Creationists struggle with their dead horse.

[txaslftist]

No matter how hard they beat it, it just won't pull the damn cart!

I was watching (bored, admittedly) TV (57 channels, nothing on) when I saw that punky little kid from family ties or webster or whatever it was, you know, Kirk Cameron.

Anyway, apparently he's all grown up and he's a spokesman for Creationism vs. Evolutionism, weighing in on the side of the bible thumpers.

He's on there with some smarmy looking older guy, and they spent the entire time bashing creationism, like...you know, they didn't really find Lucy in Africa, it was really an old arthritic man, there weren't any neanderthals...blah blah blah.

I wonder if he believes the dinosaurs actually existed?

Anyway, I got to thinking, let's just take all evolution out of American Public Schools. Let parents teach it at home. Let's take all the other contraversial subjects like, say, quantum physics, algebra, Spanish, euclidian geometry (which is NOT in the bible), calculus, biology, earth science... etc. Take 'em all out.

Let parents teach their children the theories they believe in, make all of those scientific curricula available on the internet commercially, and see what happens.

I'm thinking natural selection will sort out which theory is better. The bible thumpers will wind up living in trailer parks while those who can compete in an increasingly scientific world will thrive.

Kirk Cameron...sheesh. What an idiot.

[atommom]

1. But alas, the creationists will still produce offspring, so we won't

get the benefits of natural selection this time around. :(

[txaslftist]

2. But my offspring will inherit the stars while theirs will pump gas.

[lapfog_1]

5. One of the reasons I would like to eliminate

seat belt laws and bike helmet laws... we really need
to give natural selection a chance to work, preferably
BEFORE they reproduce...

(this is all in fun folks! Just a bit of sarcasm.)

[Occulus]

3. We should confront Creationism with MWI

The "Many Worlds Interpretation" of quantum physics:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-manyworlds/

The fundamental idea of the MWI, going back to Everett 1957, is that there are myriads of worlds in the Universe in addition to the world we are aware of. In particular, every time a quantum experiment with different outcomes with non-zero probability is performed, all outcomes are obtained, each in a different world, even if we are aware only of the world with the outcome we have seen. In fact, quantum experiments take place everywhere and very often, not just in physics laboratories: even the irregular blinking of an old fluorescent bulb is a quantum experiment.

There are numerous variations and reinterpretations of the original Everett proposal, most of which are briefly discussed in the entry on Everett's relative state formulation of quantum mechanics. Here, a particular approach to the MWI (which differs from the popular "actual splitting worlds" approach in De Witt 1970) will be presented in detail, followed by a discussion relevant for many variants of the MWI.

The MWI consists of two parts:

1. A mathematical theory which yields evolution in time of the quantum state of the (single) Universe.
2. A prescription which sets up a correspondence between the quantum state of the Universe and our experiences.

Part (i) is essentially summarized by the Schrödinger equation or its relativistic generalization. It is a rigorous mathematical theory and is not problematic philosophically. Part (ii) involves "our experiences" which do not have a rigorous definition. An additional difficulty in setting up (ii) follows from the fact that human languages were developed at a time when people did not suspect the existence of parallel worlds. This, however, is only a semantic problem.

Let's put their tails in the fire. I bolded those words because mathematics..... is provable. ;)

[Ian David]

9. So the fundies should just assume that Evolution is true in OUR reality

and leave us alone, content in the fact that in some other quantum reality the universe was made by God.

It makes as much sense to me as believing in an un-seeable afterlife!

[Occulus]

10. except math is heavily involved here

that's the true difference. It's actually a theory that's easy to consider, to wrap one's mind around.

Schrodinger's Cat... could be true.

So.... in another universe... hmmmm......

Anything is possible. :)

[txaslftist]

13. You can't confront someone with something they can't understand

[BOSSHOG]

4. They are not happy being free to "believe"

what they want to believe. They want to force everyone to "believe" what they believe. And one of their sad pathetic "beliefs" is that what they believe trumps truth and light and scientific evidence. I'm standing ready when the fight over my constitution begins. Hell hath no fury like a veteran watching someone fuck with the document he swore to protect and defend against all enemies.

[drm604]

15. One of their latest tactics

is equipping families with books, DVDs, and a list of "10 questions to ask your biology teacher." There's a DU thread about it here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1441566

[earthboundmisfit]

6. If they realize that Muslims were responsible for most math & science

discoveries & enlightenment, they'll REALLY shit a brick. Will likely use that as "proof" the sciences are anti-xtian. "I always KNEW analytic geometry was of the devil... especially when I hadn't studied for the test..."

[booksenkatz]

7. Bet * could get that horse going with a good milkin'. NT

[HockeyMom]

8. Exactly what they do want and advocate

Home Schooling. Scrap Public Schools totally, home schooling is best, and as a second choice, a good CHRISTIAN (of course) Private School.

[gratuitous]

11. Oy! Kirk Cameron

I'd use his IMDB page to scare my kid into eating healthy and studying hard, if I had any kids:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0131647/

THIS is what could happen to you if you don't finish your salad and get your homework done!

I'd probably have to answer to the DCF, though.

It could be worse for Cameron, though. He could be Willie "Bibleman" Aames. :scared:

[noonwitch]

12. I saw Kirk going off about gays the other day on his TBN show

He has a reporter who does on the spot interviews with people about their religious views. This day the topic was homosexuality. the interviewer was talking to a gay guy, who seemed confident in his religious faith and that his sexual preference was not going to get him condemned to hell. The interviewer told him he was banking his eternal life on it, and the guy said, yeah, I guess I am. He seemed comfortable with it.

Not so fast, says Kirk Cameron. It seems this guy, while he was saved, is living in a fool's paradise. He's ignoring his sin for his own convenience.

I wish to hell Kirk had played the kid named "Boner". It would make things so much fun now.

[txaslftist]

16. You know he has to be in the closet.

[drm604]

14. Kirk Cameron

What I've heard is that he became a fundy while still acting on the sitcom "Growing Pains". People say that he became a real pain to work with at that point, insisting on script changes and even refusing to do certain scripts if they clashed with his beliefs. :crazy: