tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post247119542582309336..comments2024-03-21T19:12:11.065-07:00Comments on Every Day Is Like Wednesday: (Not a comics) Review: Ken Ham's Creationism-for-kids book, Dinosaurs of EdenCalebhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01391759187396994380noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-90005637097388743432014-05-05T10:22:57.501-07:002014-05-05T10:22:57.501-07:00Creationists believe in natural selection...they j...<i>Creationists believe in natural selection...they just think it only takes an extremely short time to work, then, and it isn't part of evolution, which doesn't exist...?</i><br /><br />This actually goes back to something you mentioned earlier:<br /><br /><i>"Although scientists have made up over 600 names for dinosaurs, there were probably less than 50 actual KINDS of dinosaurs. </i><br /><br />Ham means something VERY PARTICULAR with that word "KINDS" here. He's making that word do a boatload of work. Basically the idea is that there are certain "kinds" of animals and while something very similar to evolution via selection goes on to produce the variation we see today, all canines are of one kind, all felines are of one kind, all lizards are of a handful of kinds, all birds are of a handful of kinds, and so on. <br /><br />The idea being that evolution via natural selection postulates change that happens over millions of years, which can't be right because of <i>Ken Ham's particular reading of the bible that he calls a literal reading</i>. But obviously Noah couldn't take two of every goddamn animal species into the ark because the Bible doesn't mention Noah's TARDIS technology either, and Ham's very personal reading of the Genesis narrative won't allow him to add that to the story.<br /><br />The conundrum is solved by pretending to literally read the KJV of Genesis 6:20 where the translation reads "of fowls after their kind and cattle after their kind of every creeping thing on earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee...". By parsing that in the most lawyerly fashion possible you can come up with the ultimate No Prize - a reading that lets you fit all of the animals into the ark without the need for God to magically intervene! Instead of there being pairs of all of the animals, there are now just pairs of all of the different <i>kinds</i> of animals. And then species variation to allow all the different felines to appear and all of the different canines to appear and all of the different bovines to appear and all of the different ursines to appear (and so on) occur over the course of the next 4000 years.<br /><br />Because, really, believing that is closer to a literal reading of the Bible than the idea that God could just miraculously just make it so that all of the animals could fit, isn't it? (I do not understand why these hyper-religious people refuse to fall back onto "it was a miracle!" as their explanation. It's unfalsifiable, and it's supported by the text at least as much as Ham's ridiculous "kinds" logic is. I can only assume it's because that would make it so obviously religious that you'd never be able to pretend it was science and smuggle it into public school classrooms to teach, but since I don't understand why they keep trying to do THAT either, I'm at an impasse.)Jerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10060430253113856206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-14212705379335871062014-04-30T12:49:13.714-07:002014-04-30T12:49:13.714-07:00My mind is officially boggled.
So...so boggled.My mind is officially boggled.<br /><br />So...so boggled.SallyPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05592635194271250605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-60530389544592320882014-04-30T12:40:40.948-07:002014-04-30T12:40:40.948-07:00This is a really good review of the book, and I...This is a really good review of the book, and I'd say it's actually important that you wrote it. While this book seems like a trifle, the fact is creationism is becoming more popular. While you can believe whatever you want, guys like Ham want to shape the discussion in a way that it governs policy. That policy also includes research grants for scientific work. Creationism is slowly poisoning science because it makes it hard for real scientists to be heard since they have to talk over the loud yelling of loons like Ham; people that don't know anything about biology and are proud of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-76247213688871594172014-04-30T12:04:35.785-07:002014-04-30T12:04:35.785-07:00I also was raised in a fundamentalist church/Chris...I also was raised in a fundamentalist church/Christian school, and they actually taught this kind of stuff in our science books, which kind of boggles my mind now that I know better.<br /><br />If you want more examples of bizarre Christian ideas about dinosaur extinction, from what I recall, one theory (for the Christian definition of "theory", rather than the scientific one) is that the atmosphere on Earth was different before the flood, containing more water (this is what is meant by the "firmament" mentioned in the creation story), and it never actually rained before the flood (which is why nobody had ever seen a rainbow before that). After the flood, the climate changed and became drier, and dinosaurs could no longer survive, so that's why they went extinct. Insanity!<br /><br />Also, the reason God couldn't have created the universe just before the Big Bang and let it play out is that evolution is antithetical to his philosophy, being based on death via natural selection, and death wasn't introduced into the world until Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. What, you think that stuff about the apple was a metaphor? You've gotta take all that shit literally, dammit! Metaphors are lies! Every single word in this ancient document must be taken at face value!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13867868039166531163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-8099786748458527662014-04-30T07:23:34.194-07:002014-04-30T07:23:34.194-07:00Just wanted to thank you for posting this. Really ...Just wanted to thank you for posting this. Really well written and thought out.denis.tsuihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15840927735756829541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-50085826441927913362014-04-30T06:29:29.617-07:002014-04-30T06:29:29.617-07:00Awesome, Caleb, just awesome. Ken Ham is utterly i...Awesome, Caleb, just awesome. Ken Ham is utterly insane and the more people point that out the more likely his influence in popular discourse about science will wane--of which there shouldn't even be any influence because his ideas are based in zero science.<br /><br />Ever since that Creationist Museum was founded I have wanted to go if for no other reason than I would probably find it hilarious. I can't stand the idea of paying to attend it and supporting Ham in any form whatsoever though.David Charles Bitterbaumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00112993605550278929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-29435744079857490692014-04-30T06:25:23.311-07:002014-04-30T06:25:23.311-07:00I can vouch for the existence of the fundamentalis...I can vouch for the existence of the fundamentalist lunatics who think this is true, because I was raised by them. Not only do they think T-Rex & humans were buddies, & that Triceratops was "nature's bulldozer" & predator teeth are for cracking fruit pits, but they don't even believe in the historical records of dog breeding. Obvious lies from the pit! <br /><br />& you know, all the usual witch-hunt moral panic stuff; secular music will possess you, Dungeons & Dragons is actual Satanic how-to, wearing black is the sign of witchcraft, the whole nine years. I have a bunch of these books still, given to me to try to brainwash me at a young age.mordicaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05713766652793265867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-63257443928815774862014-04-29T21:14:37.718-07:002014-04-29T21:14:37.718-07:00I love that you reviewed this book, if only becaus...I <i>love</i> that you reviewed this book, if only because I am a Christian who read a similar book while I was still a kid.<br /><br />Funnily enough, while I was home schooled I was reading so many dinosaur books that I pieced it together that evolution and God's creating the world weren't mutually exclusive. "Why couldn't God just will the primordial soup into being?" I thought, and that was that.<br /><br />Having Ken Ham debate Bill Nye was . . . something I have mixed feelings about. He was probably the worst representative of logical Christianity they could've chosen, but at the same time this led to many of my friends publicly distancing themselves from him and his teachings, and I believe many others did as well.<br /><br />My two concluding thoughts are that yes, the whole world would be a better place if we were more like Jesus [a multitude of church congregations included] and that I also totally want to check out that wacky Creationist Museum.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28855039.post-23533689266319866932014-04-29T21:04:17.450-07:002014-04-29T21:04:17.450-07:00Great post, Caleb. Great post, Caleb. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com