creationism
pharyngula | August 7, 2009I'm currently at Edwin and Helen Kagin's house, 15 minutes from the Creation "Museum" — we'll be heading off to the event around 9am, but first we have to be fed, and the Kagins are infamous for stuffing their guests. I may have to waddle through the theme park.
We have 285 people signed up so far. There is some concern that we'll strain their parking, especially if mobs of creationists try to tie up spots early. If there is a problem, people can legally park along the county road leading to Ham's Folly, as long as you don't block access. We also have an agreement with a local farm 2 miles…
pharyngula | August 5, 2009The big field trip to Ken Ham's amusement park is on Friday morning — we'll be meeting at 10am at the parking lot, just look for the mob.
Be ready. This is exactly what you can expect if any of the creationists engage with you.
Expect them to be smug in their ignorance, and recite the same old tripe they always do. But remember: don't get angry, just be amused. We are not going there for a rumble, this is a reconnaissance mission, in which we will harvest many stories.
I have another request: anyone who is joining us for this event who is also a biologist, please email me. I'd like to…
gregladen | August 5, 2009..that even when you try diligently to separate the politics of religion vs. creationism and to say again and again that religion can go along its merry way as long as it stays out of the science classroom, people like Casey Luskin will still find the words in your rhetoric to accuse you of attacking religion.
Back in May, Genie Scott appeared with me and Lynn Fellman on Atheist Talk Radio, where we discussed science education. Genie is the director of the National Center for Science Education.
In a recent posting on the Discovery Institute web site, Casey Luskin makes the contrast between…
laelaps | August 4, 2009Today Greg Laden mentioned a paleontology-based creationist novel that was bundled in with the Expelled marketing campaign called Fossil Hunter. Some of you may recall that I mentioned the book about a year ago but never got around to reading it/posting about it. Since I went to all the trouble of getting a used copy from an independent bookstore (so the money would go to the bookstore, not the people behind the book), though, I figure I might as well make good on my promise to review it. It couldn't be any worse than Monster, right?
gregladen | August 4, 2009The 'documentary' (or, actually, "stupidumentary") Expelled! No intelligence allowed ... bla bla bla ... coordinated with this release will be a novel called Fossil Hunter, by John Olson (obviously a made up name) ... bla bla bla ... which is about a scientist who is maligned and harassed by the rest of the scientific community because she questions evolutionary dogma.
Never mind that. This is a link to a recently released review of a book from last year. You can go comment on the review, if you like!
Here, you read about it, I'm going to take a nap:
When Dr. James leads an expedition into…
pharyngula | August 3, 2009If you've been following the comment threads lately, you already know that we've had a new arrival who has been inspiring much hilarity, Pastor Tom Estes. He seems to be much dismayed at us atheists, and is promising to meet us at the Creation "Museum" on Friday, to discuss matters. He also has a blog where he has been fulminating about the event and wallowing in his own incomprehension. It's funny stuff — he doesn't understand why we would care about the Creation "Museum", and at the same time claims that the myth of Genesis is supported by science. Now if only he would realize that those…
pharyngula | August 1, 2009It's a very charitable review of a creationist movie, the latest bit of dishonest propaganda since Expelled. It is apparently very professionally made, which means less and less nowadays as digital video gear gets cheaper and easier to get, but I was surprised at one thing: it's not really a movie. It's only 52 minutes long! This looks like something they're aiming at the television market, so look for it sometime soon on TBN or maybe even the History Channel.
Among the usual mangled creationist nonsense, it seems to be arguing for some revisionist history, claiming that science only…
pharyngula | July 31, 2009Various bits of red tape have been cleared, and the feds are about to seize the bulk of Dino Adventure Land in Pensacola, Florida, so that it can be sold off to cover the Hovind's pending debts and penalties. You might just be able to pick up some plywood dinosaurs for cheap!
pharyngula | July 31, 2009Here is a piece of text from a textbook used by fundamentalist Christians in a biology class.
Have you heard of the 'Loch Ness Monster' in Scotland? 'Nessie,' for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur.
Could a fish have developed into a dinosaur? As astonishing as it may seem, many evolutionists theorize that fish evolved into amphibians and amphibians into reptiles. This gradual change from fish to reptiles has no scientific basis. No transitional fossils have been or ever will be…
pharyngula | July 30, 2009Uh-oh. This cartoon about what might happen at the Creation "Museum" might put the monitoring security detail in Kentucky into a tizzy — in addition to the No Rude T-Shirts rule, they'll have to add a No Transformation into Cephalopods rule. Better renew the magical wards and holy anointings and blessings on the buildings, boys, the godless are coming to ignore your metaphysics.
