He presents it as inarguable fact, and does so while mocking the VERY idea of evolution to a room full of very impressionable, extremely young children who are still in that very trusting stage of their lives, where they believe that grownups know everything.
Now Ken Ham, and his Crocodile Dundee wannabe cohort Buddy Davis, do NOT present evidence that is backed up by scientific research and has been exposed to rigorous peer review by their peers, no they present their argument based SOLELY on their faith that the Bible is the infallible, unerring word of God.
That is not science, and should NEVER be presented as such, yet we are seeing the effort to force it into our public school classrooms in states all over the south. The latest being Tennessee, which has JUST passed a law forcing public school teachers to teach "alternatives to mainstream scientific theories" to subjects such as evolution and global warming.
The reality is that there is NO reasonable alternative to evolution in science. At least not a version of "science" which does not glean its facts from a book written thousands of years ago by primitive desert people.
These people do not even understand the mechanism behind how science works, which is easily explained in the following comic.
I think you know my answer.
Indoctrination...yes. Child abuse...not even close to the atrocities some children experience.
ReplyDeleteThere are many forms of child abuse. Including emotional, psychological, victims of neglect, physical injury is not the only way to traumatize children.
DeleteI was indoctrinated and now, as an adult, I recognize I was abused. When I would question catholic doctrine, I was told my mind "was of the devil". Thst's abuse.
DeleteBear in mind, Gryphen, this is not what all Christian churches teach the children. You are surrounded by these delusional, anti-science maroons, so it must appear that all religious groups teach this crap. I agree that this type of ignorant indoctrination is disturbing in the least.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you WakeUpAmerica. Gryphen you are painting all religions with the same brush. You are using a conclusion to paint all religion ignorant. That is just not so.
DeleteSpeaking only for myself I find it's pretty tough for us Atheists to be tolerant of anything that requires such a leap of faith. We tend to focus on facts and because of that all religions tend to be the same for us.
DeleteThat cartoon epitomizes the entire GOP plan..come to a conclusion "Obama is not a citizen," "Obamacare will cost more and kill people" and then make up whatever they can to
ReplyDelete'prove' their point. The people who have never been taught to think listen to these 'facts' and just nod their heads. I see it on blogs everyday.
And these children who are being forcefed lies will grow up to be rigid thinkers with no sense of truth, and that is evidently ust what the GOP wants them to be..useful idiots.
I don’t know if it’s child abuse, but they’re forcing the kids into a slow start. The smarter ones may throw that creationism aside, eventually, and then avoid the misleading adults, to avoid the drama, even if they are elderly parents with great needs… seen it! The less intelligent ones will find a likeminded community and hole up there.
ReplyDeleteForward thinking vs. backward thinking; Karen Armstrong wrote The Battle for God. I may read that again.
Sorry for the off topic post, but this one's going to go viral pretty soon as it should: http://www.mediaite.com/online/ann-romneys-birthday-dinner-brought-to-you-by-man-who-was-once-arrested-for-barbecuing-a-dog/
ReplyDeleteI think it should be illegal. Teaching children b.s. is acceptable, yet women making decisions about their bodies is not acceptable. Some parts of the US are seriously retarded (there goes that word again)
ReplyDeleteWhat is probably good to know - many of these children will grow up and release the stupid they were taught. I believe it is easier to recover from than physical abuse.
This is brainwashing. It's a page out to the Cultural Revolution - just replace the Little Red Book with the Holy Bible.
ReplyDeleteI actually don't mind the idea of teaching "all sides of the debate", just don't do it IN science class. Science class is for teaching science. Have a separate, dispassionate course that examines ALL belief systems equally. Of course, even THAT would be an outrage to Christians. "How dare you indoctrinate our children in Hinduism!" they'd rant.
ReplyDeleteYou just can't fix people who are that broken Gryph. They've chosen their fairytale and are willing to die (or kill) to protect it. Reminds me of The Matrix.
Apparently, their God gave them a questioning, analytical mind so that they could prove their faith by turning it off. And it offends them when the rest of us do not follow suit because deep down they realize our very existence promotes the idea that they might be wrong.
All this morons who want to declare that Science is bogus - fine, it is a free country - but they should not be allowed to shove it down the throats of all children in a school setting - let them opt out of schools for their children, and also they should be forced to opt out of anything else that relies on science - medical treatments, prepared foods, etc etc etc - after all if science is evil, why are they enjoying the fruits of the evil scientists!
ReplyDeleteThese idiots just get me so angry **deep breath and climbs down off soap box**
This is child abuse. Commitments of faith, particularly those that have strong implications like not seeing doctors and such, aren't something a child is ready for.
ReplyDeleteA good guideline is: Can they drive? Can they vote? Can they drink?
IMHO, even those things are too early, because our mental capacity for higher order reason isn't fully mature, in most people, until the mid 20's, and for some significantly longer.
Our brilliance is in our youth. We are forming into people at that time, and our ability to reason, socialize, and just be is impacted by our experiences as children.
Adults have a basic responsibility to our kids, the same as our parents did for us; namely, to get us to adult-hood happy, healthy, vital, and not stigmatized such that our life choices are available to us as free people, same as anyone else.
