I'm sorry but watching this Astrophysicist defend his support of the Biblical story of creation to Professor Blakemore almost gave me an aneurysm.
How much cognitive dissonance does it take for such a highly educated person to make that clumsy circular argument in defense of their support of their abandonment of reason?
I watched their exchange slack jawed.
Oh dear God. Great video for the rest of us who don't abdicate our intelligence to pure faith in the Bible, a book written by men. Believing in a superior being and science is not incompatible unless a person believes the Bible is literal and "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
ReplyDeleteThat water bottle would have to be straight up vodka!
DeleteWhat I don't get is how could this astrophysicist even get a degree? How could he have graduated? I'm stumped.
ReplyDeleteChristian college?
DeleteOh, yeah..right. How silly of me. Liberty College...Oklahoma Baptist College, Oral Roberts University..Alaska Christian College...BYU! Yikes.
DeleteHere's his bio.
Deletehttp://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/j_lisle.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Hovind
Deletethis so called Ph.D is anything but...
nothing more then a nut job with a online degree.
a total fake and scammer
Just because a person has a degree in some really tough field (or even a simple one) doesn't mean that person is INTELLIGENT! It merely means he is educated IN THAT FIELD. There is a major difference between an education and intelligence and they do not have to be combined.
ReplyDeleteI mean, come on. Man is called "intelligent", right? Yeah, right!
It is extremely possible (especially with today's college costs!) to be intelligent, and not necessarily educated. And the reverse is also true. I have met with and had discussions with ministers who supposedly had PhD's in Philosophy (which is what most of them acquire supposedly) who flat refused to even open a book - ANY book - written by Nietzsche! Merely because they accept what they were told which is that he said God is dead. He didn't, but try to get them to accept that!
For the benefit of those who have not read him, he said "God is dead IN THE HEARTS OF MAN! Just a slight difference, wouldn't you say?
A member of our faculty has a PhD in applied math, but believes all kinds of fantasy physics on crystal power and is a pushover for anyone peddling faddish health remedies. The fact is that a PhD means very in depth knowledge about a very very small slice of the universe.
DeleteRight on the money!
DeleteNietzsche was a must read in my philosophy class. He was a very insightful man. One of the things I loved about Ghandi was that he appreciated the great people of other religions and cultures and felt there was something valuable to be learned from them. While he wasn't a Christian, he greatly admired the teachings of Christ.
DeleteI'm in the process of defending a degree in Oceanography. A big part of this process is to demonstrate my understanding of scientific theory and identifying potential bias. There is no way I would have made it through my defense if I suggested that I fit my hypothesis to adhere to predetermined results. A degree is only as good and the integrity of the awarding institution.
DeleteThe Bible is a book of prose; it is NOT a textbook! Understanding the world that God created is what science does and negates nothing written so long ago in the Bible at all! *grumble, mumble, grumble, mumble*
ReplyDeleteO/T
ReplyDeletehttp://www.starspangledbannerchallenge.com/
Help Madison Rising keep the Banner flying and show EVERYONE that you are one of the millions of hard working people in this country who is still proud to be an American.
Why is it impossible for any religious person whether a Muslim, Christian or Jew to prove there is a great creator being without the ability to source their holy book?
ReplyDeleteWEIRD:
ReplyDeleteLook at his hands around 2:48. He's holding them in the same bizarre "V" shape that Sarah Palin does.
Professor Blackmore was much kinder here than I think I would have been. I would have wanted to ask him about specifics regarding what scientific evidence related to evolution did he disagree with? What testing evidence showing fossil age and geographical age related to fossils did he disagree with and could he show what those flaws were using scientific reasoning? Did he believe that those flaws (if he could provide them) extend to all examples of testing, or just those related to evolution? Did he, as a scientist, actually believe the world to only be 6,000 years old? Did he have any scientific evidence that could justify that? While there are a very few scientist that believe in creationism, fewer are able to go along with the young earth theory.
ReplyDeleteI was reminded as I read this of families having to kidnap their family members from religious cults. I think this happened more often in the 70's with the Moonie cult. They had been brainwashed using methods such as sleep deprivation, starvation with little protein and constant mental and emotional bombardment of their ideological message.
Apparently, it doesn't take all that to have your mind overcome reason. All it takes is being convinced through family and friends that religion should take precedence over science. I have found people are completely capable of brainwashing themselves. I have especially found that to be true in politics today. I have right-wing friends who will only watch Fox News, read right-wing blogs and forward on emails that have no bases in reality. When I have been able to prove to them that something isn't true that they have heard or read, they either tell me my information comes from liberal media that lies, or simply pull out another bizarre claim against Obama. It is scary to realize how easily this can happen.
