This episode, TGA talks about blasphemy causing mob violence, a teacher fired for having a gay wedding, and a US Senator that thinks not teaching creationism is “censorship”. All that an more, so don’t forget to tune in!
It drives me crazy every time religious fundies talk about evolution. The only thing they seem to understand about it is that it threatens their view that their creator god made the world as it is today. So, rather than actually try to bother to grasp the fundamentals of the most tested and verified scientific theory of all time, they instead argue that their “version” of cosmic events is being suppressed.
The latest dummy to chime in is Minnesota state Representative Glenn Greunhagen. Fresh off an ethics complaint for sending a video of graphic videos of gender-affirming surgery, he’s now arguing that creationism is being undermined by the big meanies in the sciences. And because the man has absolutely no idea what the Scientific Method is, he says dumb shit like this:
“In science, I find a lot of censorship, lies, and deceit. You know, there’s lots of scientific evidence that points to a creator or God and I’ll just give you two. One is the law of cause and effect. For every effect, there’s a greater cause… You have the Earth. Somebody made it. You have the universe. Somebody created it. That is a repeatable, observable, scientific fact. And yet we censor that from our students.”
Let’s quickly deal with his first argument. We’ve all gotten pretty tired of the “First Cause” argument, since it never actually solves the problem. Claiming that God is the first cause only opens up a larger problem of what caused “God”. The classic response that offers no answer at all is always the same: God doesn’t need a first cause. The problem with this pathetic answer is that it destroys the very premise of the argument: that all effects need a cause. Clearly, that isn’t true for at least one part of the Universe, so why should it be for the rest? Answers that only lead to more questions do a poor job of proving anything. In any case, this type of argument belongs in a philosophy class, and not in a biology one.
As for his other comments about censorship, creationists fail to realize that in order to teach something, you need to actually have a working theory. The “God did it” answer is just about the laziest, and least satisfying thing a person can “learn”. There’s a huge difference between discussing a scientific theory like evolution, and arguing that sky-daddy made everything. A Theory (with a capital “T”) is falsifiable, testable, and can be demonstrated using multiple different threads of evidence. Creationism, on the other hand, is unfalsifiable, unprovable, and worst of all, makes absolutely zero predictions. That means that research into genetic diseases, anti-biotic resistance, and other vital discoveries would all be useless if we spent even an iota of time on the ridiculousness that is creationism.
Of course, Glenn is not a scientist. There is no test measuring the intelligence of US senators or congressmen. I have a feeling if there were, half of their members would test no better than a cocker spaniel would. Intelligence is in short supply in government, and Greunhagen is yet another poster child for why it’s so important to actually teach people reality rather than fantasy.
In American politics, the only thing their government is capable of, is trying to pass laws that serve the religious community. Forget about actually trying to balance the budget, or reform immigration. The most important thing is to make sure that kids are protected from all that secularism in schools!
For example, in West Virginia, their state senate has been a bunch of busy bees. Not passing any bills that are meaningful mind you. No, they were too busy passing bills to introduce creationism in classrooms, only to top it off with a bill to mandatorily display “In God We Trust”.
Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, chair of the Senate Education Committee, said SB 280 would prohibit public school boards, public school superintendents and public school principals in K-12 from preventing teachers from “discussing or answering questions from students about scientific theories” related to the origins of the universe and how life came to exist.
This kind of vague language is meant to introduce creationist propaganda into the classroom. They like to pretend that “intelligent design” is a scientific theory, which only demonstrates how little they understand the term. Its vagueness could also spell tons of lawsuits for violating the Establishment Clause of the constitution.
So what was the point in all of this? Again, religious people are so scared that they are in danger of becoming extinct that they are doubling down on forcing religion on the rest of us. My guess is that this will actually blow up in their faces. The more we see this type of encroachment, the more people will react negatively. Hopefully, this will have some influence in the polls, especially for people who want meaningful legislation, no showboating for their imaginary friend in the sky.
We always knew you were a little troubled, America. If you aren’t being terrified on a daily basis by mass shootings, you have to worry about your republic being eroded by religious zealots intent on transforming the United States into a theocracy. They are now one step closer with the Republican Party installing a religious extremist as their House Speaker.
Mike Johnson is now one of the most googled person, since before his important position, most of America was unaware of his existence. A brief look is not encouraging: the man is a religious wacko, who has worked with conservative groups to ban abortion, which he blames for school shooting (it’s not the guns, you know). He also thinks that the embarrassingly dumb Creation Museum (which he fought to have funded with taxpayer money) is an important “educational” tool.
