Oh, man, creationists piss me off.
It isn’t that they’re stupid. They are stupid, of course. Believing that the Earth is only six thousand years old is just plain stupid. To believe that, you have to believe that recorded history is older than the Earth. I’m serious: Sam Harris points out in his wonderful Letter to a Christian Nation that creationists believe that the Earth was created about a thousand years after the Sumerians invented glue. Square that one for me, would ya?
So, yeah, it’s stupid, but people are allowed to be stupid. Stupid isn’t against the law, generally speaking. The thing is, they want to make our kids stupid, too. And, see, that’s kind of a problem.
So, they’re debating whether or not to send Texas schoolchildren straight to hell (poor Texas schoolchildren…they’re always the test subjects in these ridiculous episodes) by teaching them evolution in the schools. You know, again. A court in Pennsylvania (yaaaaaaay, Pennsylvania!) just ruled that teaching creationism in the public schools was unconstitutional, seeing as how it’s really just fanatics trying to impose their religious beliefs onto scientific education. So Texas has had to start from scratch in their efforts to return to a Stone Age that they, of course, believe never existed.
Some moron named “Dr. McLeroy” who is the Chairman (yes, the Chairman, saints preserve us) of the school board was quoted as saying during the debate that he believes the Earth is only a few thousand years old. When it was pointed out to him that this belief is ludicrous (presumably in more polite language), he responded, “I believe a lot of incredible things. The most incredible thing I believe is the Christmas story. That little baby born in the manger was the god that created the universe.”
Leaving aside the temporal anomalies implied in that statement, he has a right to believe that if he wants. Personally, if it was me, I would have phrased that in a way that made me sound less like a nut, but hey, it’s his business. Note, however, that his religious beliefs clearly inform and justify his creationist beliefs. The juxtaposition of the young Earth and the Christmas story demonstrates that beyond any reasonable doubt.
And then, minutes later, he says, “My personal religious beliefs are going to make no difference in how well our students are going to learn science,” which perfectly contradicts what he’d said only moments before. This goes to show why this battle, although completely ridiculous, is also so important: obviously, a lack of understanding of scientific principles leads to certain cognitive disorders. It can cause an inability to speak logically, for example. It contributes to the erosion of the capacity for rational thought. The failure to understand that words actually mean something, and that when one bunch of words means the exact opposite of what another bunch of words means, they shouldn’t be used by the same person in the same conversation, there’s a good one.
I know that there’s a lot of crazy in Texas. They’ve got crazy piled up two feet deep from one end of the state to the other, and brothers and sisters, it’s a great big state. But how crazy does a state have to be to make someone like this the CHAIRMAN OF THE SCHOOL BOARD? This guy does not belong on a school board, or anywhere near any school, ever. Why can’t we at least agree on that?
It isn’t that they’re stupid. They are stupid, of course. Believing that the Earth is only six thousand years old is just plain stupid. To believe that, you have to believe that recorded history is older than the Earth. I’m serious: Sam Harris points out in his wonderful Letter to a Christian Nation that creationists believe that the Earth was created about a thousand years after the Sumerians invented glue. Square that one for me, would ya?
So, yeah, it’s stupid, but people are allowed to be stupid. Stupid isn’t against the law, generally speaking. The thing is, they want to make our kids stupid, too. And, see, that’s kind of a problem.
So, they’re debating whether or not to send Texas schoolchildren straight to hell (poor Texas schoolchildren…they’re always the test subjects in these ridiculous episodes) by teaching them evolution in the schools. You know, again. A court in Pennsylvania (yaaaaaaay, Pennsylvania!) just ruled that teaching creationism in the public schools was unconstitutional, seeing as how it’s really just fanatics trying to impose their religious beliefs onto scientific education. So Texas has had to start from scratch in their efforts to return to a Stone Age that they, of course, believe never existed.
Some moron named “Dr. McLeroy” who is the Chairman (yes, the Chairman, saints preserve us) of the school board was quoted as saying during the debate that he believes the Earth is only a few thousand years old. When it was pointed out to him that this belief is ludicrous (presumably in more polite language), he responded, “I believe a lot of incredible things. The most incredible thing I believe is the Christmas story. That little baby born in the manger was the god that created the universe.”
Leaving aside the temporal anomalies implied in that statement, he has a right to believe that if he wants. Personally, if it was me, I would have phrased that in a way that made me sound less like a nut, but hey, it’s his business. Note, however, that his religious beliefs clearly inform and justify his creationist beliefs. The juxtaposition of the young Earth and the Christmas story demonstrates that beyond any reasonable doubt.
And then, minutes later, he says, “My personal religious beliefs are going to make no difference in how well our students are going to learn science,” which perfectly contradicts what he’d said only moments before. This goes to show why this battle, although completely ridiculous, is also so important: obviously, a lack of understanding of scientific principles leads to certain cognitive disorders. It can cause an inability to speak logically, for example. It contributes to the erosion of the capacity for rational thought. The failure to understand that words actually mean something, and that when one bunch of words means the exact opposite of what another bunch of words means, they shouldn’t be used by the same person in the same conversation, there’s a good one.
I know that there’s a lot of crazy in Texas. They’ve got crazy piled up two feet deep from one end of the state to the other, and brothers and sisters, it’s a great big state. But how crazy does a state have to be to make someone like this the CHAIRMAN OF THE SCHOOL BOARD? This guy does not belong on a school board, or anywhere near any school, ever. Why can’t we at least agree on that?
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