Yet More Evidence Creationism Isn't Science

Last Saturday, the AP carried an article highlighting the limited teaching materials secular parents encounter when homeschooling their children. Because the vast majority of parents who prefer homeschooling are evangelical Christians, they're who the market caters towards. The article focused on the fact that the two bestselling biology textbooks explicitly reject evolution in favor of creationism.

While that certainly makes it tough for secular homeschoolers, I'd rather focus on a passage from the "History of Life" Chapter from one the bestsellers, "Biology: Third Edition" by Bob Jones University Press:

Christian worldview ... is the only correct view of reality; anyone who rejects it will not only fail to reach heaven but also fail to see the world as it truly is.

Two things really get to me about this passage. First, in a book supposedly about about science, the book immediately closes itself off to any sort of science. You can't declare your view the only valid one, and wave off the rest. If that were the case, then we'd still believe the Earth is flat and witches caused cancer. I know the creationists would respond that naturalists do the same for those who don't accept evolution, but they'd be wrong. If a viable alternative to evolution arose, it would receive plenty of consideration. Creationism had its shot, and it's still found severely lacking any sort of merit. That's why it's completely dismissed by actual scientists today. Furthermore, you won't see a legitimate science textbook claiming naturalism is the only correct worldview. It will say that science can only deal with the natural. If you can't test it and observe it, then you can't do any science on it. End of story.

Second, this is a biology book geared towards middle schoolers that features threats of hell. Right there, the author gave up rational argument in favor of fearmongering. Kind of clever really. They're basically saying, "You have to believe what's in this book or you'll be tortured forever." Way to succeed on the merit of your arguments.

When the AP asked about that passage, university spokesman Brian Scoles said the sentence made it into the book because of an editing error and will be removed from future editions.

Yeah, right...editing error. Because that's not at all what you meant or what you believe. Right here is just another piece of evidence that creationism is not science. Even the university realizes the need to cover up an honest disclosure.

This Is Why We Oppose Them

On Monday, the New York Times published an article concerning the role three American evangelicals played in the Uganda's recently proposed anti-homosexuality legislation.

If you don't know the details of the law (full text here), it basically singles out and punishes gays for having homosexual relationships. More specifically, it levies seven years imprisonment on those who engage in same-sex sexual relationships, regardless of their nature and life sentences for "aggravated homosexuality". Even worse, it requires citizens "in authority" to report observed homosexual behavior to the police within 24 hours. Failure to do so would result in prison time or heavy fines. Earlier versions of this bill called for more prison time or death sentences, but these have since been removed due to international threats to reduce Uganda's foreign aid.

Anyway, the New York Times revealed some interesting details regarding the involvement of Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge, and Don Schmierer, all American evangelical Christians. Last March, Uganda held a well attended and broadcast conference exposing "the gay agenda", where the three evangelicals spoke as homosexuality "experts." They covered the usual ignorant crap we're used to hearing in the US: gays want to recruit children, they want to destroy traditional marriage, etc. Nothing new, but in a place like Uganda, where education is uncommon and homophobia is already rampant (a Ugandan government minister recently said, "Homosexuals can forget about human rights, and "corrective" rapes of homosexuals are common in an attempt to turn them straight) it yielded unsettling results.

Now that this bill is making its way through the Ugandan legislature, the Americans involved are now acting shocked at the results of their rhetoric, saying they feel duped and that "Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people." My question is: what the hell did you think was going to happen? You go around telling lesser educated peoples that the gays are coming for their children and act surprised? And way to repay those gay peoples' kindness, jerks. This is a perfect example of why I oppose fundamentalist efforts to oppose their beliefs on others. In the end, their ideology is going to destroy the lives of innocent people.