The Palinotologists are back. A Kansas school district is refusing to back down from a plan for mandatory assemblies featuring a creationist group to explain the history of dinosaurs. Despite overwhelming data and testing showing the world is millions of years old, many creationists insist that Earth is only a few thousand years old. Dinosaurs represent a bit of a problem of course. The solution, as famously stated by that American intellectual Sarah Palin, is that men co-existed with dinosaurs. Hugoton Public Schools invited Creation Truth Foundation’s founder Dr. G. Thomas Sharp to teach the “Truth about Dinosaurs” at two assemblies. Hugoton Public Schools superintendent Mark Crawford however insists that students must hear about science from this biblically based group.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has warned the district that such assemblies cross the line into religious indoctrination. The group is committed to a biblical understanding of dinosaurs. The group features such sites as “Darwin was wrong” to correct fundamental misunderstandings of evolution. The group however denounces science as a threat to faith:
The basic reason for these problems, however, is the absence of belief in the Bible as basic truth, especially within the realm of science. If one cannot believe the Bible is true in one area, then the Bible’s authority in all areas is questionable. Therefore, believing in the scientific and historic truth of the Bible is pivotal to belief in God’s Word as absolute Truth.
Crawford refused to the cancel the event by insisting the group will not teach creationism. However, this is a religiously based group that rejects evolution and is committed to denying evolution. Why ask this group? The group treats dinosaurs as seductive items used by secularists (he spends a huge amount of time arguing with Jurassic Park, the movie).
In this video, Thomas works to convince people that there is no more objective basis for evolution than creationism so you can simply pick one over the other. It is full of misrepresentations of the geological and paleontological records. He insists that God made “God’s Gospel lizards” on day six and they were taken on the ark by Noah (but just “young folks” among the dinosaurs):
Thomas denounces those who ignore the key of Adam’s sin in this record as his concept of science and resisting the secular conspiracy to “dumb down” students. The use of such a science-denying group to teach about dinosaurs is shocking. Kansas has a huge dinosaur collection and countless experts. Yet, Crawford found this group?
It is difficult to find much of Crawford’s background beyond his degrees from Emporia State University, Wichita State University, and Southwestern College.
As for Thomas, his scientific knowledge comes from B.S. (Bachelor of Science) from Purdue University, obtained a Master’s at the University of Oklahoma, and a Ph.D from South Florida Bible College and Seminary. In the video above, Thomas asks the crowd if they ever wondered why science used Latin (and the metric system) rather than English to confuse and disadvantage laypersons in understanding it. The lecture turns back to the Bible to show that it was accurate and mentioned dinosaurs by other terms like dragons. He also tells people that there are “lots of evidence” of dinosaurs living with men that prove that they were created by God the day before the creation of man. The lecture is actually fascinating in how pseudo-scientific claims can be twisted to suggest an objective basis to disprove evolution and to show that the “biblical view” is the only true view.
Coming to a Kansas school near you . . .
Source: Raw Story
Now I am being to see the Flinstones in a whole different light….. Was it real….A depiction of Historical accounts…. Gotta be….
I would laugh through the entire presentation!
Coming soon; a Kansas court case of parents suing a school district after their child flunks Science over Earth age, definition of Epochs, etc. I look forward to the rulings.
In the quote they say:
“If one cannot believe the Bible is true in one area, then the Bible’s authority in all areas is questionable. Therefore, believing in the scientific and historic truth of the Bible is pivotal to belief in God’s Word as absolute Truth.”
I would state, as a Christian, that the Bibles authority in all areas is questionable. I have asked questions, and received good answers which satisfy me in the areas that I consider to matter.
Therefore, I do not consider their statement beginning ‘Therefore’ to be a true argument following their previous statement.
Just because something is questionable, does not mean it is not true; the aim of the questions is to determine the truth or falsehood of what is being questioned.
The Nicene Creed, (http://anglicansonline.org/basics/nicene.html) which is a statement of what Christians believe, has no need to mention creation occurring in a specified time period. If God is all powerful, then he is just as capable of creating the universe over billions of years, and creating man via evolution, as he is of making it all in an instant, as a complete and finished product.
