You God Haters!

Making the rounds on a popular networking site, I encountered and chimed in on a discussion on the topic of evolution. Seriously, I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I read the misinformed views spewed by the conservative Right these days.

Already in progress, one person wrote...

Yes, once again, a Theory of something being taught as fact....aka.... The Theory of Evolution. With absolutely no proof to back it up. Gotta love you God haters.

Okay, did you catch that? The theist(yes, theist. How'd you guess?!) bleats, "absolutely no proof to back it up".

No proof, eh? Really? Okay, for starters, how about transitional fossils and the fact that fossils are ordered in the strata, simpler, to more complex? 'Just a ginormous coincidence, is it?

Anyhow, I replied....

Yes, once again, a "theory" in science isn't just a "hunch" or "wild guess". E.g...gravitational theory and atomic theory aren't just wild guesses. I don't see anyone complaining that those theories are taught in the science classroom. 

To which the same theist/creationist then asserts... 

IF, the Theory of Evolution were true, then why haven't humans "evolved" for numerous centuries now. If anything, the(sic) have devolved.

Notice that theist/creationist doesn't make it clear whether he's talking about humans (not) evolving in the biological sense as a species, or if he's talking about us (not) evolving sociologically. I get the impression that he intended the latter, since he put quotations around "evolved". But either way, we've most certainly evolved(changed) over time, so his question is as ridiculous as it is false. I mean, consider that we no longer burn "witches" at the stake. Consider that we no longer smear bird's blood on people to cure them of disease. Consider that we no longer keep slaves or throw rocks at rebellious teenagers. Consider that you don't see anyone baking bread over a dung fire on the cooking channel.

And BTW, all of the above is biblically supported and was carried out back when we were, um, more "evolved" than today. Yes, nothing like following the archaic "moral" advice of a bunch of uneducated fisherman who thought that a rape victim should marry her rapist.

In any case, rather than try to convince my creationist interlocutor that he is in error(which we all know is a futile endeavor), I was willing to wipe the theory (and fact) of evolution off the table. IOW, I was willing to throw it out for sake of discussion in the hopes that we could examine his scientific evidence for "creation".

Of course, the astute among us know that when a creationist spends all of his or her time bashing evolution, they likely do this in the hopes that we won't notice that their premise is a big, fat non-sequitur. Yes, when creationists spend all of their time bashing evolution, this is smoke 'n mirrors. That is, they try to divert us in the hopes that we won't notice as they erroneously assume that if they can somehow convince people that evolution is not a legit' theory in science, that this somehow makes their bible's "In the Beginning [yadda, yadda,]" the default "truth", thinking that the "theory" of "Genesis" explains the diversity of life we see today, when in fact, "creation" is neither fact nor theory, and "Genesis" explains no such thing. 

When it comes to the diversity of life we see on this planet, there is not one speck of evidence that "God did it!!!". None; zero; zilch; nadda.

So, as it went, a few more comments were exchanged, and as you might've guessed, the creationist had nary evidence for his "God did it!!!" worldview. However, in true Christian form, he had some insults and threats, bleating.....

Oh, yes [...], you have "won" the debate, oh you well educated man. Believe what you will. I'm just glad to not be you.

 He's no doubt glad to not be me because he's likely under the (mistaken) impression that something really, really bad awaits me for my rejection of his Christian worldview, a view that he likely inherited from his parents, which, of course, is a view that posits that non-believers are going to be tortured unmercifully, 24/7, for all of eternity. Little does he know that I'm about as worried about that happening to me as he worried about getting sent to "Jahannam", which is Islamic "Hell", which, according the "Holy Qu'ran", is what one receives for rejecting "Allah".

IOW, kind sir, I'm not worried in the slightest flippin' bit, since both places exist only in the minds of the duped people who've been handed the family belief-system, whether that be "Islam", or "Christianity".

Cheese 'n Crackers!

Okay. Imagine if you stumbled across a quote that said.....

"When any child daycare facility mistrusts its children with scissors, it's sending a clear message: It no longer trusts its children, because such a daycare facility has evil plans!"

Now, the astute among us of course know that the real and much more likely reason that a daycare doesn't trust its children running around with scissors is that it's for the children's own safety. It's to prevent, or at least, it's to lessen the chances, of accidental injuries. A no-brainer, right? 

Okay, now I present to you the latest in Facebook memes: 

 

Note, while no analogy is perfect, I think the daycare comparison makes a valid and fair point: Just because a governing body regulates something doesn't mean that that governing body has sinister intentions. And BTW, I'm not even sure if it's a legit' quote, and frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't, because, after all, we are talking the National Gun Rights camp, here. Yeah, these are the same people who bring you bits of wisdom like...."Guns don't kill people, people kill people!"

Okay, really? 'Funny, then, that we don't send soldiers to war bare handed! C'mon!....think of the trillions of dollars we'd save in the manufacturing of weapons!?! Cheese 'n crackers!

POE's Law

Okay, if this was a legit' quote, as in, if this woman actually said this, then I'm sorry, but she's a complete idiot. Yes, an idiot. This is not to say that all conservative creationists who disbelieve in the theory (and fact) of evolution are idiots. They aren't. Many are just uninformed or misinformed. 

In any case, I researched this meme and it turns out that it's false---she did not say it. Phew! 

But that sigh of relief is not the point of this post. The point of this post is that I had to research it to find out if it was true or not, because I couldn't tell if it was a parody, or factual, and I couldn't tell, simply because equally idiotic words come from the mouths of creationists every day. This is where POE's law comes into play. POE's Law is where, in lack of a clear indication from the author of a written piece, one cannot tell if the author is being sincere, or being sarcastic, as in, writing a parody. Again, I want to reiterate that I absolutely, positively, do not think that all creationists are stupid. Notwithstanding, I do opine that most (all?) willfully ignorant people are superstitious. IOW, there's a connection there. Thoughts?