Join the people of TWL when they raise money for “Atheists Helping the Homeless”. See videos and video description for more information. Watch this video on YouTube SkepticTV will fill a slot from 2-3 am CET and we’ll talk about spooky stuff: Talking with the dead! Watch this video on YouTube Hope to see you all there! DutchLiam
A couple of days ago I received a friend invite on youtube. Since I have a small channel and don’t receive that many invites I always check the channel. This time the invite came from a channel called “maxwellshunt”. A channel about a cute little baby named Maxwell. So far so good.
Interests: God, Jesus Christ, John 3:16, Baby Videos, Pacifiers, Bottles, Breastfeeding, Dunstan Baby Language System, Mommy, Daddy, Brother, Baby Swing, Play Pen, Pack N Play, Baby Talk, Mother Baby Child, 2011, Baby Max, Max,Max & Ruby, Sprout, Elmo, Sesame Street, Christian
Hmmm, God and Jesus are this babies main interests. I’ve sent the parents of this baby a message (somewhere along the lines like this):
Hi Maxwells parents, thank you for your friend invite. Your baby looks very cute. But something struck me….
You probably heard this more than once before: “Animals reproduce after their own kind” as the Bible states. A big problem I, and the entire scientific community, have with this statement is how do you define the word “kind”. In biology, the field I’m most familiar with, “kind” is a meaningless term and is only used in informal discussions. There is no harm in using the word ”kind” as saying that a particular animal, plant etc. is a special kind of animal or plant, usually highlighting a feature that is special to that plant or animal. In recent discussions I listened to or was a part of ; “kind” was more than once introduced by the creationist. When asking for a definition of the word you usually get definitions who are in themselves completely meaningless.
What about him you might ask. A 7 part documentary made by PBS NOVA called Evolution tries to answer this question in the very last part. Among others famous creationist Ken Ham gets to spout his usual dishonesty and ignorance:
Ham: “So what do you say when they tell you it was millions of years ago? Huh? Were you there?”
This famous tactic has been used by our good friend the Arc builder many times. PZ Myers explains to a little girl why this is a very dishonest question.
The primary topic is of course the teaching of Evolution in school and how people of faith deal with it. You’ll hear students, teachers and parents talk about the subject. We discuss these things regularly via youtube comments and good intentions turn into ridicule sooner rather than later. I think the struggle religious people go through is unimaginable for an atheist from birth like me. It shows how strong religious indoctrination actually is. “Evolution is from Satan himself“, “you’ll die unhappy when you want to proof we came from monkeys” are just some of the (non verbatim) quotes I remember well from this documentary.
On a Dutch football forum, or as the Yanks would say a soccer forum (weirdos), I started having a discussion with a Muslim creationist over a year ago. During this year he displayed the usual ignorance and arrogance. He studies law but has read many books and seen many documentaries on Evolutionary Theory, or so he says. Even after every correction he claimed to be right, like a true Dunning-Kruger. The discussion is in Dutch but I will translate the most hilarious comments and mistakes that he made:
1) I’m not denying Evolution exists, it’s just not the Evolutions the scientists talk about.
2) Evolution says it is possible for a black man and a white woman to give birth to a purple child.
3) Seedless grapes grow out of seeds.