Creationist Response to "Cosmos": Fire Bad Smash Rock (A Rocky Mountain Mike Parody)

Religious Right groups are up in arms over the Seth MacFarlane reboot of Cosmos. Not understanding that Creationism and Intelligent Design are not science, they are thus upset that they aren't getting a shout out by host Neil deGrasse Tyson. It's idiotic. Which is just where comic genius Rocky Mountain Mike went with, "Fire Bad Smash Rock." Enjoy.

 

Bill Nye the Science Guy Debates Creation Museum Guy

It can't have been a contest. I haven't had time to watch it yet, but it just had to be a lopsided "debate." I mean, the topic is science, and there is no science in Creationism. So, if you've got the chance to take a look at this, see what you think. Once I've seen it, I'll try to give it a proper review. In the meantime, I'll simply congratulate Bill Nye on his inevitable win over Ken Ham, who thinks the universe is 6,000 years old.
 

God Smites "Creation Museum" Employee with Lightning

Kidding. Sort of. I'm actually an atheist, but a Creation Museum employee getting struck by lighting on the grounds? Erhm. . .that's just too funny, sorry. I mean, I'm sure it hurts like hell. I wouldn't wish it on anybody. But hey, this is literally what people mean when they say, "act of God," is it not? Oh, and for the record, the Creation Museum is ludicrous in virtually every way. Maybe God's a critic?

[Excerpt]

Creationism museum employee injured by lightning strike while on the job

A bit of the idiocy at the Creation Museum

An employee of Petersburg, Kentucky’s Creation Museum was struck by lightning Wednesday while clearing guests from a zip line attraction at the museum during a thunderstorm. According to Kentucky’s WLWT.com, the man was helping guests down from the wires as thunderstorms rolled into the area. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Stephen King on Religion (and How NewsBusters Got it Wrong)

The awesome Stephen King, from FanPop.com

Yes, NewsBusters again. I just extracted myself from a fight I kind of started at the supposed "media watch dog" site that is in reality an arch right-wing commentary site. I've commented before how the NewsBusters headlines often read to me like a big list of "so whats." They list a bunch of things that are supposed to outrage, but instead, I agree with them.

Well, this time, they went too far. They focused on one of my favorite authors--and I know he's considered somehow "not literary," but I don't care--Stephen King. Now, don't think I like King simply because he's a liberal. I like Dean Koontz too, and he's an obvious Orange County conservative. Still, King's stories are more dense, more layered. And with less focus on golden retrievers, Jeep Cherokees, and slightly mismatched male/female couples who verbally spar in humorous ways in the midst of catastrophe.

But one thing they both have in common is a seeming belief in the divine. Sure, they can skew that quite a bit, toward sci-fi, toward other-worldly rather than explicitly God, but other times they'll pretty much spell out a big-time, universe creating deity. As an atheist, this only bothers me a little. I mean, we're talking aliens, monsters, other worlds, alternate dimensions, time travel and IT. I can handle a little make believe.

So, how does this come back around to NewsBusters? Well, they are using him to make it seem that this very successful liberal author has duped NPR in his interview, by supporting Intelligent Design.
I ain't gonna lie, he said something along those lines. But they emphasize that as though it is his main point, but then downplay his conclusion.

My favorite King novel and adaptation was The Stand, 
in which religion is figured heavily. It didn't bother me.
But Randall Flagg and Mother Abigail could just be
"good" and "evil," right?

And I get what he's saying. We humans often say things like, "It must have been meant to be," and "it was fate." We say these things whether we literally believe that time and elements were physically guided or not. We can feel that something was going to happen, and fall into place, without necessarily believing that a supernatural entity was cataloging, manipulating and  guiding time and space to make something happen.

But, typical of NewsBusters, they will focus on what they want you to see. And their readers--as I've learned first hand in the last few days--will take the bait, and argue it strenuously.

Here is the line they highlighted: " if you say, well, OK, I don't believe in God, there's no evidence of God, then you're missing the stars in the sky, and you're missing the sunrises and sunsets, and you're missing the fact that bees pollinate all these crops and keep us alive and the way that everything seems to work together at the same time."

What they don't want you to notice is this, "But at the same time there's a lot of things in life where you say to yourself, well, if this is God's plan, it's very peculiar. And you have to wonder about that guy's personality, the big guy's personality." And then even more clearly, "What I'm saying now is I choose to believe in God, but I have serious doubts."

