Religious Crackpot Of The Month: June 2007
June 2nd, 2007See, I really didn’t intend for Religious Crackpot Of The Month to be a regular thing. I thought, I’ll just do it once, and call it “of the month” anyway. But then, the new month rolls over, and almost immediately a perfect Crackpot sends a long and brilliantly angry email to Pharyngula, one of my new favourite blogs. I’m not going to go through and address each claim individually, as that would just be tragic, but let me just show you one or two of the best bits. You should read the rest yourself, because it’s more or less solid insane gold from start to finish.
I mean, a lot of it is just gibberish. Have a look at this, for example. I’ve found that if I turn my mind on its side and think in just the right way (and not to hard) then I can get this to sound like semi-reasonable logic (try it; it soon passes):
16. DNA of humans differ/vary by about 10-12% from each other. 50% of human DNA is identical to the DNA of a banana. Humans and apes have no common ancestor.
You have to get yourself into a frame of mind where individual words and what a sentence sounds like are more important than the actual concepts being discussed, and then you have to repeat the phrase “if human DNA is so similar to a banana’s, we shouldn’t be surprised if it’s similar to an ape’s” over and over until it sounds like it makes sense. And this is just ingenious:
18. There is no real vestigial/useless organ. There is no junk DNA. Note: Males’ nipples “arouse” women.
It particularly entertained me when I read this:
29. Atheism or evolution does not provide a solid foundation for morality. If there is no God, there is no good nor evil.
Because, yeah, it’s true. But then, the Bible doesn’t tell me what football team to support, so I guess that’s not true either. But this is my favourite one of his arguments, by some way:
11. The Earth is not millions of years old. Notes: Magnetic field decay; Archaeology; History, other “Time limiters.” Ancient people were as smart as modern men. Evolutionists have no excuse.
DNA cannot exist in natural environments longer than 10,000 years; yet, DNA have been FOUND in Neanderthal bones, insects in amber, Dinosaur fossils, etc. A dinosaur fossil was discovered still having soft tissue and blood cells.
DNA in amber? This Crackpot thinks Jurrasic Park is a documentary!
Well, okay, so fragments of DNA have been found in amber. Fragments. Small little strings of genes which scientists aren’t at all sure are preserved ‘as-was’. That’s hardly at odds with the fact that DNA decays over time, is it?
26. Evolution is science fiction (a myth). It is similar to the story of the Centaurs (horse-men) and Mermaids (fish-women). I don’t believe in Centaurs and Mermaids.
No, but you do believe in Jurrasic Park. It’s not fair. I want to get emails like this. Maybe I should write one of those suddenly fashionable atheist books.
Lastly, I leave you with one of the postscripts from the above email:
Notes for Jews:
Your Messiah (Saviour) has arrived over 2,000 years ago: He is the Son of God who became a man (while still being God), suffered and died on the cross, and lived again from the dead; was prophesied in Isaiah 53, and in the book of Daniel.
Tags for this article: Christianity , Creationism , Religious Crackpot of the Month
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6 Responses to “Religious Crackpot Of The Month: June 2007”
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June 2nd, 2007 at 21:25
I love reading the ramblings of idiots who use bad science to prove their (often wrong) views. Couple that with this guy’s obvious lack of tolerance to the views of others, i think by far he deserves crackpot of the month
June 3rd, 2007 at 01:15
Ah. Religious zeal.
Point 26 is not valid, since he has no proof that Evolution is a myth. Thus, that point is a fallacy.
And Point 11 makes him sound like a believer in Atlanteans being more advanced than humans.
I think he was American. Most religious zealots are. Well, all the ones you HEAR of, at least.
I’m Catholic, and I believe in evolution.
I also hate with a passion people trying to convert other people. Really, seriously big loathing…
-KB
June 3rd, 2007 at 13:34
Beautiful use of Terry Gilliam’s Gumby artwork as the background for that particularly comical email.
June 4th, 2007 at 12:46
I just laughed out loud at the “men’s nipples arouse women” line, then realised i’m at work in an open plan office and don’t want to have to explain what’s so funny.
June 10th, 2007 at 01:39
Yet another person who pretends he is an expert.
16. Humans differ by far, far less than 10-12% of their DNA. It’s more like 0.10-0.12%. I don’t see how the second 2 sentences are related to each-other. Bananas are very similar because the plant has very similar metabolic processes, which are obviously invisible and is the reason why so many organisms were mis-classified before we could create a tree based on the mutations in the RNA and DNA.
18. Lots of vestigial organs, like in dolphins which grow hind legs as an embryo, which then recede. Plenty of junk DNA too - plenty of repeated sequences all over our DNA and viral DNA in our genomes too and also selfish DNA which can replicate itself and insert somewhere else, which can be in the middle of genes, which isn’t good for us.
11. DNA can exist longer than 10,000 years, especially if it’s been encased in something like amber. Also, the more DNA there is, the more likely it is to be found, so most of it ends up being mitochondrial DNA because there are hundreds to thousands in each cell. Extremely old DNA that has been found has only been found in fragments.
26. Anyone who doesn’t believe in the evolution of organisms over time automatically self destructs his entire post.
I know he won’t be around to read this but I just feel compelled to comment on these things.
June 15th, 2007 at 12:09
Geez. There’s little else to say. In many ways, it’s unfortunate for people such as myself who don’t know enough about the subjects (I doubt he does either, but still), because that’s how people get taken in.
I have always loved the contradiction between Free Will and God deciding. How can I repent if He has already decided I won’t? I suppose it’s why I love Prachett’s (I’ve probably butchered that name) Good Omens. At least it’s got the funnies in it.
As for that “Nipples arouse women” thing, I suppose the only thing I can argue is that, for some, so does latex. I doubt it’s the next stage in evolution, though.
One day I’ll know about all this history of the universe and all that. Until then, there’s space-time bubbles.
You can’t go wrong with bubbles, right?