Thu 1 Apr 99 13:23
Skeptic Magazine
March 28, 1999 CE
On September 25 and 26 1998 I had the odious chore of
listening to nine hours and forty-five minutes of
Reverends John Morris and Doug Phillips (of the "Institute
for Creation `Research'" cult engaging in a distort-the-
truth-athon during one of their "Back to Genesis"
spectacles. This occurred at Reverend "Chuck" Smith's
Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa at 3800 South Fairview Road,
Santa Ana California. Even though I knew what to expect
before attending, I was still shocked, dismayed, and at
times outraged at the deliberate falsehoods presented as
"fact."
Chief among those falsehoods was the constant
misrepresentation of science and scientists. The Reverends
Morris and Phillips consistently presented false "straw
men" of what they wish others to believe evolution is and
what evolutionary theory states, and then they set fire to
those scarecrows (scarecrows designed to frighten the
ignorant). They do this, I believe, because they know that
the positions they thus attack are NOT DEFENDED by
scientists and are therefore easily defeated. To a very
great extent, "Scientific Creationism" is
anti-intellectual masturbation; I was embarrassed for
their sake when watching Reverends Morris and Phillips
behave as they did.
What prompted this letter is that the day-long circus act
included a showing of the video "From a Frog to a Prince,"
which was mentioned in Volume 6 Number 4 of Skeptic. I
have therefore seen the interview of Professor Richard
Dawkins. Indeed, I tape recorded the event, including the
introduction of the video by Reverend Morris---- he
graciously allowed the audience to make copies and
distribute the cult's materials as longs as "they are not
sold."
My opinion of the Dawkins interview? He did not spend
eleven seconds (or "30 seconds or so" as Reverend Morris
claims) furiously trying to think of "any evidence for
evolution." Anyone viewing the video should have been able
to see Professor Dawkins, during those eleven seconds,
going through a series of emotional reactions as he
realized he was being set up by Creationists. I'm just an
average judge of facial expressions, so my opinion may not
carry much weight compared to a trained observer, but my
interpretation of Dawkins' facial expression and body
language is:
First, surprise at the level of ignorance displayed by the
question asked. It was the surprise I would parallel with
being asked for evidence that the Earth orbits the Sun;
that gravity exists and is attractive; that eight tiny
reindeer cannot fly at Yule.
Second, anger when he realized that he was being
interviewed by Creationists. Given the long and sullied
history of Creationists deliberately misrepresenting
scientists, anger seems like an appropriate response to me.
Third, it appeared to me as if Professor Dawkins was
struggling mightily to regain his composure at being
deceived; he knew the camera was running, and Richard
Dawkins appears to pride himself on his poise and
amiability (I've very briefly met him thrice for
autographs, and each time he oozed affability and
politeness).
While this was being shown at the "Back to Genesis"
carnival, the audience hooted, turned to each other with
smug, superior looks, giggled, and laughed. They believed
what Reverend Morris had told them to believe: that
Professor Dawkins could not answer such a basic question.
Reverend Morris admitted that "It looks like a staged
thing." I've got that admission on tape. He also denied
that the video was edited inappropriately. In my opinion
it looks and sounds to all the world as if one of Dawkins'
answers to a undisclosed question was later appended to
the question that the viewer does hear--- though of course
I could be wrong: only Professor Dawkins and the
Creationists who deceived him know for sure. For me, given
the knowledge that part of being a Creationists includes
the willingness to lie "for god," I believe Dawkins'
account. We will never know for sure.
During the eleven seconds Professor Dawkins paused, I
thought of a few examples of evolutionary processes that
have been observed to "create new functional information
at the genetic level." I am no match for Professor
Dawkins' often-demonstrated superior intellect, so to my
mind it is fundamentally impossible for Dawkins to have
been (to paraphrase Reverend Morris) thinking furiously
for an answer to the question and unable to answer it.
Mutation adds information "at the genetic level." So does
recombination. Natural selection "examines" this new
information and selects what works and discards what does
not.
So now Professor Dawkins has learned to check the
credentials of people whom he considers granting an
interview. In my opinion deceiving Dawkins did no harm:
Creationists have been laughing at their intellectual and
ethical superiors for decades; they will continue to do so
for many more decades. The ICR cult is still selling
propaganda that they know to be false (such as the "Have
You Been Brainwashed" booklet's claim that "...the theory
of evolution contradicts the universally accepted laws of
thermodynamics"): any attempt by Professor Dawkins to
correct the record will be futile.
A "fair use," RealAudio (r) sound file of the "Back to
Genesis" segment of Reverend Morris's introduction to the
Dawkins interview may be found at
http://holysmoke.org/icr-cult/staged.ra
... I haven't had good hard salami in years. -- God Dan
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DAVID RICE
'Frog to a Prince'
Post Office Box 338
Altadena, California
91001
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