The argument from oranges
There are few things more amusing than listening to a theist coming to terms with the Theory of Evolution. As is often the case, there is either complete ignorance (and if honest, an admission to this extent) or an attempt to unify the fact with the dogma.
But this one is in a category of its own and had me laughing hours afterward:
February 17th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
By “theist”, you of course meant “creationist” (or possibly “cdesign proponentsist”).
Yeah, yeah, I know. But the distinction is important. If it wasn’t for theists who actually understand evolution (e.g. Ken Miller), the Dover case might have been lost. So FSM bless them, I say.
February 17th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Tony,
You forgot to enumerate the final option: complete denial of the demonstrable facts and assertion that the Bible is absolutely correct. I’ve experience of such thinking and even when you prove the obvious contradictions in the Bible they simply assert that the circle is square.
As Pseudonym says not all theists are so delusional. The creationists are the most extreme, most wilfully stupid of them. Often smart people made dumb by their ideas.
Steve
February 18th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Pseudonym, Steve,
I agree, I used a poor choice of word there.
I hope it doesn’t detract from the humour
February 18th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Yeah the humour is obvious! The bloke is obviously intelligent but his argument is wilfully stupid - something that religious fundamentalism does to otherwise smart people. Often such people are of above-average intelligence (in my experience) but the price fundamentalism extracts is that they end up behaving very stupidly.
The benefits they receive are a certainty they are rigth and a rigid little system that can explain everything (but don’t look too closely or else you’ll see it actually explains nothing and contradicts the evidence).
Steve