Found this story about a former Moonie cult leader. He describes himself as a independent thinker and an advance honor student. At the time, he didn't think he was being brainwashed. He talks about how quickly and easily it happened, and how his family finally got him out.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/03/moonie-cult-leader
He may be an astrophysicist, but that doesn't mean he could get a meaningful job in his field anywhere else other than at this whackadoodle museum.
DeleteI think Professor Blackmore's restraint was purposeful. When dealing with people like this, it's often best not to allow facts and things (like carbon dating) to muddy the true purpose of this clip, to demonstrate the cognitive dissonance and willful ignorance and leave it to the viewer to come to their own conclusions.
DeleteIn other words, he's practicing the "Don't try to teach a pig to sing" adage.
The creationist is in it for the money. Challenging a non-believer (as if the biblical mandate stood above all others) on his reason ¨why¨ he/she studies science is very telling.
ReplyDeletePeople study and enjoy science because they have not lost their ability to wonder. Wonder is an enemy to creationism.
And because some people on this planet enjoy learning.
For believers in Christ, the debate about creationism versus science isn't a prime focus. But, when the believer reads through the whole OT and NT, it gives the whole perspective on why the world, universe, and man was created. It gives the believer purpose, to know a plan is in the works and that it isn't over when a person dies.
ReplyDeleteEven unbelievers wonder what's it all about. If there was no divine plan and the big bang burst forth, evolving the universe into what we are now, who, what, created that bang? Did matter always exist? Was there no beginning? Was it all blackness? What was the void? Who or what made the void? I consider myself intelligent and the idea that something came out of 'nothing' doesn't satisfy me. It's a fact that no scientist can prove what that 'nothingness' is.
For your last paragraph:
DeleteYET!
Totally what I think as well.
Deletethe bible says everything came from nothing. yet lots of people are fine with that explanation. so when science can't find what was beyond the "nothing" - is science wrong or right?
Deletethis is what happens when you constantly use the bible to "correct" science.
Deletehttp://www.astroillume.com/?p=79
it is an essay by the "brave" creationist astrophysicist. here is a snippet:
Many secular astronomers assume that the universe is infinitely big and has an infinite number of galaxies. This has never been proven, nor is there evidence that would lead us naturally to that conclusion. So, it is a leap of “blind” faith on their part. However, if we make a different assumption instead, it leads to a very different conclusion. Suppose that our solar system is located near the center of a finite distribution of galaxies. Although this cannot be proven for certain at present, it is fully consistent with the evidence; so it is a reasonable possibility.
In that case, the earth would be in a gravitational well. This term means that it would require energy to pull something away from our position into deeper space. In this gravitational well, we would not “feel” any extra gravity, nonetheless time would flow more slowly on earth (or anywhere in our solar system) than in other places of the universe. This effect is thought to be very small today; however, it may have been much stronger in the past. (If the universe is expanding as most astronomers believe, then physics demands that such effects would have been stronger when the universe was smaller). This being the case, clocks on earth would have ticked much more slowly than clocks in deep space. Thus, light from the most distant galaxies would arrive on earth in only a few thousand years as measured by clocks on earth. This idea is certainly intriguing. And although there are still a number of mathematical details that need to be worked out, the premise certainly is reasonable. Some creation scientists are actively researching this idea.
I'd be interested to know which education of higher learning gave this guy his degree...
DeleteDr Lisle and the Creation Museum represent the extreme end of Christianity. Nuns in Catholic school were teaching evolution in the early 60s. They saw it as the way God works, and they were smart enough to know not to take the bible literally on that score.
Here we go: his bio. It boggles the mind that anyone this intelligent could also be this deluded.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/bios/j_lisle.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Hovind
ReplyDeletethis guy is a fucking nut job
This fucking nut job is Eric Hovind, Kent Hovind's son. Kent Hovind is a thieving nut job now in prison.
ReplyDeleteI don't think this museum ( using that term very loosely) is a place my hair of white wool and skin of bronze would be welcome.
ReplyDeleteWhat little I know of the bible, I never heard dinosaurs being present at the creche or on Noah's Ark, unless they were called asses, goats, mules, horses, etc. "The Flintstones" are the closest proof that creationism was real, but "The Flintstones" was a work of fiction that was meant for entertainment purposes.
ReplyDeleteHey, we should all open up our own creation museums. Why? They make money.
ReplyDeleteHow much fun you could have making up shit that people want to believe... And taking their money also!!