Members of the Twin Cities Creation Science Association are furious—they've ripped down the posted photos from the 2007 Creation "Science" Fair "Because Some Sick Atheist Used Them To Demean Kids". Before you all jump to any conclusion…I didn't do it.
It was Greg.
You really have to read the comments on that article. The uncle of one of the kids at the Creation "Science" Fair makes several comments, and the poor man is just nuts—incoherent and condescending at the same time. Ross Olson, a Twin Cities creationist and board member at TCCSA, makes an appearance. It's like a whole collection of fruitcakes! (oops). I'm a little jealous that our local creationists don't seem to show up here at all.
Unfortunately, in looking over the article and the comments, I could only find one instance of Greg demeaning kids. It was horribly egregious, though, an offense so great that I'm not surprised the creationists were shocked.
Funny, I don't remember ANY of the 200 exhibits or so at the Brimhall Fair (see this on Julia's entry) held earlier in the year just down the street at a Real School addressing creationist ideas. But when the kids enter into a creationist fair, they can't seem to help themselves from doing some actual science.
Science. It's like a disease that can infect your children.
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hehe... I love that Olson asked for a complete description of Bunny evolution in a post.
Creationists... DO YOUR OWN DAMN READING! Buncha fruitcakes.
Anyway, the "Bunny" science fair entry was my favorite not because of the misquotation of scripture, but because of the hypothesis being tests:
Question: What do bunnies do?
Hypothesis: God made bunnies with many parts that work together so they can do lots of things.
We all had to laugh when, on the way home, Amanda slammed on the breaks to avoid flattening a bunny tearing across the street. "Well, praise the lord, all the parts seem to be working..."
That doesn't seem especially nice toward the kid, though it's clear that it isn't the kid's fault in any way.
Was the kid in the car?
Ha. I don't need photos to know that the Creation Science kids are UGLY! And they SMELL!
Hypothesis: Bunnies are cute.
Prediction: Sounds of "aww" coming from people.
Observation: Woman goes "awww", eyes glaze over.
Conclusion: Bunnies are indeed cute.
I totally should have entered this pseudo-science fair!
Actually, I propose that the offending line was most likely
"As annoying as it is when creationists "Quote Mine" from the scientific literature, take heart. They don't get in much trouble for doing that, but when the quote mine from The Bible, well, I assume they are going to Hell for that. What goes around comes around."
Chances are, someone read that, possibly the kid who made the poster, and took it to be true.
From the Ross Olson guy's site: He's talking about his daugher - "She was singing, giving her testimony and doing gospel mime at programs in High Schools, prisons and Malls."
I read the words "gospel mime" and had to consciously resist the urge to flee from the room. Has there ever been such a horror-inducing, incontinence-provoking combination of words? It's like an entertainment black hole from which no fun can escape. Must be effective, though. I would convert to anything just to MAKE IT STOP!!!
Prison?! That's just cruel. Wonder if there's a correlation to suicides behind bars after her appearances.
Perhaps the gospel mimes are designed to prevent re-offending.
Bob
I don't think "gospel mimes" have anything on Clowns for Christ.
Uh oh, you guys better stop picking on the kid, or we'll never get to see any pictures of her gospel mime*
I have to laugh; the Ross Olson link is blocked here at my school for "pornography."
How do we know his daughter is miming an not just posessed by demons?
From Olson's site...
There is indeed a swarm of spiritual deceivers all about us, from whom we are protected many times every day by our Lord Jesus Christ who has triumphed by the blood of the cross and the power that raised him from the dead. Jesus dealt with what appeared to be physical or mental illness but was actually demonization. He addressed the spirits in healing the victims, and clearly taught that there were sentient beings who would dwell within people and if they were cast out, but the space left unoccupied, they would return with reinforcements.
My view of Scripture and of Jesus does not allow me to say that the nature of epilepsy or schizophrenia were not understood at the time and perhaps Jesus was a prisoner of his humanity or at least accommodating to primitive people who could not comprehend brain physiology. Instead, my eyes are opened to an incredible interplay and relationship of the physical, the spiritual and the moral. Jesus also healed epileptics without demon possession being involved. I see that demons can simulate physical and mental illness but require a spiritual solution. (How does this go over with the medical society? Not very well.)
Demons... too funny. Thier reality is vehwie vehwie skehwie.
You know, there is a bit of scripture that seems to be conveniently missing from that rabbit exhibit:
Leviticus 11:6
And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.
