Darwin-Free Fun for Creationists

New York Times ^ | 05/01/2004 | ABBY GOODNOUGH

[general_re]

Mr. Hovind did not want to discuss the I.R.S. investigation, saying only, "I don't have any tax obligations."

Auditopteryx strikes again...

[general_re]

Plink.

[cyborg]

This is going to be a good thread! going to get my adult beverage and cold pizza

[general_re]

LOL - I'm guessing not much will happen tonight, but check back in the morning ;)

[cyborg]

good idea *LOL*

[MegaSilver]

Creationism is one thing. Intellectual dishonesty (i.e., still insisting that the world is only a few thousand years old) is quite another.

[general_re]

...38,000 people had visited his park, at $7 a head.

That's a gross of $266,000. Plus who-knows-how-much from sales of books, videos, souvenirs, lecture fees, and so forth. Sure must be nice to not "have any tax obligations"...

[general_re]

From your lips... ;)

[Central Scrutiniser]

Well, freedom means that the ignorant can go to Mr. Hovind's park and live in their fantasy world. Oh well.

[MegaSilver]

From your lips... ;)

...

[The Radical Capitalist]

Where's the "Oh, Jeez...not the sh!t again" guy?

[Buck W.]

There is a similar attraction in Glen Rose, TX, south of Dallas. I believe it is called a creationist museum.

[Wacka]

Don't have to pay taxes when you are bankrupt!

[Triple Word Score]

Let's shrink God down to the size of one single book, written by a select set of people whose understanding was that of shepherds and fishermen; let's ignore everything else we've learned about Him from His actual creations, and be sure, while we're at it, never never never to learn any math that might tend to confuse us. Get beyond pre-algebra, and you might get into trouble. You might find yourself running into questions that can't be answered with that single book.

"Bible? We've got a Bible. We don't need ANYTHING else, including open eyelids."

There's no scientific notation if you confine yourself to the cubit. (I'm surprised that there hasn't been a fundamentalist movement to send us back to Biblical weights and measures.) Carbon dating? Now God wouldn't make anything so inconvenient as isotopes. That would confuse us. They're so small we can't see 'em, so we can ignore what they tell us. Those atheist scientists are just trying to do the Devil's work, undermining the faith of true believers--who may have to actually think about their testimony and integrate it with physical reality, if they dare question the doctrine that all true human knowledge is in Just One Book (which was a primer in morality and history, never intended to teach EVERYTHING, but never mind that.)

And those stars, they're just stuck on there. They're not so far away at all if you assume Heaven has to be beyond them. Worlds around them? WHO wants to go looking for a church that has taught, all along, that there are other worlds out there around those faraway suns?

We're gonna spend eternity just floating on clouds playing harps and singing at the Throne. Yes. That's what we want. No family, no marriage, no friendship, no service, no progression. No learning. No making, no doing...just sitting and harping and playing a horn for variety. Yeah, that's a great eternity. Forget the majesty of active volcanic fields and the heinous doctrine of plate tectonics--we won't have any use for that stuff. Forget the joy of falling in love with a kitten, a new baby. Heaven doesn't need any of that stuff--we did mention the cloud thing? You get your own, all to yourself, for eternity! Unless of course you go to that other place.

Ignore the rest of this stuff God made. Can't fit dinosaurs on the cloud you know, so they're of no possible interest.

And the notion that God is always talking to us, telling us more about Himself and His world? Why, that's the most evil thought at all. Just keep going through your prayerbooks and scripted services. Stick to the safe stuff. Don't even venture to try to ask God Himself to help you understand how it all fits together. He might answer, and maybe the answer will require you to do a little work, including (gasp) math, even PHYSICS, and that's just too big a risk to take, isn't it?

[Democratshavenobrains]

Too bad DUers can't see this thread. They think we all are fundamentalists who beat our women and follow the Bible to the letter.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Don't yell at me, I think Creationists are the ultimate in ignorant luddite idiocy. I prefer actual science instead of well worn mumbo jumb from pre-dark ages (lack of) thought.

[Triple Word Score]

A real fundamentalist would want the whole truth and nothing less. That however can't be had without accepting that creation is a testament (a remarkably coherent one) and that revelation is continuous.

If you confine yourself to one book, you believe in a God small and weak enough that you can control Him....

[Triple Word Score]

Sorry, you just happened to be in the TO block when I went back into rant mode. :-) Nothing personal.

It's been almost a month since I was up to a good rant...!

[Central Scrutiniser]

No big, I've done the same thing. I find the creationists to be incredibly ignorant, dogmatic folk, that refuse to take the barest attempt to explore the entire history of science, and as such, they paint themselves into corners that they can only get out of by claiming "it was a miracle!"

Bilge! God gave us a brain for a reason, TO THINK!, not to take literally some subjective 2000 year old document that was written to reflect the science of the times.

[BykrBayb]

And a good rant it was!