianka said the world population is vulnerable to emerging diseases and mass epidemics. Which is true and the CDC and NIH spent a huge amount of time worrying about it and dealing with it, SARS, avian flu, nipah, rift valley etc.. HS did talk the Pianka but obviously found nothing since Pianka is still in Texas rather than Guantanomo.
Posted by: Kaitlyn | August 23, 2008 6:59 PM
How dare he try to deny us our inalienable right as human beings!!??
I'm literally angry with rage!
Posted by: BobC | August 23, 2008 6:59 PM
This is a bit off-topic and maybe PZ would like to make this a separate thread:
A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash
It's an article from today's New York Times about a biology teacher in Christian infested Florida who helped write Florida's new science standards, and he now has the more difficult task of teaching the new standards to god-soaked students.
From one of his students: "I can see something else, too," he said. "I can see that there's no way I came from an ape."
Some come armed with "Ten questions to ask your biology teacher about evolution," a document circulated on the Internet that highlights supposed weaknesses in evolutionary theory. Others scrawl their opposition on homework assignments. Many just tune out.
The article also talks about Christians thugs who harass biology teachers, and even worse, creationist biology teachers who should be fired but are allowed to lie to their students about science.
This insanity is one of the reasons I'm for the complete eradication of all religious beliefs from this planet.
Posted by: R-P | August 23, 2008 7:01 PM
I am sure,(...hope to Apollo), he is joking. But I, like many people I know, have trouble getting a chuckle about people who find amusement in parroting the condition of the holocaust as a means to...do what ever the heck this guys is doing... :/
Posted by: Wowbagger | August 23, 2008 7:07 PM
BobC,
I'm all for ridding the world of religion - though only through those suffering from it waking up and voluntarily rejecting it - but what more can be done to show the a) unlikelihood of the existence of gods or b) the uselessness of worshiping an almost-certainly-nonexistent god than what we already know?
As they say, you can't reason someone out of something they weren't reasoned into. So we're kind of stuck with the exploitative woo-peddlers and their sheep.
Posted by: Danny Jacobs | August 23, 2008 7:07 PM
Hey, sign me up for that colony on Mars! Let us have our own planet? Heck yeah!
Posted by: Sean | August 23, 2008 7:08 PM
At the risk of sounding decidely Brittish, is he taking the piss?
Posted by: Duvenoy | August 23, 2008 7:12 PM
Hilarious! Willis missed his calling; he should do stand-up comedy in 'Vegas.
Unless, of course, he's over-doing those substances that are legally frowned upon, even the prescription ones if aquired through MD-shopping, in which case he should do a hitch in detox and get a job shilling for Limbaugh.
doov
Posted by: bastion | August 23, 2008 7:16 PM
like Muslims, evolutionist religion permits them to lie if there is any benefit to them.
...unlike good Christians who would never ever ever lie to benefit themselves. They only lie for Jesus.
Posted by: Steve | August 23, 2008 7:17 PM
I kinda like the idea of going to a colony in Antarctica. It may be cold and barren, but at least we'd be far away from the retards in Kansas.
Posted by: Kobra | August 23, 2008 7:23 PM
This must be satire! (Let me have this delusion, please. Just this once.)
Posted by: TimJ | August 23, 2008 7:24 PM
3 Words. Bat. Shit. Insane. (There's really nothing else that can do this justice...hmmmm.. too much playing with mercury as a child in an old time hat factory perhaps?). In any case, the I don't really mind the Mars colonization idea so much, but I'm afraid those "left behind" would totally demolish our lovely little biosphere more than it has already been. Oh yeah, Molly for Cuttlefish.
Posted by: Thrillhouse | August 23, 2008 7:26 PM
"An Evolutionist Colony in Antarctica could be a promising option. Of course inspections would be required to prevent too much progress. They might invent gunpowder. A colony on Mars would prevent gunpowder from harming anyone but their own kind, in the unlikely event they turned out to be intelligent enough to invent it." Wait, so, let me get this straight. He's saying that if we round up everyone who believes in evolution there wouldn't be enough brains to create gunpowder? If we can set up a working colony on Mars, can we leave those who don't believe in evolution behind and see who comes out best? I'll settle for Antarctica.
