Posted on 09/30/2005 5:42:09 PM PDT by gobucks
If Charles Darwin could have attended a meeting in Dover on Thursday, he would have been shocked by the disrespect shown his theory, according to his great-great-grandson Matthew Chapman. Chapman was among about 150 people, including about 20 members of the media, who came to Dover Fire Station (6) for a presentation involving a video of "More Reasons Why Evolution is Stupid."
The group watched the video, by Kent Hovind, and listened to commentary from the Rev. Jim Grove, a Loganville pastor, who said he wanted the area voters to know "the truth." Grove had a variety of reading materials available and was selling the two-hour Hovind video for $9.95.
"We felt it was necessary for the Dover voters to see something like this," Grove told the audience. "I'm not opposed to teaching evolution in the public schools, but let's just take the lies out of the textbook.
"I'm going to take a copy of this DVD to the school and ask them if they'd like a copy for their library," Grove said.
The word "stupid" was used frequently in the video to describe the Big Bang Theory and Darwin's theory of evolution.
"I think it is possible to believe in God and also ... evolution," said Dr. Burt Humburg, an internal medicine resident at Hershey Medical Center, after watching the video.
But many people at the meeting disagreed.
"There is no evidence to prove the theory for evolution," said Daniel Riley of York County.
"You were brainwashed in college. What are you people afraid of?" asked Dover Township resident Joan McCrory.
After the program, Chapman sat across a table from Humburg and the two discussed the issue and comments made by those who attended the meeting.
"Why do you get a Christian to lie?" Humburg said to Chapman. "Fear. They've been taught all their lives that Darwin is going to separate them from God."
Humburg read a Darwin quote off his cell phone to Chapman, not knowing who Chapman was.
Chapman listened intently, then introduced himself.
Later, Chapman, who is from England and now lives in New York, discussed his feelings about the debate, the court trial and his views of people he had talked to in Dover.
"I was just fascinated by this guy," he said about Humburg. "He's obviously a very lonely character in this environment."
Chapman wrote "Trials of the Monkey" — subtitled "An Accidental Memoir," which grew out of his trip from New York to Dayton, Tenn., to see a re-enactment of the Scopes evolution trial.
He said he has read the Bible from cover to cover and said he doubted many other people who attended the meeting could say that. There are enormous requirements to justify Darwin's theory of evolution, but creationism does not demand the same scrutiny, he said.
He said he might write an article for a magazine on the intelligent design issue in Dover.
"But it is personal," he said. "I'm fascinated by it.
"I remember my grandmother who remembered him," he said about Darwin, who lived from 1809-1882. "In Europe, the theory of evolution is so accepted. It is really so well proven scientifically, like gravity."
Darwin spent his entire life collecting evidence to justify his theories, Chapman said after the meeting. He called the implications of the Hovind video "religious bigotry" and "a basic lack of respect."
He attended and plans to continue attending the trial in Harrisburg this week.
"I think watching it is like watching the best and worst of America," he said. "I don't think people understand what the fight is about."
Maybe some of us do.
I always thought that science was asking questions and testing them to see if they are correct or incorrect. Then they use these theories to predict. Can anyone point me to any test of Creationism (or ID, if you prefer) and any prediction made from that test?
More like the nebular hypothesis, actually.
Sure, Die and be resurrected!
Roughly zero.
Classical racial traits, that is, those that are readily observed, are tied in to particular environments.
Over thousands of years, there is little relationship between these malleable traits and actual descent groups (which may be better characterized by blood types, fingerprint patterns, etc.).
500 years ago people who belived in God were planning to circumnavigate the globe. So there.
High levels of UV light require darker skin, while very dry and cold air requires a narrow and large nose to heat incoming air. There are several groups along the equator who share some of the traits of Pygmies because they live in similar environments, but in terms of descent they are not closely related.
Nordic peoples tend to have very light skin to allow absorption of UV light which is needed to create vitamin D.
But Eskimos do not have such light skin. They live too far north to absorb UV light through the skin (even if they could expose it to the bitter cold), and so they must obtain vitamin D from other sources (e.g., fish oils). Not surprisingly, their skin is darker, as there is no selection pressure for it to be as light as the Nordics.
All of this is a fascinating study--people are almost infinitely adaptable. There are several good books out there I could recommend if you are interested.
But again, these traits have little to do with actual descent, as they can change in a few thousand years to match a new or changing environment.
>Sure, Die and be resurrected!
From http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46531 :
"As you might imagine, this spiritual eagerness produces thousands of miracles. At the Bakers' meetings, God heals the blind, deaf, mute, paralyzed and AIDS cases. Also, they have counted 55 resurrections so far, all with witnesses."
I didn't think you had an answer. I was right.
I sent the following email to a creationist mail list I am on:
Hovind as an Anti-Evangelist
It seems to me that while most of us try to use creation evangelism as an outreach tool, others like Hovind use it to preach to the choir while turning everyone else off (anti-evangelism).
When Hovind came to the largest church in my area a good friend of mine, a staunch YEC who is an elder there, was opposed to hosting the visit. He explained it was because of the disrespectful attitude Hovind shows towards non-creationists. This article really makes me wince, because we can see that his point not only was accurate but prescient in terms of the impact Hovind is having. You convert a person by loving them and respecting them (as distinct from their ideas), not by engaging in emotional abuse.
A lot of people working within the evolutionary paradigm are anything but stupid, and we need to be ready to candidly acknowledge that if we are going to have any chance at reaching them.
It depends on what you mean by race.
Some scholars have seen three, or four races. Others, such as Garn, have seen several dozen micro-races.
And, the best explanation so far to the question of physical differences is adaptation to environments through time. But these adaptations are largely independent from descent. I know its confusing, but that's the way it appears at the moment.
Remember, prior to about A.D. 1500, travel was slow and somewhat limited, and groups did not intermingle a great deal except where two groups intersected.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.