Creationist Wisdom #782: Miracle or Accident?

Today’s letter-to-the-editor appears in the Wisconsin State Journal of Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital. It’s titled Life may only flourish here, and the newspaper has no comments feature.

Because the writer isn’t a politician, preacher, or other public figure, we won’t embarrass or promote him by using his full name. His first name is Wayne. Excerpts from his letter will be enhanced with our Curmudgeonly commentary and some bold font for emphasis. Here we go!

Recently, NASA scientists have found more planets in our galaxy that have conditions that are necessary for life to exist on them. The media coverage says that ups the chances for life on them.

Yes, and it’s driving creationists crazy — as we shall soon see. Wayne says:

Not necessarily. That optimism for life on other planets is based on the assumption that life started by accident. It is based on the belief that, given the right conditions and enough time, life will somehow start. That in turn is based on the belief that life started by accident here on Earth.

Creationists don’t like natural laws. They prefer to think that everything is a miracle. To them, nothing happens naturally — or as they prefer to say, “by accident” or “random chance.” Wayne tells us:

That belief is not science because it has not been demonstrated. Many scientists and others believe that it did, but that is not a statement of science. It is a statement of their faith.

As is typical of creationists, who are irony impaired, they denigrate science by referring to it as “faith.” Wayne continues:

We have not seen and verified any natural process that starts with non-life and results in life. There are many theories and considerable wishful thinking, but that’s all.

It’s true that life hasn’t literally been created in the lab — not yet. But the precursors of life have been — see Miller–Urey experiment, and they’ve also been found in space — see Astronomers discover complex organic matter in the universe. Let’s read on:

Christians, of course, recognize that God created life, but secular folks need to admit that they really don’t know how life started.

Creationists are the only folks who know how life started. You, dear reader, have nothing but your faith. Wayne says:

Hence none of us really know what we might find on other planets.

As is common with creationists these days, Wayne doesn’t declare with certainty that there’s no life out there — but he’s certain that if it exists, it’s not “by accident.” And now we come to the end:

It is a good thing to study other planets, but don’t make an unverified assumption and call it science. We may well be alone, except for God.

In other words, Wayne has no idea what’s out there. But whatever it is, it’s a miracle — like everything else.

Copyright © 2017. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

• • • • • • • • • • •

. . Permalink for this article

Turkey Bans Evolution, Discoveroids React

By now you’ve heard the news from Turkey. There’s a write-up on it by the National Center for Science Education (NCSE): Evolution nixed in Turkey. They say:

“Darwin’s theory of evolution has been excluded from the most recent draft of Turkey’s new national curriculum,” reports the Hurriyet Daily News (June 22, 2017). … A representative of the Education Ministry was quoted by the Hurriyet Daily News as describing evolution and the origin of life as both too difficult for ninth-grade students and as “controversial.”

We didn’t blog about it because it’s not surprising that a country in that part of the world opposes evolution. But there seems to be some concern at the Discovery Institute. This just popped up at their creationist blog: Evolution Out of the Curriculum? If So, a Bad Idea from Turkey.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! A creationist outfit thinks banning evolution is a “bad idea”? They wouldn’t lie to us, would they?

The post was written by David Klinghoffer, a Discoveroid “senior fellow” (i.e., flaming, full-blown creationist), who eagerly functions as their journalistic slasher and poo flinger. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis:

Color us just a bit skeptical about news reports that Turkey will eliminate evolution from its official 9th grade curriculum. If true, though, it is of course a terrible idea.

Perhaps we’re too cynical, but what creationist thinks banning evolution is “a terrible idea”? They dream of achieving the power to do exactly that. It’s not very different from what Tennessee tried to do, which resulted in the Scopes Trial. So why isn’t Klinghoffer cheering for Turkey?

Let’s not forget, the Discoveroids realize that we have separation of church and state in the US, so they’re compelled to be stealth creationists who pretend that their Oogity Boogity is a “theory” that should be in the schools along with evolution. They can’t cheer for Turkey because they fear it would reveal their true motives.

After a big excerpt from a news story, Klinghoffer says:

News like this filtered through the Western media can’t necessarily be taken at face value. That having been said, the fact that evolution is both important and “controversial” is one reason we strongly favor teaching it thoroughly [Hee hee!] in high school biology classes, with due attention to objective scientific evidence and arguments for and against the theory. [Hee hee!] Critically evaluating scientific theories is what responsible scientists do, and with care and thoughtfulness, instructors can help students do the same.

[*Begin Drool Mode*] Ooooooooooooh! [*End Drool Mode*] The Discoveroids are so reasonable! After that he tells us:

If Turkey’s motivation is religious, on the other hand, as the news suggests, then concealing evolution is also very ill advised. The move to hide the idea from high school students smacks of a cover up that raises questions about the ability of one’s faith to stand up to challenges.

Rubbish! It’s not about how persuasive the religion is. It’s all about power — which creationists crave. Klinghoffer finishes his rambling post with this:

The Turkish move – again, if it genuinely comes to that – will benefit no one other than Western atheist activists, including Richard Dawkins and his Center for Inquiry, who quickly seized on the news as red meat for their followers.

What did he say? What was he trying to say? If you can figure it out, dear reader, let us know.