Mike S.
Happy Earth Day!
Some folks don’t know much about the Earth, including its history and that if we kill it we axiomatically kill ourselves as well.
Bron, There was an interesting piece in the NYT about Denmark, which has an uber nanny govt. People are now realizing it just leads to “no accounts” bleeding hard working people to death. “Sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”
It is amazing how much money school districts are willing to lose by the lawsuits they have to defend because of this kind of idiocy
Sarah Palin based her beliefs on watching The Flinstones.
Why is it that if a school insisted on teaching students 1 + 1 = 3 there would be a row but teaching creationism as science is accepted by many as being legitimate academics?
Now the forces of politics and face has taken hold. The lawsuit by the ACLU will probably be inevitable. When stupidity, small man syndrome, politics, and bureaucratic arrogance are combined they will never back down despite convincing evidence and conventional wisdom that it would be the best course of action.
THe only thing that will stop that is if some higher authority to them puts an end to it. But if not, the suit will happen, the school will pay out considerable money, then they will insist the ACLU is the evil bad guy and will work to implement some smoke and mirrors trick to continue doing what they just got sued over. And then the suit will happen again.
This is what happens when the stupid get into positions such as politics or bureaucracies.
“God damn, that is like believing soicalism works.”
Bron,
Or like believing Ayn Rand wasn’t a sociopath, or that Von Mises was an economist. Strange how delusional beliefs about science are akin to delusional beliefs about economics. 🙂
I hope they do receive the lecture with gales of laughter.
Bad form? No, no. More like “appropriate”.
Would it be ”bad form” to stand up in the middle of the assembly and laugh in their faces???
This is only the latest round in this battle for who gets to define reality. Wait until the Koch’s purchase your local newspaper.
Can I bring my Dinosaur dollie to school????
The UN Convention On The Rights Of The Child attempts to prevent children being considered ‘possessions’. As such, parent’s are the guardians of children and there are defined rights for their well-being.
This includes not subjecting children to abusive brainwashing of this kind.
Pity the USofA hasn’t bothered to ratify it.
Does the bible say how long a day is?
Do these people really believe man and dinosaurs existed at the same time? God damn, that is like believing soicalism works.
Jonathan,
I found the following article recently when I was doing some research on the myth of the Loch Ness monster:
Loch Ness Monster seen as real dinosaur in biology books taught in Louisiana school
The startling claim about Nessie’s authenticity is reportedly made to bolster creationism within the textbook. The Loch Ness Monster is described as a type of dinosaur, and if dinosaurs and man co-exist, then presumably there would be holes in the scientific argument for evolution.
Comments (36)
By Erik Ortiz / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/loch-ness-monster-real-dinosaur-biology-books-taught-louisiana-school-article-1.1102340
Excerpt:
The Scottish legend of the Loch Ness Monster is suggested as truth in a biology book that a private Christian school in Louisiana is using in its curriculum.
But that’s only part of the outrage from critics: Students who are eligible for taxpayer-funded vouchers will be allowed to attend Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake for the 2012-13 school year, according to reports.
The startling claim about Nessie’s authenticity is made to bolster creationism within the textbook, the Scotsman newspaper reported Monday. The Loch Ness Monster is described as a type of dinosaur, and if dinosaurs and man co-exist, then presumably there would be holes in the scientific argument for evolution.
The textbook, produced by Accelerated Christian Education, features a passage about the Loch Ness Monster in the Biology 1099 edition, Scotland’s The Herald reported.
“Are dinosaurs alive today? Scientists are becoming more convinced of their existence,” the textbook reads, according to the newspaper.
“Have you heard of the ‘Loch Ness Monster’ in Scotland? ‘Nessie’ for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur.”
Bruce Wilson, who blogs about religion and right-wing politics, estimates 200,000 students who receive publicly-funded vouchers are learning from such a curriculum. Louisiana’s voucher program will allow poor and middle-class children to attend private schools.