Also, is his one idea basically to round up all of the evolutionists and throw them in concentration camps because belief in evolution leads to thinking like Hitler? Seriously?
Posted by: wazza | August 23, 2008 7:26 PM
Gunpowder? I think it's more likely we'd invent nitroglycerin, considering the number of animals down there with huge layers of body fat.
Man sure doesn't know his explosives.
Posted by: Kobra | August 23, 2008 7:28 PM
#39:
That's definitely a reassurance.
Posted by: scooter | August 23, 2008 7:28 PM
#35 at least we'd be far away from the retards in Kansas.
I think Cheryl @ 25 may be right, this is a Missouri wack-a-loon. A common mistake. Kansas City is in Missouri which leads to endless confusion. Hit the link in #25, it's pretty funny, he has a Noah's Park at his Berry Farm.
This guy is drinking his own home brewed bluberry kool aide by the buckets. What a freak.
and ummmmm
whisper There's a phone number /whisper
Posted by: Cheryl Shepherd-Adams | August 23, 2008 7:30 PM
WILLIS IS NOT FROM KANSAS. HE IS FROM MISSOURI.
A friend inadvertently took his family there for blueberry picking and saw first-hand the CSAMA literature sold in the gift shop.
See here:
"Tom Willis is President of Creation Science For Mid-America. . . . He is the father of two grown children, and lives on a farm in Cass County, Missouri with his wife Penny, where they raise blueberries and other small fruits."
Yes, Kansas has its share of kooks. More than, even. Willis ain't one of 'em.
Instead of alliterating on K, try M. Moron, Missouri, mental, whatever . . .
Posted by: I am so wise | August 23, 2008 7:30 PM
You guys laugh now. However, if anything ever goes drastically wrong with our society, this level of crazy very might end up in power. Curious to see a society Bill Donahue in charge? Look up the Ustasha movement in Croatia during WWII. The Ustashi were so cruel and crazy that historians have made note of the "civilizing and humanitarian" influences of Mussolini and the SS on that organization.
You have the Serbian Chetniks, the Iron Guard, the Blue Guards, Franco, the VRS in Bosnia, and other examples of religious nuttery running wild in Europe within the life times of many of the posters here. It can happened again.
Posted by: Pete Rooke | August 23, 2008 7:30 PM
From what you've posted it's clear that he's mentally deranged. Why highlight this though? The implication is that here is one lunatic who is sceptical about evolution; ergo, all who are sceptical of evolution are lunatics. By highlighting this you only give this sentiment some modicum of credibility and a platform from which it can fither take root in other slightly less unhinged people unlikely to become inflicted by his stupidity or ignorance.
I am reminded of JM Coetzee's fictional argument in Elizabeth Costello in which the protagonist upbraids Paul West for "obscene" imagining; "Through Hitler's hangman a devil entered Paul West." Or to put it another way: it is said that the censor responsible for passing material as fit for publication is the one most likely to become debauched. What can possibly be gained from allowing even a granule of this absurdity to take root in our society by publicising this argument. Ann Coulter is similarly insane and yet her views seemingly resonate with people after the well intentioned horror and outrage most reviewers and pundits express give her traction. People like this should simply be ignored and the discussion consigned to obscure academic journals.
In the same way that it's a mistake to forcibly take issue with only "kooks" (I've yet to see Dr. Myers challenge the likes of Plantinga or Hartshorne) like the one above and then equate his views with the entire state of Kansas (which has, as I'm sure you're aware of, a firm Christian majority) it would be a mistake of mine to equate Peter Atkins with all Darwinists. Nuts on both sides should simply be ignored.
Posted by: Sharon | August 23, 2008 7:31 PM
Wait, what?
I... just... I can't even form WORDS.
Posted by: scooter | August 23, 2008 7:38 PM
#44
Needs more cowbell
Posted by: Freki | August 23, 2008 7:39 PM
Mars? Asparagus for all!
Posted by: Jon | August 23, 2008 7:47 PM
I have lived in Wichita Kansas all my life....Help...someone get me out of here! You can't drive more than one mile without passing a church in this town.
