"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Sunday, August 18, 2013

One Million Moms vs Evolution (IUpdated)

This time, they're taking on evolution. (I guess there are no scandalous comics out right now.) Via Joe.My.God., this gem:

Dear Joe, 1MM is teaming up with evangelist Ray Comfort to distribute Evolution vs. God far and wide, especially to those who reject God, the Bible and creation. Specifically, teams of Christian student groups on some of the nation’s most liberal colleges are in place and stand ready to personally hand this eye-opening DVD to other students. Once you've seen the trailer, I know you'll want a personal copy for yourself. We are offering Evolution vs. God to you for a suggested donation of only $5.00 to 1MM. Then...help us get this DVD into the hands of young people at America's most liberal colleges and universities! When you order your personal copy, you’ll have the opportunity to make an additional donation to purchase DVDs that will reach unbelieving college students. Click on the video and watch liberal professors dumbfounded by God's truth.

One commenter suggested that the professors were actually dumbfounded by the stupidity of the interviewers.

Here's the trailer:


If you're watching -- and you don't have to watch all that carefully -- you can see where answers were truncated.

PZ Myers, one of the experts interviewed, had some comments on the whole thing:
I’ve done a number of interviews for the media, and it’s not surprising when an hour-long conversation is reduced to a few sentences. I expect that, and it’s no surprise.

What they don’t do, unless they are ideological hacks and liars, is chop up the interview to completely misrepresent the point I just explained to them at length. [Ray] Comfort came to me asking for the evidence for evolution. The way it went is that he would a) ask for evidence, b) I would give him an example (like the research on sticklebacks or bacteria), c) Comfort would raise an irrelevant objection (they’re still fish! They’re still bacteria!), and d) I would explain why his objection was invalid, and how his expectations of the nature of the evidence were wrong. Somehow, though, in the movie (d) always ended up on the cutting room floor, so that he could announce in all of his promotional materials and in the movie itself that I was unable to provide any evidence for evolution.

That last bit is a lie.

And that is no surprise.

Do you suppose there's a special edition of the Bible that's missing the Eighth Commandment -- the one about bearing false witness?

And don't forget to send money.

Update: PZ has a further comment on tactics:

Here’s a single-celled organism that evolved two tails; “it’s still a single-celled organism.” Here’s a fish that evolved armor plating; “it’s still a fish.” Here’s a fruit fly that evolved a whole new mating signal; “it’s still a fruit fly.” Notice what’s common in every case: the conscious denial of what you just told them. It’s not just ignorance, it’s willful ignorance.

There’s no way around this game. They demand something that evolution does not predict, and claim its absence falsifies evolution.

Sound familiar?





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