I've been reading On The Origin of Species which has been inspiring me to post more evolution related lectures and debates. I've read quite a few books on evolution so its interesting to go back to the source. Darwin's work is still highly relevant and engaging so it's been good to revisit it. This post is also a response to the last debate I posted, where the imitable "Dr." Hovind convinced us so effectively of creationism's truth. In other news, my band is leaving for tour today, so posts may get a little spaced out for the next two weeks.
This classic debate between Kent Hovind and Michael Shermer pits creationism against evolution as if they were two equally scientific ideas. Creationism, as Shermer repeatedly says in his rebuttals, is not science and not even close to being on equal footing. Just slapping the word science before or after a term does not make it so. We all know and love Shermer (he has some of his hair left in this debate!), founder of Skeptic magazine and author of Why People Believe Weird Things. I decided to look into Kent Hovind and his credentials to which I was immediately ROTFL (excuse my internet vernacular). From his Wikipedia article:
In 1988 and 1991 respectively, Hovind was awarded a master's degree and doctorate in Christian Education through correspondence from the non-accredited Patriot University in Colorado Springs, Colorado (now Patriot Bible University in Del Norte, Colorado, which no longer offers this program).[9]
Having a website called "Dr. Dino" has provoked some academics to look
closely at how Hovind presents his education and credentials. Chemistry professor Karen Bartelt has said that it is "very unusual for a person with a Ph.D., even a real one, to list oneself in the phonebook as "Dr Hovind", as Hovind has done."[10] [emphasis in original]. Barbara Forrest, a professor of philosophy, expert on the history of creationism and activist in the creation-evolution controversy, wrote that Hovind's lack of academic training makes it impossible to engage him on a professional level.
Other critics of Hovind have pointed out that Patriot Bible University is a diploma mill,
as it has unreasonably low graduation requirements, lack of sufficient
faculty or educational standards, and a suspicious tuition scheme.[12][13]
The school's current policies allow students to attain bachelor's
degrees, master's degrees, and even "Doctor of Ministry" degrees in
months, rather than years, for as little as $25 per month. Currently
Patriot offers a monthly fee, unlike most universities, which only
charge per-credit fees.[14]
Bartelt has stated that Hovind's doctoral dissertation is evidence of the poor requirements at Patriot and that Hovind lacks knowledge of basic science.
Also, most hilarious, since January 2007 "Dr." Hovind has been serving out part of a 10 year prison sentence for a litany of charges.
...after being convicted of 58 federal counts, including 12 tax offenses,
one count of obstructing federal agents, and 45 counts of structuring cash transactions. He is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution at Berlin, New Hampshire.
This level of hypocrisy is astounding. It's somewhat reminiscent of the recent wire fraud charges brought against skeptical podcaster Brian Dunning. However Dunning doesn't espouse a hardline stance on biblical morality so I would say his case doesn't display nearly as much duplicity of character.
Often considered a pioneer of bebop, Charlie Parker was a confirmed atheist. Often referred to simply as "The Bird", he struggled with heroin addiction while putting out some of the greatest jazz recordings of all time. He died from a heart attack when he was 34 years old and the coroner mistook his age for being 50 to 60. Remember, don't do drugs kids. Miles Davis said, "You can tell the history of jazz in four words: Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker." An atheist bebop soundtrack for filling out your pro-fluoride ballot, awwww yeaaahhh.
Sorry for the long wait between posts. I usually wait an arbitrary amount of time between posts when I write a large fluoridation essay because the blog tends to get link dropped. I'm going to be fairly relieved when this damn vote is over. I've been wearing my pro-fluoride button which tends to get me into hilarious debates with passionate antis. Sometimes I'm in the mood for it and sometimes I'm not but I still haven't heard any argument that sounds rational or logical yet. The anti-campaign seems to have resorted to just saying "NOOO!" instead of engaging in rational argument. Another side effect of these high profile anti-science campaigns is that the online skeptical groups become awash with people name calling and attacking science-based thinking. They often purport to be "skeptical" but they are one-trick ponies, there only for countering arguments on this one issue. The momentary relief between campaigns draws near and we can all go back to posting Neil deGrasse Tyson videos and poking fun at religion.