Posted by: Knight of L-sama | August 23, 2008 7:47 PM
Ooh! Mars Colony! Mars Colony! We'll send for you PZ if we find extra-terrestrial life. Though you might have to wait until we get the Europa outpost up and running.
Posted by: Alex Besogonov | August 23, 2008 7:51 PM
Cuttlefish, you're back! Hooray!
Posted by: Romeo Vitelli | August 23, 2008 7:51 PM
Now's your chance, PZ. Use your trip to Toronto to claim refugee status on the grounds of (a)religious persecution.
Then again, look at who's running Canada these days...
Antarctica is starting to look pretty good.
Posted by: Beowulff | August 23, 2008 7:52 PM
My first reaction? "Did an atheist satirist successfully infiltrate the Creation Science Association for Mid-America to once and for all prove Poe's law?" Still makes more sense to me.
Posted by: June | August 23, 2008 7:52 PM
You are looking into the face of freedom of expression.
Yes, our Constitution protects the batshit insane.
Long may it live!
Posted by: Cheryl Shepherd-Adams | August 23, 2008 7:54 PM
. . . and while I'm on my soapbox . . .
PZ, you said "Kansas breeds the most amazing kooks."
Connie Morris was born/raised in Kentucky. Fred Phelps was born/raised in Mississippi. Kathy Martin was raised in Arkansas (don't have a link; heard her say this at a candidate forum earlier this summer). Even our infamous mooning professor is from the East Coast.
Kansas does breed some staunch science supporters. Despite the antics of those damn carpetbaggers, I'm proud to be a 7th-generation Kansan. There just aren't enough of us.
Posted by: catta | August 23, 2008 7:54 PM
I have to say, Wayne, you're right. You can evade comparing this crap to something Hitler would approve of by hoping that it's something along the lines of "a modest proposal".
Sadly that's pretty much the only way of avoiding the comparison. And it's on shaky ground, what with this rant not even having a smiley face to go with the text.
Posted by: ice9 | August 23, 2008 7:55 PM
Note the "lending library". Might be a fun opportunity for a little mischief. Borrow A, return B...hmm.
I'll let you know how it comes out.
ice
Posted by: Lil' Blasphemer | August 23, 2008 7:55 PM
Everyone be sure to check out page 2 of the this guy's newsletter where he answers the burning question, "Why Are Evolutionists Typically Socialists?"
How can this possibly not be a joke? How??
Posted by: potterbro | August 23, 2008 7:57 PM
leave it to a "Christian" to imply that the power of judgment should be in his hands and not in his lord and savior...
that always drives me up the wall... why do they always get so involved? Why can't they just leave it up to their sky god to take care of things?
Posted by: John Marley | August 23, 2008 7:57 PM
A mistake in logic, yes. But how many Darwinists (AKA rational people) do you think would object.
Posted by: Michael X | August 23, 2008 7:58 PM
I know this might be different from what this guy was attempting to elicit in his audience, but damn, that was awesome. The whole thing just made my day in the exact polar opposite way the writer intended. That actually makes it funnier.
Posted by: thepetey | August 23, 2008 8:00 PM
This wold be the funniest thing I'd heard in a while if I wasn't sure the guy was right.
How this brand of lunacy doesn't fall under domestic terroristic threat I have no idea
Posted by: Andrés Diplotti | August 23, 2008 8:01 PM
Ok, here's is where I draw the line.
I know that fundies do say the darndest things, but there is no frakking way in Hades that this is not a satire crafted to make creationists look bad.
Posted by: BC | August 23, 2008 8:01 PM
Didja notice that he recognizes that atheists would be the ones to discover things (like dynamite or such)? Religionists do seem to recognize that the realists are the ones who have the imagination and creativity to discover and explain the world, but just can't manage to condisder that a good thing.
Posted by: S.Scott | August 23, 2008 8:03 PM
Hi Cheryl! The Curmudgeon has some good news about Kansas today! ;-)
Posted by: Magnus | August 23, 2008 8:07 PM
The evolutionist colony on Svalbard in the arctic seems to be doing pretty good. My guess that if all evolutionists in the world were sent to the ice desert at the "bottom" of the planet it would soon be the leading nation in scientific research and technological progress. I wonder if penguins make good livestock.