I'm just saying, that conclusion doesn't really square with their headline.

[Excerpt]

Stephen King Shocks NPR Audience: Nature 'Suggests Intelligent Design' by God

On Tuesday's Fresh Air on NPR stations from coast to coast, host Terry Gross interviewed author Stephen King on his new book  "Joyland," which features a young man in a wheelchair with muscular dystrophy and his grandfather, a radio evangelist named Buddy Ross, who insists the disease is divine punishment. . .

Read more at: NewsBusters

What's Wrong With Tennessee? Creationism In Schools Allowed

Pssst. . .creationists: Darwin didn't claim to know the origin of
the universe! Image from source.

Insanity. I don't care how fervently you believe that God created the universe, the idea doesn't belong in science class. As hard as they've tried to separate "creationism" from "intelligent design," there is no difference, other than taking the "Christianity" brand off of it. It's still taking the idea of an all-powerful magical being, and inserting it into science class. There isn't a scintilla of science in that. Not to mention that evolution makes no claim to the origins of the universe.

I know that I'll never convince a true believer that there is no God. But there is no denying that positing a "creator" into evolution or the big bang just makes the whole thing more complicated, not less. If you disbelieve the idea of the universe having always existed in one form or another, how is it so easy to believe that an omnipotent, invisible, intangible, omnipresent, omniscient, all-loving, vengeful, jealous God has always existed? You've just inserted a doozy of a claim into the story! And we won't even get into how this mega-creature, creator of the vastness of all that is, cares what we individual humans on this little speck called Earth, do with our private parts.

[Excerpt]

TN science bill protects teachers who allow debate over evolution

Senators voted 24-8 to pass a bill that says schoolteachers cannot be punished for "helping students to understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories" taught in public schools. . .


Read more at: WBIR.com

Another Creationist Bill in Missouri

C'mon, are they serious? When I was growing up (and I'm aware that was a while ago), there were certain things that were understood to be true. Like, child labor was bad. Unregulated, laissez faire  capitalism was bad. Combining church and state was bad. These weren't radical things, they were simply "social studies." And in science, we learned about evolution. Nobody made a big deal about it. Religious people manage to square it on Sunday with their Bibles. I, on the other hand, gravitated into the "non-believer" category.

But evolution wasn't denied by people openly, or at least not that I remember. Inherit the Wind, which chronicled the Scopes "Monkey" Trial was seen as a lesson from a less enlightened time. It was shown to us in school! Somewhere along the way, all of these "accepted" things have been seemingly coming undone. Newt Gingrich advocates forced child labor, at least for poor kids. Unregulated capitalism is championed by every single Republican candidate for president. And they're all in favor of combining church and state, going so far as to say they were never supposed to be separate in the first place! Evolution though, has been under attack going back a little longer.

As a heathen myself, I find the creationist and "intelligent design" stories to be greatly lacking as any kind of "theories." They are certainly not science. And they don't even answer the question! If a religionist is going to say that the universe is too complicated to have "just happened," how do they figure that inserting an all-powerful super-being into the story simplifies things? They've just inserted hugely complicated new step.

[Excerpt]


Missouri GOP Introduces Second Creationism Bill In State Legislature


As if one creationism bill wasn’t enough already, Missouri Republicans have introduced a second one in an attempt to force Christianity on schools one way or another. . . 

Read more at: Addicting Info

The British Have it Right: Creationism is NOT Science

Image from source, Telegraph UK

Creationism--sometimes euphemistically (and ironically)  called "intelligent design"--has long been one of those heated topics that interests me. From the waning days of the Prodigy online service, I've gotten into arguments with supporters of teaching creationism in science classrooms (and of course all the other religion vs. science arguments). Whatever you think about the topic, there is a central, inarguable truth: creationism isn't  science. It's theology.

As such, I'd have no problem with the subject being taught in a comparative religion class, or a "Bible Lit." class, or a philosophy class. But it can't be presented as the literal truth, and it can't be presented as science. At least in England, they understand this. Our country, on the other hand, is more likely to let public opinion have a say over facts.

[Excerpt]

Creationism 'banned from free schools'

Creationism, intelligent design and other theories that contradict evolution are to be banned from being taught as science in free schools. . .