“The Ark Encounter is one way to bring people to this recognition of the truth, that what we read in the Bible are actual historical events,” Johnson said in a 2021 interview with Ark Encounter founder Ken Ham while guest-hosting the radio show of Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, an evangelical activist group.
This man is now second in line to the American presidency. Is this a sign of more things to come, or will this act as a wakeup call for voters that religious nutbags are actively trying to destroy their democracy? Only time will tell.
This week, Ryan joins me as we talk about a new study that links Internet use with the decline in belief, a scientist weighs in and says debating creationists is a waste, and finally we discuss the Boy Scouts revoking a troop’s charter over a gay counsellor. A
Are you a bored scientist looking to spank a few confused creationists for money? Then why not take up this challenge:
Dr. Joseph Mastropaolo, who says he has set up the contest, the Literal Genesis Trial, in the hope of improving the quality of arguments between creationists and evolutionists, has pledged to put $10,000 of his own money into an escrow account before the debate. His competitor would be expected to do the same. The winner would take the $20,000 balance.
The problem with this minitrial, as you might have already surmised by now, is that a ‘judge’ is supposed to weigh the merits of the argument and rule on whether or not evolution is a scientific theory. If the guy has ever taken antibiotics, then it should be a five minute affair. Fossils, modern genetics, geology, and a host of other disciplines have already proven the reality of evolution to the satisfaction of anyone not already married to a fairy-tale cosmogony. What exactly does this moron thinks constitutes proof, anyway? What kind of vigorous research was he engaged in?
Mastropaolo started making public arguments in favor of creationism about 13 years ago, after reading an article about evolution in the newspaper.
We all know what a great job newspapers do when reporting scientific news. Sounds like this guy probably read a poorly written article about something that (inevitably) conflicted with his “magic man done it” explanation of the world, and he became so passionate about it that he decided to devote his time, energy and money trying to disprove gravity evolution.
Mastropaolo believes that evolution cannot be proved scientifically. “It turns out that there is nothing in the universe [that] is evolving, everything is devolving, everything is going in the opposite direction,” he said.
See, even if that were true (which it isn’t), that would be a mechanism of evolution itself, and not proof of the Bible at all. For this clown to be correct, species would have had to ‘appear’ out of thin air, with no ancestral lines. In fact, it’s not just biological evolution you have to look at: even our own solar system went through its own change, from a giant cloud of gas to a complex solar system with 8 planets, countless moons and an as yet unknown amount of planetoids. According to the Bible, this process was also fairly instantaneous, with light appearing 4 days before the Sun. Are we to expect that he would need to prove his fairy tale bullshit in order to win as well? Somehow, I think not.
This gigantic waste of time – designed once again to try and bring attention to infantile ideas about the mechanism of life – isn’t likely to draw much attention from anyone, nor should it. It’s yet another attempt by creationists to pretend like there is something intellectual about the notion that “God did it”. Maybe we should send Kenneth Miller over there to school their asses? Sure, he has his own share of idiotic beliefs (such as quantum indeterminacy being the mechanism with which God gave the first monkey man a ‘soul’), but there’s no denying the fact he’s got enough experience with creationists that he could knock this one out of the park. What do you say Ken? Want to make a quick ten grand?
This episode, I’m joined by special guest Brock Roberts to discuss “Intelligent Design”, which is creationism with a slightly scientific veneer.
You all know by now that the educational system in Louisiana is rapidly deteriorating thanks to Governor Bobby Jindal and his relentless crusade to institute voucher programs that end up benefiting religiously run schools. He may have come out recently begging for the GOP not to become the ‘stupid party’, but he’s actively working to ensure his constituents are ever more ignorant about the real world.
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. So let’s take a look at a sample curriculum that someone going to school in this state is exposed to. Let’s start with facts about evolution and creationism:
Man makes judgments about the evidence of fossils based on his beliefs. A man who believes God’s record of Creation and history will look at fossils one way. A man who believes in evolution will view fossils in a different way…
Creationist Viewpoint: God created the heavens and the Earth
Evolutionist Viewpoint: Earth and space were the result of a sudden explosion
Magic man done it, as most of you are aware, is not actually a theory. It’s a claim without proof, made by people who are convinced the book of fairy-tales they call the Bible is a factual account of the history of the world. Yeah, and the Iliad is totally true too…
Creationist Viewpoint: The Earth is thousands of years old
Evolutionist Viewpoint: The Earth is millions of years old
It’s pretty sad when creationists can’t even be bothered to learn the actual arguments. No, ‘evolutionists’ don’t think the Earth is millions of years old. Maybe Lord Kelvin thought so in the 19th century, but since then, we’ve learned it’s actually BILLIONS of years old. Get your fucking facts straight if you’re going to try and disprove one of the most tested scientific theories ever devised, morons.