Posted by: Bubbaj | August 23, 2008 8:09 PM
From his article:
"But evolutionism is totally contrary to the empirical facts of science"
This is the first I have ever heard of this guy, but clearly he is a walking, talking brain fart!!
Posted by: Sioux Laris | August 23, 2008 8:10 PM
Note he won't actually DO anything to further his "final solution," so he clearly suffers from a batshit insanity carefully curbed to keep him from being prosecuted.
He is simply another, very, very, very large bag of hot air likely only still able to remain on Earth due to the weight of a very, very, very, very large, filled colon.
At Willis' sickest, he likely imagines some certifiable kook resorting to violence due to his inspiration. Certainly he thinks he annoys, even frightens, those who he wishes he could victimize.
He fails on all counts. He's another stupid, sad, failed human being.
Posted by: hjE | August 23, 2008 8:14 PM
Whatcha talkin bout Willis?
Posted by: tim Rowledge | August 23, 2008 8:15 PM
There just aren't words strong enough to express the disgust I feel after reading that trash. Can we please find a kind, legal way to stop these people breeding? Or perhaps just run a sawzall around the borders of 'their' land and set it as physically adrift as it is mentally and morally. Then when it's out of swimming range, nuke it.
Posted by: Sir Craig | August 23, 2008 8:15 PM
To hell with the rant - who let him near Microsoft Frontpage? That has to be the butt-ugliest creationist site anywhere. Hell, even Answers in Genesis has a better looking page - still tons of teh stoopid, but a better looking page.
Honestly, someone too dim to design even a decent looking web page is too dim to know how to initiate any kind of fundie "final solution."
And for all those Kansans out there - you guys have the BEST BBQ!
- Posted from Nebraska
Posted by: A | August 23, 2008 8:17 PM
You guys, calm down. There is no way this is real.
Posted by: Michael X | August 23, 2008 8:31 PM
A, I know it sounds extreme, but do you have any reason other than that it strikes you as extreme, to say that it isn't real? I'd be interested to hear.
Posted by: -R | August 23, 2008 8:32 PM
Not gonna lie, I think a colony of atheists/evolutionists in Antarctica would be pretty bad-ass. Everyone would be plump (I love plump people), there would be tons of snow (I love snow), and there would be good company, and presumably all our supplies would be flown in at the expense of fundi tax payers. Although it would have to be some futuristic dome metropolis to be awesome and not depressing...but I can dream.
Posted by: Rey Fox | August 23, 2008 8:32 PM
"An Evolutionist Colony in Antarctica could be a promising option."
"I think there already is one: Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station"
Yeah, that whole continent, really. I doubt any of the researchers who make Antarctica their temporary home really believe in scientific penguinism.
Posted by: Glen | August 23, 2008 8:35 PM
I'm sure Willis's remarks sounded better in the original German.
Posted by: Magnus | August 23, 2008 8:38 PM
"Can we please find a kind, legal way to stop these people breeding?"
-Tim Rowledge
Maybe we could start a new wave in Christianity with heavy, heavy emphasis on Matthew 19:12
Posted by: Milo Johnson | August 23, 2008 8:39 PM
Here in Kansas, we call him "Jonathon not-so-Swift."
Posted by: Darwin's Dagger | August 23, 2008 8:40 PM
Anyone stupid enough to take this shit seriously deserves to live in Antarctica.
Posted by: JM Inc. | August 23, 2008 8:41 PM
#2, Physicalist:
"Wow! That's weapons-grade crazy.
Hahahaha, nail on the head! I tell you, I love these guys. It's like stand-up comedy, Lewis Black from the opposite perspective.
Posted by: Beadknitter | August 23, 2008 8:41 PM
Ummm...is this site for real? That is the most nauseating thing I've ever had the displeasure to read. Why do the religious harbor so much hatred when they're supposed to be loving everyone?
Posted by: Sioux Laris | August 23, 2008 8:47 PM
A couple of other points. The voting issue was at PT back in June, and if you run a search on "Tom Willis creation" you'll get a Washington Post forum where you can read for yourselves that this person is NOT engaged in even Borat-levels of satire: he's real (as in weeeal Kwaazzy!)
Posted by: A | August 23, 2008 8:48 PM
Michael X, it isn't obvious? Do you honestly think someone would seriously suggest shipping any group of people to Antarctica? Or Mars?