Read more at: The Telegraph UK

Bill O'Reilly: That Man is an Idiot

Bill O'Reilly recently made a fool of himself. This is not particularly unusual. But this time he's making himself more a fool than he was originally by digging deeper. Previously, he claimed he could prove the existence of God by the regularity of the tides. Nothing else could prove tides. When people pointed out the gravity pull of the moon, Bill-O came up with this video response:



To which I say: Bill! Venus and Mars do have the sun! The same sun as us! Venus doesn't have a moon, but Mars has two! More than the strangeness of his questions is the strangeness of his speech while doing so, where he sounds like Rain Man.

The argument between atheism/agnosticism and religion will be waged for a long, long time. But O'Reilly will not win it with his smug--but oddly childlike--reasoning.  But he's right in one respect: it takes more effort to be a non-believer. You have to think, reason, study and deliberate. That is harder than just accepting a religion on faith alone. "They said it, it must be true. End of discussion." is very easy.

Evolution Taking Hold Over Creationism?

Image from source, Raw Story

It's easy to get down about America, to think that overt religiosity, superstition, ignorance and outright stupidity is taking hold. But every once in a while, I'm heartened by a story like the one excerpted below. I'm not arrogant enough to say that I'm 100% right about my (nearly atheistic) agnosticism. As an agnostic, I don't have to claim that I know 100%, it's kind of the point. But it is easy to say that Genesis cannot be taken literally, or squared with what we know about science.

[Excerpt]

Poll: More Americans believe humans evolved without God



More Americans today believe that human beings developed without any involvement of a higher power, according to a new poll.


Gallup reported that since 1982, the number of Americans believing that humans evolved over millions of years increased by seven percentage points. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Stuck on Stupid: Texans Believe The Flintstones a Documentary

Image from source, The Texas Tribune

OK, that's an oversimplification. But not by much. Thanks to Stupid Monkey Planet for the link.

[Excerpt]

Meet the Flintstones

Nearly a third of Texans believe humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time, and more than half disagree with the theory that humans developed from earlier species of animals, according to the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

The differences in beliefs about evolution and the length of time that living things have existed on earth are reflected in the political and religious preference of our respondents, who were asked four questions about biological history and God. . .

Read more at: The Texas Tribune

The Origin of Stupidity: Darwin, Cameron and Comfort

Oddly enough, I don't often delve into my own religious beliefs, or rather lack thereof, on the blog. I'm an agnostic, but not--usually--radically so. But every once in a while, a story or video clip comes along that just screams blogworthy!

The subject of this video is a free giveaway of The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin on the 150th anniversary of its publication. The catch is, a creationist named Ray Comfort has shoehorned in a 50-page "introduction" to the book. It is an attempt to debunk Darwin with "creation science" In addition to this secular blasphemy (heh!), actor Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains, Left Behind) is helping him promote the special giveaway as earnestly as his acting ability allows. Kirk, whose most famous role was as a amoral, Lothario teenager (scrubbed squeaky-clean, 80s-style) has become one of the most outspoken actors-for-Jesus in the industry.

Needless to say, the sales pitch is sort of goofy. But, the girl in the video below, Christina, offers an outstanding and entertaining critique of the whole idea. Her Romanian accent is rather thick, but no harder to understand than Arianna Huffington, and she's surely saner than Orly Taitz. Thanks to The Ex-Roommate, Rich for the link. This girl is a hoot!

Texas Board of Education Voting on Evolution

I realize that some people have a hard time squaring Darwin's theory of evolution with their religious beliefs. I understand that they can't reconcile it, and so will do anything they can to deny that evolution is a sound theory. But they're going too far when their personal religious beliefs are codified in public school curriculum.

If a person wants to deny that evolution is a workable scientific theory, fine. They can declare the Earth flat, and the sun the center of the universe too, if that makes them happy. But they shouldn't be able to take science out of science classes, or to add completely unscientific religion to science class. Conservatives often decry the "dumbing down of America," and yet they seem to often contribute to it.

[Excerpt]

Texas Board of Education voting on Evolution

This week, a debate over evolution versus creationism or intelligent design as some now call it, is brewing before the Texas Board of Education.It's considering a change in the State's science standards. At issue whether or not teachers should explain the "strengths and weaknesses" of evolution which would raise doubts that all living things have a common ancestor. . .

Read more at: the33tv.com

Rachel Maddow, Darwin Day, & the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Yeah, her again. But can I help it if Rachel Maddow was talking about Charles Darwin Day, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and the silliness of "Intelligent Design?" All big faves here at Greenlee Gazette.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Bobby Jindal Signs Creationist Law?