Creationist Viewpoint: Fossils are probably the result of the great flood in the Bible
Evolutionist Viewpoint: Fossils show the great geological ages of the earth
If I was a creationist, I would try to avoid fossils altogether. You can’t really help but create suspicion in your own worldview when your explanation for weird and alien bones in the ground is a catastrophic flood that happened only a few thousand years ago. Eventually people will start to ask why there’s a predictable pattern of where specific bones are buried in distinct strata (their answer is usually “Satan put them there to trick people”). In any case, fossils show geological ages, but more than that, they consistently show different animals buried in successive layers of rock, pointing to a pretty obvious succession of transitional forms over time (besides, if you want to know more about geological ages, you look at rocks for that, not fossils). It’s like a gigantic puzzle that only requires a little bit of thought to put together.
Creationist Viewpoint: God created all kinds of animals in the beginning
Evolutionist Viewpoint: Different kinds of life have gradually evolved over long periods of time
So here at least the choice is simple: either all the animals were created magically in the span of a few days by Super-Dad, or organisms gradually evolved over time to better adapt to their environment and the struggle for survival. One you have proof for, the other is stated plainly in a boring book most people can’t even finish reading through. What a tough choice!
Creationist Viewpoint: Man is God’s special creation. He is different from the animals because he is created in God’s image
Evolutionist Viewpoint: Man is the highest level of animal.
I don’t know what shitty scientists the authors of this joke of a textbook met, but I can tell you anyone worth his salt wouldn’t dare say something that dumb. No, man is not the “highest level of animal”. We may be smart and a dominant predator, but we pale in comparison to the awesome power of bacteria. Without these little power factories, we wouldn’t be able to digest food, or even have a functional ecosystem. I won’t deny that we certainly are the smartest, but when a bunch of us write this kind of stupid drivel in the Age of Information, it doesn’t make a strong case for it.
So, what’s more embarrassing: not being able to properly answer the challenges of a 11 year old, or needing to try and bully your way out of answering his question? Here is Hovind’s argument in a nutshell:
1) If you don’t know everything, you can’t be sure of anything
2) God knows everything and tells me things
3) Therefore all true knowledge comes from God.
The kid’s response cuts through his second and third point and just re-iterates the first broken assumption:
1)If you can’t know anything without knowing everything, how do you know God exists
And what’s Eric’s response? Rolling up his sleeves and basically dodging the question to avoid answering it, belittling the kid for not being very old (making himself look even more pathetic), and shuffling around hoping this embarrassing moment will soon be over. The lesson here folks is creationists can be brought down easily. You just need to call them out on their dumb shit and watch them squirm.
There’s a part of me (a small one, I assure you) that admires the conviction of creationists. They, at least, are honest about the fact that the science of evolution is a pretty huge slap in the face to the notion of a creator God. Not only does it completely invalidate their silly mythology, it also clearly indicates that human beings are a product of descent with modification, and not some special creation of a sky daddy.
Of course, my ‘admiration’ quickly fades when I’m forced to listen to their inane, pathetic arguments. Most fall in the category of “evolution is bad science” or “just a theory”, with proponents convinced that every single scientist is really just another faithful idiot like themselves. There’s rarely any attempt to actually argue the evidence, since none of these clowns actually understand any of it.
This presents a problem for creationists bent on removing evolution from science classrooms. Enter Tom Ridder, a former high school chemistry teacher who gained some notoriety a few months back when he sued the Blue Mountain School District in Pennsylvania for teaching evolution, which he argued amounted to teaching atheism, which this idiot thinks is a religion.
You see evolution is bad science. It proposes that sexual species can evolve and that the human brain evolved from lower forms. Neither has been shown to be even possible, no one was there to see this “evolution” even if this did happen, and the fossil record is no help. Therefore the only objective approach to evolution is to say, “Maybe; maybe not. I do not actually know”.
Maybe in the 19th century – when Evolution was still finding its legs – could you claim with any scientific credibility that we “did not know”. But with the discovery of millions of fossils, DNA, and the various other sciences which all converge together, the weight of the evidence for evolution is so great you’d have to be a complete ignoramus to claim that we still “do not know”. Speaking of ignoramus…
But most evolutionists do not say this. To the contrary they declare that evolution is a fact. Some science! They say this because they cannot fathom a Creator had a hand. And no Creator means there can be no God. Thus most evolutionists are Atheists.