Attempting to deny young people the experiences and information needed to self-identify as the people they are is a basic crime on the person, and something that can, and usually does, cause a considerable amount of mental difficulty in adulthood.
Repression, open discrimination of others, confusion over one's identity, inability to experience and operate on empathy for others, and the list goes on...
Some cultures remain ignorant. The wild mountain people in their tribes is one example. They've not yet really made contact, and our basic ethics mandate we don't force that on them, until they feel it's necessary, or unavoidable, but that's nobody in the political discussion today.
We are not an ignorant society, and the attempts to frame us as such are all about doing unto others.... with a twist!!
Do what was done to you, not the same thing most people are thinking right now, is it?
So yeah, total abuse. Attempts to preserve and promote regressive norms in a very expensive way. That's what this all is. They don't even want the kids to ask the questions, let alone be capable of understanding or dealing with the answers.
Not cool. Every kid deserves the basic education and socialization necessary for them to self-identify and understand who they are. Denying people that is wrong, and deeply offensive.
I would argue criminal.
I dunno, Gryphen, you might be wrong on this one. Afterall, Jeebus tells us:
ReplyDelete"Evolution, schmevolution!"
Endometriosis 3:24
Read your bible, dude. Everything, and I literally mean EVERYTHING, you ever need to know about living in the 4th century is right there in black and white, also, too. Fifteenth century? Not so much. 21st century? C'mon. As Balki Bartokomous tells us:
"Don't be ridiculous."
Microcephalus 6:21
It's bad practice, and as Darlene wrote above, it gets children off to a slow start, saddling them with a disadvantage they'll bear until they learn the truth. But the video doesn't show anything that meets the criteria for abuse--psychological, emotional, or otherwise.
ReplyDeleteIf you're a mandated reporter and you telephone CPS to report something of this nature, you will quickly learn that unless there is some form of physical abuse or medical neglect taking place, parents can teach their children whatever nutty religious beliefs they choose.
Long ago in a state far away, I reported concerns about a child in my class whose parents couldn't understand the nature of her learning disability, and insisted it was "of the devil." CPS dismissed my report, until I learned that an "exorcism" was planned for the child at the fundamentalist church the family intended. Then they intervened, because there is ample documentation of children being physically and emotionally harmed during so-called cleansing rituals carried out by self-styled exorcists.
I wasn't privy to all the details, but the family clearly benefited from counseling, and later even took an active role in planning and supporting the girl's IEP.
The men in this video don't seem sincere. Probably for them it's just a power trip. They remind me of celebs like Kirk Cameron and Stephen Baldwin. After these actors' careers tanked, they miraculously became evangelicals and changed their show biz focus from legitimate acting to evangelical drama.
I don't see any abuse, but I did see something funny. That lady saying "the bible just makes more sense to me than science". Science hard. lol
ReplyDeleteYou don't get Ken Ham. he's a shyster out to make as many bucks as he can from religion. He's obviously too smart to believe the fucking garbage he spews.
ReplyDeleteYou're right to say he's using this as a scheme to make big money. But you're wrong on the other point: He absolutely believes every word of his own bs. Absolutely believes it. He was raised to believe it.
Delete-OzMud
Haha these buffoons don't even know how to read their own scriptures! In Job 40:17 where it says:
ReplyDelete"He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together."
This is a reference to the penis and testicles of a large mammal!!
Ken Ham had a vision alright. A vision to make a shitload of money. He was forced to take his Creationist roadshow to the US because nobody in Australia with any sense or cash would back his crazy-ass scheme of building a Christ-walked-with-Dinosaurs carnival.
ReplyDeleteI personally know his mother. She reminds me of the religious fanatic mother in the movie Carrie. Seriously. So while I absolutely have no sympathy for Ken & his cohorts indoctrinating innocent kids with his religious crap - I at least have a bit of empathy for him as I'm pretty sure he's just passing along his own familial indoctrination.
-OzMud
I do think it's indoctrination and child abuse of the worse kind. If it's written in the Bible, it has to do with religion and belief, but thankfully not all religions and beliefs fall for snake oil salesmen.
ReplyDeleteScience doesn't rely on faith in one holy book, as a matter of fact it doesn't rely on faith at all, which is why I consider this child abuse.
Someone along the way will have to work hard to undo the damage that teaching Creationism and lack of the basic tools of learning real science they should be learning.
But, hey, if you're teaching it in a Church or Religious school, I have no problem with it. When my tax dollars or my kids are involved, even tangentially, that's where I draw the line.
Teach it in Creative Writing, but even that is a stretch.
Who created the creator?
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking that I were a teacher who was forced to teach "intelligent design", I'd be teaching it alongside every freaking creation myth that I could dig up in the literature. Zorastrianism, Balinese Animism, Ancient Greek religion, you name it. Let's see what the bible thumpers would think about teaching religion in the schools THEN. And then I found it - a group of parents sued a Pennsylvania school district in 2005 over limiting the teaching of alternative creation theries to only Judeo-Christian myths. And they won. Here's a link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.livescience.com/11316-top-10-intelligent-designs-creation-myths.html
Boy, how I love "teh Googles!"