Image from source, Raw Story

I've commented on Louisiana's young Governor, Bobby Jindal before. He's been touted as the saviour of the Republican brand, a "future president," and "the next Ronald Reagan." And as I pointed out before, he's prone to stirring a heaping dollop of religion into his governance.

Here is evidence of that, and it is so incredibly wrong-headed, at least we can be pretty sure that he won't be John McCain's vice presidential pick. Or, hey, maybe he will be, and we can thank our lucky stars for how easy it will be to pick him apart. Hmm?

[Excerpt]

Louisiana gov. signs controversial education bill

Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed into law a bill that critics say could allow for the teaching of "creationism" alongside evolution in public schools. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Bobby Jindal on Face the Nation on Intelligent Design

I commented earlier that Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, Governor of Louisiana was featured Sunday morning on CBS' Face the Nation. Jindal is seen as the future of the Republican Party. I've read several swooning references, from "future President" to "another Ronald Regan."

But there is an issue for those of us who have less than reverent feelings about St. Ronnie, and for those of us who think religion and state should be separate. Jindal is rolling in religion, and it goes so far that he's for teaching "Intelligent Design" in biology classes. Intelligent Design is a "theory" (in the loosest sense of the word) that the origins of life had to have been created by an intelligent designer. In short, it is creationist dogma scrubbed free of the specifics, in order to make it harder to brand as a religious idea. But whatever it is, it isn't science, and belongs there about as much as verb conjugation belongs in math class. Here's what Jindal has to say about it.

Science is Cool: More Evidence for Evolution

I'm in the middle of a great book, by Richard Dawkins, called The God Delusion. In it, the author proclaims that his goal is for each reader to finish the book an avowed atheist. I've gone into the book agnostic to begin with--and I'm only half-way through it--but I'd venture to say he'll have won me over by then, at least in the religious sense. Atheists tend to discount all religion, as well as all things supernatural, and I'm not ready to drop the latter (more on that in a future review).

My reason for bringing this up, is that Dawkins approaches religion from a Darwinian point of view. It turns out, most arguments for God can be relatively easily debunked using Darwin's science, or logical extensions of it. That is why this article caught my eye, because it would seem that recent discoveries in genetics further bolster Darwin.

As interesting as all that is to me, I'm further intrigued by the response to this story on the arch-right-wing website, Free Republic. A normally lock-steppy, cohesive bunch, Freepers start to come undone when the subject of Evolution vs. Creationism pops up. After the excerpt below, check out their little slapfest. It's highly entertaining.

[Excerpt]

Scientists find a fingerprint of evolution across the human genome

The Human Genome Project revealed that only a small fraction of the 3 billion “letter” DNA code actually instructs cells to manufacture proteins, the workhorses of most life processes. This has raised the question of what the remaining part of the human genome does. How much of the rest performs other biological functions, and how much is merely residue of prior genetic events? . . .

Read more at: PsyOrg

And the Freepers' reaction: Free Republic

Ben Stein's Expelled

Ben Stein creates a strange dichotomy in my brain. On one hand, I loved him in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Win Ben Stein's Money, and even the old Clear Eyes commercials. He's wonderfully dry, deadpan and droll. All the things I like in a comedian. He even helped Jimmy Kimmel get a career.

But on the other hand, he worked for Richard Nixon, he's rabidly right wing, and he's now starring in a pro-intelligent design movie called Expelled. As an agnostic, I'm very leery of the whole concept of ID, which as far as I'm concerned, is creationism in the Emperor's new clothes. I simply cannot fathom anything this movie could do to convince me that intelligent design is science. It is quite simply not. And even if I were convinced that it was, it would still not prove that the design was intelligently created by any known deity.

Oh well. I guess I'll have to see the movie.

Science is Cool: Lungless Frog?

Photo from source, Live Science

Thanks to Stupid Monkey Planet for a couple of story ideas today. The first is this one, about a bizarre species of frog--with no lungs. I find that a little freaky, and can't think of an intelligent design that would explain it. I'll side with Darwin on this one. In any case, it is an interesting story.

[Excerpt]

Bizarre Frog Has No Lungs

The first lungless frog has been discovered lurking in the jungles of Borneo.

The enigmatic amphibian, dubbed Barbourula kalimantanensis, apparently gets all the oxygen it needs through its skin.