Only a man blinded by his religion could say something this dumb. Sure, most scientists who study evolution will admit to irreligiosity, but this is actually a consequence of their field of study. The notion of a creator God (especially one who supposedly cares about us) evaporates rather rapidly when you study infectious diseases and parasites.
So what is this guy’s deal, exactly?
To prove this claim [that atheism is a religion], I challenge anyone in the continental USA who teaches middle school science or above, anyone running for state or federal office, or anyone who is big in the evolution community to debate the following:
Evolution is Bad Science. I, of course, will defend the affirmative.
Additionally, this debate is to take place before a jury of previously undecided people and each debater is to place five (5) ounces of pure gold in escrow, the winner, as determined by the jury, to take the pot.
Who exactly is supposed to make up this jury? Also, since when do ‘juries’ decide whether or not something is true in science? I think this guy just wants to play the odds. In America, less than half of the population believes in evolution (and roughly 10 percent also think the sun revolves around the earth). With odds this good, it plays to bank on the ignorance of your fellow Americans.
So, who wants to take this moron up on his offer?
There’s a part of me (a rather small and insignificant part) who admires the time and effort creationists employ trying to refute evolution. Think of how much time and effort these morons put into trying to prove that their invisible friend is in fact responsible for all the diversity of life on Earth. It’s an ambitious goal to say the least, but do you know what makes it easier? Inventing shit!
If Evolution is truly occurring, vestigial organs would not only exist, but they would greatly outnumber the fully functional ones…Since Evolution is a random, chance process, there must be numerous trial and error combinations until a functional organ or appendage is produced. Any of these “vestigial” organs would still be in existence in a multitude of species and individuals and there would be no doubt that Evolution is fact.
Why would vestigial organs outnumber functional ones? Because this guy thinks entire organs spontaneously appear due to random mutation! Forget the fact that his little ‘diagram’ seems to indicate a rather strong propensity for phalluses (just how many vestigial dicks can one man have?), why is ‘Evolution Man’ so damn wide? Are those eyeballs for nipples? Is it just me or would that be fucking awesome?
However, in the late 1800′s there were an estimated 150 vestigial parts in the human body. Supposedly anyone can claim that something is vestigial because it serves no apparent purpose and the individual can survive without it. Today there are no vestigial organs claimed for the human body! That is because in the last 100 years, medical science has found that there is indeed a purpose to everything in the human body.
Ummm, no it hasn’t. Of course, this moron has no real obligation to tell anyone the truth, but this idea that every human organ serves a purpose can quickly be disproven if you’ve ever had to go to the dentist to remove your ‘wisdom’ teeth. The reason they exist is once upon a time, your ancestors had bigger jaws, but thanks to the genius of evolution, there was no evolutionary pressure to loose these painful molars, and so every year, dentists pull out millions of those little suckers.
Creation says there will be zero vestigial organs while Evolution requires millions of them.
Creation also says the Earth is 6000 years old, about a few millenia after the invention of agriculture and the domestication of the dog. Now, it’s time to set up a straw man and knock that sucker down, baby!
This car engine [picture of a car] also has no vestigial parts because, like the human body, it too had a Creator! If something so complex as the human body could evolve by chance, then even more so could this automobile evolve by chance.
Evolution isn’t real because man invented a car! My logic is infallible! If that wasn’t enough to convince you, this bombshell will!
If you don’t believe God created all living things, male and female, in 6 days….
How many millions of years was it between the first male and the first female?
See, isn’t it easier to assume that magical daddy-man in the sky did it all over the span of a long work-week than the hard-to-understand process of evolution?
Someone on r/atheism found this Ray Comfort flyer entitled Scientific Facts in the Bible: 100 Reasons to believe the Bible is Supernatural in Origin. The ironic title demonstrates the true stupidity at work here. Check out these awesome excerpts:
Try to think of any explosion that has produced order. Does a terrorist bomb create harmony? Big bangs cause chaos. How could a big bang produce a rose, apple tree, fish, sunsets, the seasons, hummingbirds, polar bears – thousands of birds and animals, each with its own eyes, nose, and mouth?
See, a terrorist explosion can’t make a polar bear. Checkmate!
Try this interesting experiment: Empty your garage of every piece of metal, wood, paint, rubber and plastic. Make sure there is nothing there. Nothing. Then wait for ten years and see if a Mercedes evolves. Try it. If it doesn’t appear, leave it for 20 years. It that doesn’t work, try it for 100 years. Then try it for 10,000 years. Admittedly, it is pretty hard to believe that it could appear. However, here’s what will produce the necessary blind faith to make the evolutionary process believable: 250 million years.
