Return of Fun with Fundies Friday - The Ice Age Edition.
11 12 2009Alternate title - Hell Freezes Over
The river that runs in front of my place is iced over. It’s not that big a thing. It’s flowing underneath and so I can still pump water, although it appears, from speaking to my neighbors, that I’m the only person with water nearby. Everyone else has frozen pipes. I have kept mine dripping and had only a little minor freezing thing that was quickly rectified with a hair dryer.
(hang on, the fundy part is coming)
One of my neighbors is convinced that the river freezing is a sign of end times. Yeah, okay.
I then mentioned that there used to be a dam on this river, and that until a few years ago, it was used for flood control, so the river ran swifter this time of year. That’s why it hasn’t frozen over in recent memory, and why the Columbia river never ices over any more - although it was a common occurrence in the earlier part of last century. This is a perfectly reasonable, scientific, and logical explanation.
All I received, in way of comprehension, was a blank stare. It was as if rational thought were trying to break through the wall of fundy brainwashing. Then she sort of shook her head, her eyes glazed over again, and she said “No, God is changing the weather”.
Yeesh.
Then, perusing my google reader, I found this: Ken Hovind’s doctoral dissertation
Read for yourself…
Interestingly enough, Patriot Bible University doesn’t have any science courses listed.
Well, since they don’t believe in global warming, divine cooling must be the next best thing… ;-o
Does anybody besides me remember that back in the 1980’s the ubiquitous “they” were all fired up about global cooling, and there was worry that we’d experience an ice age? I can remember as a teenager worrying that we might end up living in an ice cave, eating hunted meat and wearing nothing but animal pelts for clothing.
Of course the fundies always have it right. Anybody remember the Watchtower’s 1975 prediction that the world would end?
Umm… okay… I just looked, and I downloaded his “dissertation.” I looked at the page count and thought “Surely, this cannot be the whole dissertation at a mere 102 pages?”
And, then I started reading it and thought “Surely this is a wiki-joke, yes?” Because he’s starts by saying “Hi, I’m Kent and blah blah blah, creation/evolution debate IN A NUTSHELL.” And I’m thinking, “well, no Kent. The whole point of a dissertation is to NOT nutshell ANYTHING about your topic.”
And then there are pages and pages of Bible quotes, and I’m thinking “Umm… okay, this is to prove what? The creation part? ‘Cause, dude, half your quotes don’t even address Creation.”
And, then he gets into “evolution is proven wrong because …. Hitler was an evolutionist and the Japanese Shintos are evolutionists.” And, I had to go back and look at the front page because I was really sure that I’d read that it was “written” in 1991, not 1941. (I was right, it was 1991.)
And then we get to the whole time frame thing, at which point I just started laughing because I am so sure this is all a big satire, right? I mean, if coins in boxes on sunken ships are the model by which we should measure the age of the earth isn’t a joke, then I don’t know what is.
And then I get to the end and see that his summation consists solely of “Jesus was right.” Well! There ya go! That’s some serious proof. I’ll bet that’s all he had to say for his oral defense, too.
So…. Doc, tell me straight. It’s a joke, right?
Sadly, not a joke. Here’s the page where Patriot University defends “Dr” Hovind.
The Price of Truth
Again I ask - creation science - where’s the science?
Umm… was that a joke? The university is a little building (rough eyeball estimate of no more than 1200 sq/ft.) between a Baptist church and some guy’s house?
I’m … at a loss for words here.
Not accredited, and is self study. Basically it’s a diploma mill.
And sadly, this is the “Dr Dino” that all those young earth homeschoolers look to for their scientific curriculum. It’s not education, it fraud… it’s criminal.
Glad Fun With Fundy Friday is back! Not so glad to see the udder stupidy of such fundies.
Sigh. Unfortunately these types abound in my homeschooling community. Grrrr.
I actually did see some science courses listed when I scrolled w-a-y down the page. They offer 5 sections of Physical Science, 6 sections of Biology, Bible & Science, The Battle for the Beginning, and The Collapse of Evolution. All courses are offered from a Christian worldview. I’m currently working on my grad degree in Biology and it’s funny, but none of my professors have mentioned the collapse of evolution. They are usually pretty good about staying up-to-date with scientific breakthroughs. I’m supposed to have my Evolutionary Biology final next Wednesday. Think he’ll give me credit if I tell him that evolutionary theory has collapsed so we should not have a final?
But hey, they bought the nice house out in the country, everything should
be perfect and take no work at all….f*cktards.
Are you kidding? secularist on a rampage. This can’t be right. We reading the same thing?
Christians like that give Christians like me a bad name.
And yes Doc, even though I am Christian I still love to read your blog.
So, if “God is changing the weather,” there’s no point in people doing anything to stop it. Who are we to question His Will?…
From my perspective, people like “Dr. Dino” may seem ridiculous and dismissible at first glance, but they feed people like this woman (and many Christian “educators”), who put us all at significant risk. It’s so frustrating.
I opened the “dissertation” to find a hundred page rant! There are NO citations! There is no bibliography, no reference list. There is no standardized formatting! He blathers on, giving unsupported opinions, tossing generalizations and deprecating comments around as if he were writing to a friend. What a waste of time and energy! Egad! It would have been easier, and just as valuable to call himself “doctor” and bypassed the silly formality. His “followers” would be on board regardless…
Thanks for the link.
Verry interesting indeed. So “Dr.” Hovind wrote a long essay and got a “PhD.” And he’s in jail for tax evasion and more. And his son continues the “ministry.”