Via ClimateProgress (who got it from Barefoot and Progressive), we get Kentucky's Republican nominee for the US Senate, Rand Paul, at an event for local homeschoolers. At the top of the Q&A, he's asked when he became a Christian and how old the earth his.
Paul has no trouble giving a detailed account of where his Christianity came from, giving a careful timeline of not just the origins of his Christian faith, but his anti-abortion position. When it gets time to answer the second part of the question he gets tongue-tied, answering:
Iâm gonna have to pass on the age of the earth. I think Iâm just gonna have to pass on that one.
Perhaps he should spend a little less time studying his own biography, and learn a little bit about the world around him.
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You gotta love all the conservatives in Kentucky who voted for Rand Paul (Mr. certifiable not certified) and brought him to national prominence, priceless. Letâs face it, this is the same guy who wanted to apologies to BP, he gave us an âOP Edâ where he planned to give himself a âPardonâ if ever he became Governor and the same guy who many say is not a racist (even though he said âprivate businesses should have the right to discriminate against black peopleâ). Letâs face it they will try to vote this liar in but we can only wait and see if there are other skeletons in his closet. Great thing is we are talking about Kentucky, so being a racist may be a positive, we will see.
Benito,
Saying you think a person or institution should have the right to do something is not the same thing as supporting it. Presumably you think people should have the right to be Zoroastrians. That doesn't make you a Zoroastrian.
Excellent. My plan is all coming together. By the way, how old is the Earth, anyway? Answering such questions is obviously an important qualification for the Senate.
I wonder whether Dr. Paul wears boxers or briefs? Did he smoke pot, and did he inhale?
Perhaps he was a member and major booster of the Klan, who then lied about the extent of his participation. Oh wait, that was that Pork-barrel Democrat Senator who just died. Wouldn't want to speak ill of the dead...
great smear attempt by someone with an obvious political agenda. so even though we all know that the earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old, and that Dr. Paul is speaking as a politician to a bunch of christians who probably wouldn't like hearing from Dr. Paul that the earth is as old as we know it to be, I'd say he's done a masterful job at dodging this "testy" question (in front of a bunch of christians!). I'm sure Dr. Paul studied a bunch of biology over at Duke where he got his M.D. and knows quite a bit with respect to science. I think you're quickness to jump onto what is clearly an attempt by Dr. Paul to come off as politically correct, and brand him ignorant shows more about your inability to make any substantive point; i presume in order to strengthen some preconceived ideal of who you think Dr. Paul is. Of course, I'd bet on him playing a political game, but for those less learned in the ways of politics, sure, go ahead and call him "ignorant". If you're right though, i'm sure it's a shared trait between you and him.
Whoah, Dave, take a chill pill. There are two possibilities:
1) Rand Paul doesn't know the approximate age of the earth.
2) Rand Paul does know the age of the earth, but didn't have the guts to tell his audience because he might lose votes.
So, either he's ignorant, or he's willing to pretend to be ignorant so that he can court the votes of the ignorant. Either way, Americans should expect more from their potential leaders. *That's* the point.
I think Krippendorf is right here. I think that he is passing because he knows he will be burned in effigy if he says what he really thinks. If he really was a young earth creationist, he would have known that this was a REALLY Friendly crowd and would have chimed right on in. I have been to home school conventions and curriculum fairs. They are lock-step YEC followers. I do not know what he thinks with regard to the age of the earth, but it is reasonable to think he feared for his political future here.
Krippendorf,
There is a third possibility: Paul thinks the earth is 6kya, but doesn't want to come out and say it, even to a friendly audience, for fear of later backlash.
I don't think that's very likely, though. I'm with Jim: Paul was in a roomful of YECs that he (probably) disagrees with, and he doesn't want to alienate them. To his credit, I will note that he didn't try to accommodate YEC at all, and say something like, "well, I know there are legitimate scientific disagreements on that, and I think our children should get all sides of the issue, yadda yadda yadda." Instead, he just declined to answer.
By the way, I think it's totally lame that a man running for the U.S. Senate feels pressured to suppress his own beliefs on well-established scientific fact (and succumbs to that pressure). But politics is stupid like that, which is one big reason we should arrange as few of society's affairs through a political process as possible.
"... he's willing to pretend to be ignorant so that he can court the votes of the ignorant. Either way, Americans should expect more from their potential leaders. *That's* the point. .."
Please...no one in Washington, including the current president is above this very same shtick. You disagree with the man, not the methods. Intellectual honesty, look into it.