Amanda Marcotte nails it

At Raw Story, Amanda Marcotte has a great post about the documentary, "Questioning Darwin". In the movie, creationists are allowed to speak their mind without anyone putting them down. And that ends up being pretty scary. These people are frightened. I'm going to excerpt the same section PZ highlighted on his blog:

By going back and forth between creationists and Darwin’s life story, the documentary crafts a compelling image of the conflict between two world views: That of curiosity and that of incuriosity/fear. I agree with the New York Times reviewer that the creationists are presented non-judgementally, but as these clips amassed by Gawker make clear, the creationists do all the work for you anyway. There’s a pastor explaining he would have to accept it if the Bible said “2+2=5″ and people talking, over and over again, about the strategies they have to employ to shut down their minds in the event that they’re presented with an opportunity to think more broadly.  The major emotion that comes off them in waves is that of fear: Fear of asking questions, fear of the “world” (which is always talked about negatively), fear of difference, fear that thinking might lead them into dark places, fear that they really aren’t special that manifests in making up a God who loves you so you never have to go a moment without that feeling, fear that they will fall into the abyss without blind obedience to authority, and, of course, fear of death.

Is that perfect or what?

Good creationism article at Slate

I always enjoy a good evisceration of the creationist stance, and this one does the job admirably. It's by Mark Joseph Stern.

One thing jumped out at me:

True believers yearn for the rest of us to be locked up in the same mental prison where they have consigned themselves and their children.

Yes, indeed. And this is the basis of their jealous rage against atheists. How dare atheists and other free folks not consign themselves to a equally horrible prison? This gets on their nerves. It's why old religious guys are always telling people they're going to hell. (Note the glee in their eyes as they say this!) They so want this to be true. Because if it's not, they've lived their entire lives in a squalid prison for absolutely no reason.

Yup. Ha ha.

They speak in tongues

These are the words of Ken Ham, probably the biggest creationist wingnut in the United States:

Atheistic evolutionists do not want any talk of “critiquing” or “thinking critically” about evolutionary ideas, because evolution is their way of explaining life without God, which is why we call evolution a religion.

Uh...evolution is how atheists explain life without god...and that makes it a religion? Lotsa sense there. Tons. It's easy to see why Ham is so admired by the brainless set.

These people don't make sense but their followers never notice. This is because the common factor shared by all wingnuts is that they don't understand logic, don't even know what it is. We truly live in different worlds.

Creationist lunacy

Both PZ and Jerry Coyne focused on one particular intelligent-design fool's remarks today. I want to excerpt something the creationist idiot said. Here's the quote:

Is the process of eating and cellular respiration the result of a mere fluke of evolution? Alternatively, could it be that a common Designer made certain that the process of eating and cellular respiration would function in such a precise and perfect manner? Which answer appears to be the most probable to you?

Yes, indeed. Jeebus sure did make everything convenient for us, didn't he? I mean, if you think about it, he's the one who's responsible for ensuring that children who are buried under an earthquake -- but still alive -- have the awareness to know that rats are eating them as they die. And come to think of it, it must be this Jeebus fellow who made pain so painful. Wow, he was really watching out for us with that one, huh? Thankfully, because of Jeebus' "precise and perfect" ministrations, many people live in intense, unbearable and constant pain throughout their lives. Jeebus must be one swell guy. 

I swear, these creationists haven't got a single brain cell in their heads. They can't think clearly about anything.

The problem in a nutshell

Grampa Homo Habilis.

In the comments on Greg Laden's blog, I found the following:

There was a sad statement in the one blog that read "I respect that you have a faith in a savior, that you even believe that you need a savior. But why is your faith so fragile that you are not willing to discover the actual facts of the long history of the human animal?"

I must say that this is one confused atheist/secular depressive. Humans are NOT animals. Humans are set apart from the animals. We are higher. We have a soul, animals do not., We are and will be accountable to our Creator on judgement day, animals will not. We are made lower than the angels but higher than the animal kingdon, made in God's own image.

Sadly, some people just do not get Gensis and it utmost importance. It is the ultimate history text in the universe. 

This is a snapshot of what's wrong with America today. Someone politely asks a religious lunatic the most important question -- why is it that you ignore the facts? -- and gets the bible thrown back at him. They don't even hear the question. Reality has nothing to do with a religious person's life. The only thing that's real to these people is the fairytale in their head. And that's why our country will make no progress in the coming years. These people are legion in America and they will destroy science and education and democracy itself if we don't stop them. Their reign of ignorance will only end when religion is seen as a nitwit hobby, along the lines of astrology.

You can't reach religious people, which is why I never try. I only make fun of them. People who can believe the sheer nonsense that we call "religion" haven't taken their brains out for a test drive. (Meanwhile, the baboons in the post below probably have. Just saying.)

We're animals. We evolved from primitive creatures. And as for humans being special, the truth is that life is life. It's all valuable, wonderful and perfect -- no matter the species. We are not god's creatures. We are the hairless monkeys of Earth. Get over it.

(And note that none of these people can spell. Not one. This is a hint about their mental processes. Messy, messy, messy.)
Image: Wikipedia