I love his stupid, try-this-at-home experiment that no one in their right mind would even attempt. As far as Ray is concerned, evolution is a magic force that assembles inanimate objects together given enough time. While this has nothing to do with the actual science of what he’s trying to denigrate, it does speak to the level of ‘research’ this moron has been conducting.
If you are of the opinion that there is scientific evidence for the theory of evolution, go to our website at www.raycomfort.com. There you will find a link to the website of Dr. Kent Hovind, an authority on evolution. He will give 250,000 to anyone who can present any scientific proof of evolution. If you have some, take him to court. Become famous. Make this another Scopes trial. But you can’t, because there isn’t any evidence.
Kent might have a hard time paying you, since he’s currently serving a jail sentence of failing to pay his taxes (he claims he owed the money only to God, and not the U.S. government). His doctorate, by the way, comes from a shitty diploma farm. You too can be as credible as Hovind for the low price of 100 dollars! This ‘evolutionary expert’, convinced that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old, believes dinosaurs lived with Humans and the Earth was surrounded by a gigantic ring of water (his explanation of the fairy tale of Noah’s Flood and why the antediluvian patriarchs lived so long). If you want to waste your time trying to get money from a stone, be my guest.
Evolution is really a religion. The Funk & Wagnall dictionary defines “religion” as “a set of beliefs concerned with explaining the origins and purposes of the Universe.” That sums up the religion of evlution. It even has its own religious language: “We believe, perhaps, maybe, probably, could’ve, possibly.” The founding father of the faith is Charles Darwin. The god of the religion of evolution is ‘nature”, often referred to by the faithful as ‘Mother Nature’.
I’ve never heard of this Funk & Wagnall, although if that is indeed their description for ‘religion’, then I can see why I haven’t used them as a reliable reference. A religion is not really about trying to explain the origins and purpose of the universe. It’s more a collection of ancient stories and superstitions that – while occasionally offering pathetic cosmogonies – are really primarily interested in people (and more importantly, their money). They have implacable dogmas and ‘articles of faith’ which is a nice way to say “no proof for believing in this bullshit”.
Evolution, on the other hand, is interested in the mechanism that drives life to change and adapt to its environment over time. Sexual reproduction, for example, is one such mechanism. To hear Ray talk about this science, you would think that evolutionary biologists wear funny hats trying to get everyone to stop masturbating.
I’ve always found it funny how profoundly ignorant people like Ray, while espousing their own religions, suddenly turn on the concept when it applies to others. Science is a religion, they say. Well, even if that was true (which it most certainly isn’t), don’t they think religion is a good thing? Don’t they praise ‘blind faith’ as being above reproach? It’s funny the kind of schizophrenic relationship they have with their own belief system, isn’t it?
This week, Ryan is back for a special episode focusing on Korea submitting to creationism, a new survey shows that young people are less and less religious, and how authority structures use money to enslave us.
Despite the fact the whole world makes fun of Ray Comfort and his lapdog Kirk Cameron over their “croc-o-duck” idea, it seems though the pair has decided this argument still holds water. If this is news to you, let me summarize the “theory”: because animals evolve slowly over time, Ray believes the process of transmutation would create strange hybrids. One such creature he nicknamed the “Croc-o-duck”, and because this animal doesn’t exist, it must mean that evolution doesn’t exist either! See how easy it is to knock a strawman down?
Despite the fact my 12 year old cousin could figure out the flaw in that logic, Ray has learned over the years if you repeat a lie often enough, someone will believe you. How else can you explain them using what is arguably the stupidest “rebuttal” in the world? Do they not realize it’s a fucking joke?
Isn’t it fun to pretend to be educated? All you need is a suit, a power-point presentation and a few hundred idiots willing to give you money as you attempt to merge your fantasy bullshit with reality. The key to faking it is simply to make bold assertions, and not to be afraid of the ludicrous. Take Dr. Richard Kent. He believes in Kent Hovind’s insane literal interpretation of Genesis, complete with 6 day creation. He also subscribes to Hovind’s special contribution to idiocy: a floating water canopy, a physics defying explanation for where all the water from the great flood came from.
With all that light having a hard time penetrating this floating liquid ocean (space must have been warmer back then), it also caused the atmosphere to have a lot more oxygen. Once the canopy disappeared, according to this moron, the dinosaurs were breathing so rapidly that they began to expel fire out of their nostrils due to friction. Tada! Isn’t it fun just making shit up?