Copyright © 2017. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

• • • • • • • • • • •

. . Permalink for this article

WorldNetDaily: NASA’s Godless Agenda

The blaring sirens and flashing lights of the Drool-o-tron™ alerted us, and the blinking letters of its wall display said WorldNetDaily (WND). As you know, WorldNetDaily (WND) was an early winner of the Curmudgeon’s Buffoon Award, thus the jolly logo displayed above this post.

The device had locked our computer was locked onto this headline at WND: NASA’s new assignments: Find aliens, prove evolution, and above the headline, in bold red font, it says: “WND EXCLUSIVE.” Wowie — you can’t find this information anywhere else!

It was written by Joe Wilson, described as “an intern with WND. He hails from Sunman, Indiana, and is finishing his bachelor’s degree in History and Classical Language at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. He is a devout Catholic and a baseball enthusiast, as well as an amateur filmmaker.”

This is going to be good! Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis:

The National Space and Aeronautics Administration has done some amazing things for the United States over the years: the initial short flights into space, then the longer orbiting missions, the moon visits, the space station and even unmanned trips to every sidewalk [Huh?] in the solar system. But now it has some new goals: Find aliens. And prove evolution. And while the agency is at it, its staff members should identify the origins of life.

Aliens? Evolution? The origin of life? Egad — that’s heresy! How could this be happening in the Trump administration? Joe refers to and quotes extensively from this article in the Atlantic: The Tiny Edit That Changed NASA’s Future, which says:

On March 21 of this year, both parties in Congress and the Trump administration made a change to a federal document that amounted to only a few words, but which may well change the course of human history. … [I]n this year’s bill, Congress added a momentous phrase to the agency’s mission: “the search for life’s origins, evolution, distribution, and future in the universe.” It’s a short phrase, but a visionary one, setting the stage for a far-reaching effort, that could have as profound an impact on the 21st century as the Apollo program had on the 20th.

[…]

There may be billions of Earth-like planets out there that are abundant with all the elements for life, but that doesn’t mean that there is life, let alone complex life on any of them. The only way to answer the question, “are we alone?” is to go see for ourselves, and this is exactly what NASA has now been empowered to do.

Gasp! What is WND’s opinion of this ungodly situation? Joe tells us:

[T]he move is being viewed by those in the faith community as the federal government’s endorsement of an effort to prove the biblical creation narrative false.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! We searched the NASA website for some information on this and found their FY 2017 Budget Request for Science which says, among other things, that it:

Furthers our search to answer some of humanity’s most profound questions:

• How do planets and life originate?

• How does the universe work, and what are its origin and destiny?

• Are we alone?

And NASA’s Budget Request for fiscal year 2018 says, among other things, that it:

Furthers our search to answer some of humanity’s most profound questions:

• How did our solar system originate and change over time?

• How did life originate, and are we alone?

• How did the universe begin and evolve, and what will be its destiny?

So WND is probably correct. Other than quoting stuff from other websites, including blogs, Joe has one more thing to say:

At least the marching orders are a change from what ex-President Barack Obama wanted from NASA. He wanted the agency to be a Muslim feel-good outreach.

That’s correct, as this seven year-old article from the Telegraph reports: Barack Obama: Nasa must try to make Muslims ‘feel good’.

Okay, so where are we? It appears that NASA has gone from Muslim outreach to blasphemy. Verily these are the Final Days. Oh, and one more thing. Joe is a WND intern. From what we’ve seen here, he has a great career ahead of him.

Copyright © 2017. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

• • • • • • • • • • •

. . Permalink for this article

Creationist Wisdom #781: No Compromises

Today’s second letter-to-the-editor appears in the Wisconsin State Journal of Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital. It’s s titled Trust God’s word over fallible scientists, and the newspaper has no comments feature.

Because the writer isn’t a politician, preacher, or other public figure, we won’t embarrass or promote him by using his full name. His first name is Ralph. Excerpts from his letter will be enhanced with our Curmudgeonly commentary and some bold font for emphasis. Here we go!

Any Christian who professes to believe Jesus Christ is their lord and savior should be very careful about thinking it is possible to insert the evolutionary faith in a 4.6-billion-year universe into God’s authoritative word, as columnist Chris Rickert did in his June 11 column, Room in Christianity for 4.6B-year-old Earth.

Ralph is outraged. He says:

The evolutionary account of the origins of the universe and mankind is an anti-God, metaphysical philosophy that has nothing to do with the Bible.

Jeepers, he’s right — that science stuff isn’t in the bible! After that he tells us:

In fact, Bible-believing Christians were primarily responsible for beginning and nurturing observational science, and many Christian scientists today continue to conduct scientific research in all areas while believing in a “young” earth and a six-day creation.

That’s debatable — see Did Science Originate with Creationists? Anyway, Ralph continues:

As a Christian, however, the ultimate example of Biblical belief must come from Jesus Christ himself. He clearly believed in Genesis as a factual, historical narrative meant to be understood and believed as it was written.

Jesus quoted scripture, but he didn’t discuss science. Let’s read on:

If a Christian truly believes Jesus is who he says he is, then how can they not believe his word is authoritative and true?

How? It’s not difficult. Ralph should re-read that column by Chris Rickert. He should also take a look at the National Center for Science Education’s list of Statements from Religious Organizations that support evolution. And now we come to the end:

It really boils down to trusting in God’s word or in the fallible philosophies of prideful human beings. There really is no middle ground.

So there you are, dear reader. According to Ralph, you can’t have it both ways. So whatcha gonna do?

Copyright © 2017. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

• • • • • • • • • • •

. . Permalink for this article