Okay so on Saturday Ken Ham, founder of the Creation Museum and the worst thing to happen to children's brains since lead based paint, wrote a post explaining how everybody is wrong to assume that Creationists do not like science.
In fact they LOVE science. Just not the science that scientists understand.
Confused? Me too.
But here let Ham explain it to you:
You see, there are two different kinds of science. Observational science works in the present and is testable, repeatable, and observable. Historical science deals with the past (origins) and is not directly testable, repeatable, or observable. With historical science, the worldview you approach the evidence with is going to determine how you interpret the evidence. Secular scientists start from the perspective that man is the ultimate authority and determines truth, but we start from the view that the Bible is God’s Word and provides the true history of the universe. So we both reach different conclusions when we look at the evidence.
Okay so now do you get it?
The "science" that scientists study is the kind that relies on ridiculous things like facts, reliable testing procedures, and peer review. That kind is much more accessible for really smart people, and makes the brains of less intelligent people hurt like crazy.
However the much easier to understand "historical science" (Which is a term that apparently Ken Ham pulled out of his ass.) simply means that you rely on your faith in the Bible to explain how things work. See? No brain pain.
Ham then goes on to explain that using his "scientific method" puts the whole global warming thing into perspective, and renders it not nearly so frightening:
I want to emphasize that we do not deny climate change. Even Bill Nye continues to spread the false charge against us that we supposedly deny climate change! What we do deny are the worldview-based assumptions behind the interpretations of what causes climate change. Climate change is observational science (we can observe it by recording measurements), but it needs to be interpreted as to why it’s happening—and your starting point determines your interpretation. Starting from the Bible, we know that there was a global Flood a few thousand years ago that completely changed Earth’s surface and climate, and that the earth is still settling down from this catastrophe. So we should expect there to be some variations in climate change, but this is not alarming and is not the direct result of modern human activity.
See that kids?
Sure the earth IS experiencing climate change. However there is no need to worry your ignorant little heads over it because it's really just due to the earth getting its act together after a huge global flood for which there is absolutely NO evidence.
But what am I thinking? What I mean is that there is no "observable science" which proves the existence of Noah's flood. But if you get your information straight from the "historic science" of the Bible, well then everything makes perfect sense.
So don't worry about switching to renewable energy sources, or having to buy an electric car, because God would never allow humans to break the planet he gave us.
And if the oceans do rise, no problem. Because surely God will simply wave his magic wand and give us all gills to help us survive underwater.
Wow, religion really IS the opiate of the masses.
Ham should be locked up and wearing a straight jacket. What an ignorant asshole.
ReplyDeleteAnytime Noah and the ark are mentioned I can't help but think of this Ricky Gervais bit. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Long but worth the watch if you have 15 minutes. He's my favorite Atheist!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8dDqX64FRw
Isn't The Flood story a cautionary tale to begin with? Like, for just this very situation? We misbehave, we get smeared like bugs.
ReplyDeleteHoly shit, Gryph, you're on a roll.
ReplyDeleteBut climate change is preventing the second coming of Jesus:
ReplyDeletehttp://dailycurrant.com/2014/11/14/climate-change-preventing-second-coming-of-jesus-study-says/
If there was a god he'd be really busy punishing all the people doing terrible things in his name, just like he smacked everyone down with the flood and started over from scratch. You can't convince me that the people back then were any more deserving of a good drowning than people are today.
ReplyDeleteHere's what also confuses me. According to the bible we are all descended from Noah and his family because they were so awesome and got to live through the flood and were in charge of repopulating the earth with their awesome spawn.
So what happened? How did we, the inbred spawn of Noah end up being so fucked up, just like the original humans he had to drown with the flood? I mean shit has gone to hell in a hand basket 'round here, don't you think that god, given his past performance, would have cleared the slate once again and started over? According to Ken Ham's "historical biblical science" vengeful god gets pissed when people are acting badly and smites them...seems like he'd have done this a while ago, based on "historical biblical science".
Someone needs to tell Ham that there's no such thing as "historical science" and that no, he doesn't get to redefine science terms in order to build an environment where there's wiggle room for his beliefs to count as "equal" to science.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with guys like Nye is that they're too damn courteous and they don't just shut the bullshit semantic games down right from the start. NEVER let a creationist define their own terms. If they're going to "debunk" science, then they have to do it with an actual understanding of how science works, using the definitions and terms that science accepts. Anything else is an automatic concession of defeat. Period.
I'm fine with people believing what they want to believe, but if they're going to go so far as to mock science using their own ignorance about how science works as "proof" that it doesn't, then they can go suck a turd.
I'm so sick of these idiots trying to build their own infantile strawman science so they can tear it down and pretend they've "won" a "debate". Take away their ability to freely redefine and/or invent terms, call them out when they try to replace facts with snarky platitudes and baseless assumptions, and they've got NOTHING. The "debate" can't even begin because they've already lost.
Someone needs to figure out how to break this distressing trend where stupidity is glorified as though it's some kind of "commonsense savanting". The scientific method trumps redneck gutsy-feely horse-sense. People like Ham should be embarrassed to believe that they can "outsmart" a scientist with a sufficiently snarky bumpersticker slogan.
We need to foster a society that encourages and amplifies that embarrassment so the intellectually stunted can stop holding humanity back from achieving it's fullest potential.
Holy Fuck!
ReplyDeleteHe keeps using the word "science" as if he understands the definition.
ReplyDeletewhat a putz