See the Incredible Gospel Mime! See her trapped in a box of sin! Walking against the winds of torment! Pulling on a rope of faith!
Although .... it might be fun (in a horrifying way) to see someone try to mime a Passion-level beat-down.
I just wanted to say, I was being totally serious when I said that my favorite exhibit was the bunny exhibit. It was very cute. The words were made in yarn glued onto the page, and the concept was very funny. It was obviously a little kid's enterprise, and it was also obvious that this was not a project actually done by an overachieving parent. I think you'd have to be looking for bad intentions on my part to read that part of my post as an aspersion on the little girl.
Of course, I have a problem with the whole bible link, obviously, but it is not the kids fault. Yet.
Steve_C: Before I answer your question, I hope you realize that the characterization of what was going on in the car was provided by Mr. Bunny's Uncle, and thus, since he was not there, may be inaccurate.
Yes, the kid was in the car. And I assure you that my daughter is usually the first one in the family to point out the absurd aspects of religion, and not because she is in any way a trained monkey!
I must confess: I'd like to actually see said pictures. Was that on Laden's blog? About the vestigial tails, etc?
I only had one photo on my blog, but since the other photos have been taken down, I'll look at what else I've got and maybe post more. The problem is that the lighting was crappy, so most of the photos are not that good.
GTL
Greg. I was joking. I meant the kid who had the bunny display.
How can you be "mean" to someone if they're not there.
It's good you can joke with your kids about it.
Wow, Greg, that post turned into a fascinating conversation about homeschooling. I enjoyed the read for completely different reasons than I expected.
I'm impressed at how long and civil the conversation was before Uncle Christian came by to spoil the party, and then Ross Olson arrived with his bizarre non-sequitur one-note song to really grind things to a halt.
Steve: I knew you were joking. I was speaking to the trolls!
Cris ... I think the conversation is now starting to turn back to the topic. Maybe.
I found the homeschooling comments very interesting...I was homeschooled myself (but not the creepy "christian" kind of homeschooling). People that think that all homeschoolers are the same are vastly mistaken. I myself am a evolution geek and know what real science is when I hear/see it.
Gospel miming is actually experiencing a renaissance. No, seriously.
The most influential modern Gospel mimes (and I believe the ones who started the trend) are K&K Mime Ministries (warning: unnecessarily huge Flash intro), but there are hundreds of smaller Gospel mime troupes around the country. I think largely because of the influence of K&K, a disproportionate number of Gospel mimes are black.
Here are a few random ones lazily taken from Google:
* Praises In Motion Mime Ministry
* The Mime Ministry of De'Ju
* The Mime Boyz
* Yielded Vessel
* Silent Praise Mime Ministry
* Ms. Tawanda: Gospel Mime Soldier For Christ
And many, many more...
Obviously, what we need is to begin a program of Evolution Miming ....
Anyway I have posted the few Twin Cities Creation Science Fair photographs that I have that are presentable, for those interested, with some commentary.
Ok, I can imagine getting the chimp mime, salamander mime and fish mime to line up behind the human mime, but good luck putting white face-paint on them all without getting bitten.
I'm going to supply two bible verses here. One was just hurled at me from Bunny Man, and the other I hurled back. I'm doing this here so that Pharynuglistas do not have to go rooting around on for their bibles (which you will likely find in your Google, anyway). People on my site, well, they have to read their bibles ...
Bunny man to Greg:
Matthew 7:6: "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs; neither cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and lacerate you." Meaning, "I'm not going to impart my wisdom on your web site any more, so there."
Greg to Bunny man:
2 Kings 2:23-24: "From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths." Meaning,... "Don't mess with me man, or there'll be bears ...."
I'd pay to see the mime version of that.
Oh, man. I wish I was bald so I could summon bears.
That would be like the coolest superpower ever!
Not like these clowns in Eastern Washington tried to summon them, though:
whoops--goddam HTML! fixed the link
This whole business suggests something. If creationists can do a science fair in a mall, then why can't real biologists do the same? Specifically, for starters, in the same Har Har mall. Such a real science fair could reach a much larger audience than these blogs do, and you get some of your shopping knocked off at the same time. Given the time and angst squandered on this issue, it might actually be a good use of scientists' time. Think about it.
Bears are the ultimate Godless Killing Machine. Amazing that a man of god could summon them.