If this was real, he'd just suggest that we all be shot.
Posted by: Duff | August 23, 2008 8:51 PM
Sheryl,
Its ok. We know there are good people in Kansas. You sound like a high schooler singing the praises of her alma mater. Lighten up!
Posted by: Karen | August 23, 2008 8:52 PM
If this were the work of some nameless entity hiding in the interwebs, it would not be possible to convince me that this was not satire. Given his history, I have to assume that he means it - which scares the bejesus out of me.
I have to say, though, I'd sign up for the Mars Express in a heartbeat. I've pretty much given up on my setting foot on another planet - I'll have to settle for inspiring some of the minds that will pave the way - but I'd jump at the chance to be exiled to Mars with a shipload of evolutionists. Here I was all jealous of folks who got to go sailing with PZ, but DAMN - Mars?
Posted by: Michael X | August 23, 2008 8:54 PM
Sure, A. I think it's certainly possible. And given the diversity of thought among the human race, I have no problem entertaining the possibility that someone would prefer to move us to Antarctica rather than have us shot. While this example may be rare, it is by no means impossible.
There are many stupid, pious people alive today A. Some of them apparently even know how to use a computer.
Posted by: Lago | August 23, 2008 8:55 PM
I am sorry, but there is no way on God's green earth that could be serious. It must be a Landover, Jesus Hate's Smut type of joke.
Posted by: jokermage | August 23, 2008 8:56 PM
Gunpowder is made from ice? Are you guys getting this? He's giving away their secrets!
Posted by: scooter | August 23, 2008 8:57 PM
If I were as threatening as this Blueberry Nut Bar, I'd keep a low profile. I sure wouldn't put my phone number on my webpage at http://theberrypatchonline.com/pickrpt.htm
People might start calling him from Antarctica to complain about the weather.
Posted by: Jeff K. | August 23, 2008 9:00 PM
I call Poe. The fact that this guy can hold such a ridiculous stance and still communicate in complete sentences is almost contradictory.
Posted by: WTFWJD | August 23, 2008 9:02 PM
Turn the evidence over to the district attorney. There is obviously a conspiracy to mount a christofascist 'final solution' against nonbelievers.
Posted by: SC | August 23, 2008 9:07 PM
HEY! Who you calling crazy, honky?
Posted by: Jake | August 23, 2008 9:12 PM
I really DO find this hilarious. Obviously it'd be scarier for me if I were nearer to the US, but luckily I'm not. I just find it odd that people like this are able to function in a public life with these opinions.
It disgusts me, but also provides me with endless entertainment. Keep it up America!
Posted by: llewelly | August 23, 2008 9:25 PM
Congratulations, PZ. You've discovered a modern-day Martin Luther. (As in the German theologian of protestant reformation fame.)
Posted by: llewelly | August 23, 2008 9:30 PM
On second reading, this final paragraph reads like a parodist's wink.Posted by: DB | August 23, 2008 9:31 PM
People are able to function in society like this because no Christians hold their own accountable, no matter how radical the preacher is. Think about it, the only time we hear Phelps denounced is when he is picketing soldiers funerals...never when he is holding anti-gay rallies.
Posted by: Paul Burnett | August 23, 2008 9:33 PM
"This insanity is one of the reasons I'm for the complete eradication of all religious beliefs from this planet." - BobC, #28
They seem to be well underway in doing this all by themselves:
"In Washington state, an unvaccinated child likely caught measles at a church conference attended by 3,000 junior high school students, some from foreign nations. That child infected seven other children in her household; they spread measles to 11 other people. Of the 19 cases, 16 were school-age children. Eleven of these kids were homeschooled; none was vaccinated because of their parents' religious beliefs.
In Illinois, a teenager who recently returned from Italy -- where there are ongoing measles outbreaks -- seems to have infected four unvaccinated girls ages 10 to 14. Eventually, 30 people came down with measles. All but one of the cases were children or teens aged 8 months to 17 years. Cases included 25 homeschooled children whose parents held anti-vaccination religious beliefs." - http://children.webmd.com/vaccines/news/20080821/measles-outbreaks-worry-cdc