Scientists first saw one of these frogs 30 years ago, but due to their rarity, just one other specimen had been collected since then and neither had been dissected. . .

Read more at: Live Science

Book Report: Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Image from Wikipedia.org

This is at once 1) a book report, 2) an acknowledgement of genius and entrepreneurship and 3) a jealous screed.

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (2006) by Bobby Henderson

Today, for one of the last days of my extended holiday break, I settled into the comfortable couch (leaving The Other Half adrift on the semi-tolerable one) with the down comforter, the lazy fat cat, and the above mentioned book. I'd purchased the book for myself for Christmas, along with an additional copy for the Stupid Monkey and car emblems for both of us. Having written previously about the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) phenomenon, I expected the best. I was both delighted and enraged by the contents of the book.

We'll start with delighted. I first encountered/discovered the FSM shortly after his "creation." To quote Wikipedia, FSM was "founded in 2005 by Oregon State University physics graduate Bobby Henderson to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution." Bobby is apparently both very smart and very funny, and managed to skewer "intelligent design" proponents while simultaneously emulating them--to hilarious effect.

This happened during my pre-blogging days, but somehow I stumbled onto it very shortly after it happened, and have followed the development with great interest. See, Bobby didn't stop with sending a letter to the school board. He followed with a web site. Car emblems. T-shirts and bumper stickers. And of course, his own bible! This is where the outrage comes in.

Bobby Henderson is a 26-year old kid! And hey, if you're 26 and are thinking, "you jerk, I'm not a kid!"--yes you are. You don't realize it right now, but you will. Besides, his name is "Bobby." 'Nuff said.

Anyway, The Other Half is always accusing me of having a big juicy brain that ought to be making us some money. I started this blog, of course, which has netted a big fat 81 cents from AdSense. But it's one in a billion. Shoot, even amongst agnostic, gay, liberal moonbat bloggers from Las Vegas, I'm probably one in a couple hundred thousand. I've even toyed with the idea of creating a religion from scratch, like L. Ron Hubbard or Joseph Smith. But, dammit, little Bobby Henderson beat me to it!

But if I'd started it before he did, I could only hope I had his follow-through and inventiveness. His book manages to be both blatant and subtle, sarcastic and sweet. And it's made me laugh so hard that tears rolled into my ears, and the lazy fat cat scampered away (but returned). Now, to counter with my own creation, an anti-FSM of sorts. . . Every religion needs it's demons! I'll get my noodle working on that!

Recommendation: Buy it. Buy it now, along with tons of swag. Do it for little Bobby. Heh.

RAmen

Evolution vs. Creationism: Texas Science Director Resigns

Photo of the Creation Museum's saddled Triceratops

There are a few different reasons I am motivated to write this blog. One is a strong sense of justice and fairness, and a converse anger when unfairness and lack of justice prevail. Mixed in with that is a overriding distaste for illogic, a profound dislike for "end-run" politics (ends-justify-the means, no matter what the means are), and a disgust for people who have an utter lack of respect for their own supporters and their intelligence.

Ah, intelligence. For those of you not paying attention, "Intelligent Design," (or ID) is the latest sheep's clothing on the wolf that is "Creationism." Creationists have tried for years to have their "theory" taught alongside--or instead of--evolution in school science classes. ID itself punches a few of my "hot buttons" listed above. They try to circumvent laws against religion in public schools by painting ID as science, when it is not. They try to get their supporters (and gain new ones) to believe that ID is a science, when it is not. They're counting on you to buy their line of bull or, failing that, get you to play along because you sort of agree with them, even if it isn't strictly legal. Kind of like "In God We Trust" on the money. . .probably un-Constitutional, but we kind of like it there, so we'll just play along.

Anyway, that is a long-winded way to get to this story, about a woman who was the Texas State Science Director, who had to resign over an email she wrote. In the email, she was forwarding information about a book that is anti-Creationism. And Texas just can't have that.

Hey, Texas! She's the Science Director! Creationism ISN'T SCIENCE!!!

[Excerpt]

Texas official resigns, cites creationism conflict

The state's director of science curriculum said she resigned this month under pressure from officials who felt she gave the appearance of criticizing the instruction of intelligent design.

The Texas Education Agency put Chris Comer on 30 days paid administrative leave in late October, resulting in what she described as a forced resignation. . .

Read more at: USA Today