One other inaccuracy in the cartoon, though: there will be no Canned Ham during our visit. The head of AiG will not be present, due to a prior engagement on the west coast. Just as well, I don't think he likes me very…
pharyngula | July 28, 2009The Creation "Museum" is experiencing some dread and trepidation about our visit, and they have sent a letter to me and to the SSA expressing their concerns. These are some reasonable worries, given that there will be a huge number of us (240 and counting) showing up in one mass. Here's what they have to say, and my comment to all of you.
Dr. Paul Myers (and the Secular Student Alliance)Biology Dept.University of Minnesota-Morris600 East 4th StreetMorris, MN 56267
Re: Creation Museum Visit - Notice of Policies
Dear Dr. Paul ("P.Z.") Myers and the SSA:
As the Security Manager for the…
pharyngula | July 28, 2009Everyone was so impressed with this clear-thinking Romanian woman whose video I posted last week — from that alone you might get the impression that Romania is a very rational place, full of level-headed smart people who have little truck with religious silliness.
To correct that, you should read the web page of the Romanian Humanist Association, which is fighting a tide of state-sanctioned nonsense rising in their educational system.
They have posted a brief education of some of the educational standards endorsed by the ministry of education. They are teaching creationism in the classroom…
pharyngula | July 25, 2009It's annoying. Garbage is thriving: the Discovery Channel is running ads for the Creation "Museum", and our very own scienceblogs is intermittently running an ad for creationist literature. There are a couple of things to know about this. One is that the economy sucks, and the media, in particular are struggling. Science media especially are suffering, so everyone is scrambling to scrape up whatever revenues they can. The other thing to notice is that in a down economy, faith-based lies and wishful thinking are cheap to produce and continue to sell, so that's what's happening. There isn't…
pharyngula | July 25, 2009Ron Numbers is a very smart fellow, a historian of science, who has done marvelous work on the history of creationism. Paul Nelson is a Discovery Institute Fellow, a young earth creationist (but an amazingly fuzzy one), and, unfortunately, very long-winded. Bloggingheads has brought Ronald Numbers and Paul Nelson together in a dialog. I can hardly believe I listened to the whole thing — I was working away at other stuff while it was playing in the background, so it wasn't a total waste of time — but it was incredibly boring. Both parties were so determined to be nice to each other that they…
tfk | July 24, 2009Shorter David Klinghoffer:
Wah!
Slightly longer Klinghoffer:
Why are people whose views I misrepresent and for whom I have invented a derogatory name so unpleasant to me? Damned deadbeats. Also, academia is the only field of endeavor where people are jerks. The world of business is filled with ambrosia and brotherly love.
Bonus flashback Klinghoffer:
Sure I said "Hitler understood something about Judaism that even many Jews today donât grasp," added that "Hitlerâs insight into Judaism [is] ⦠a profound theme in rabbinic literature," and praised Hitler's "fascination with and knowledge of…
pharyngula | July 24, 2009Did I say 101 atheists were going to the Creation "Museum" four days ago? The updated number is currently at 201, and the Secular Student Alliance is keeping registration open for a while, so you can still get in. This is going to be great — be sure to wear some kind of distinguishingly godless clothing, because I think we'll want a few photos of the place swamped with atheists.
Just the numbers alone are going to make this a great event. Join the mob!
gregladen | July 24, 2009From the NCSE:
Three historians of science are unhappy about their treatment in a creationist movie about Darwin, as they explain in a note in the July 2009 Newsletter of the History of Science Society. Peter Bowler, Janet Browne, and Sandra Herbert write, "We have recently been featured in a documentary film, 'The Voyage that Shook the World,' produced by Fathom Media of Australia and directed by Stephen Murray of Synergy Films, New Zealand. We were led to believe that the movie was being made to be shown as an educational film on Australian broadcast television and possibly elsewhere.…
pharyngula | July 23, 2009Supposedly, the Next Big Thing in the Intelligent Design creationism movement is Stephen Meyer's new book, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll). Meyer is wandering about the country, peddling absurd op-eds and flogging his book in bad talks. Here's a good summary of one of his presentations in Seattle:
To sum up, Meyer's argument is as follows:
(1) According to Bill Gates, DNA is like a computer program.
(2) Because I am unfamiliar with the field known as genetic programming, every computer program I've ever heard of has had a developer.
(3…
mikethemadbiologist | July 21, 2009A while ago, I argued that The Boston Globe is basically useless, and should go out of business. Some people took exception to that, including readers I know from the 'meat world.' And then The Globe published an op-ed by a creationist.
Fortunately, ScienceBlogling Jason Rosenhouse blasts the op-edo, so I don't have to (seriously, they're not even trying to come up with novel yet still stupid ideas. It's just the same old shit).
Since the op-ed was published, I've received several emails from people who thought I was wrong, but, now, have cancelled their subscriptions. I'll write this…