I found this little cartoon browsing around WordPress.com. Dumbfounded and amazed by the fallacious idiocy comparable only to Ray Comfort and his Way of the Master ministries, I really wanted to just leave it alone and let the video speak for itself. But as someone with an interest in the subject, I see people honestly believe this nonsense too often to spare it from the destructive power of critical examination.

There’s a lot said, but these appear to be the core arguments.

1. Macro-evolution, or the scientific reality of common descent is an exaggeration of known science.
2. If you believe in evolution, you also believe we all came from a rock. You believe these things because you don’t want to be held accountable for your actions.
3. The missing link is still missing. All transitional fossils have been “proven false.”
4. Scientists have found organic material on dinosaur fossils, hence falsifying the old earth model
5. Christians believe in salvation through grace and faith, ain’t that special?
6. You’re going to die, so why not open your mind, soften your heart, stop eating babies and accept Jesus as your lord and savior lest you make the “biggest mistake in your eternal existence!!!“

To begin with point one, our animated protagonist could not be more wrong. Creationists typically declare a damning difference between macro and micro evolution. They are mistaken. Scientists refer to micro-evolution as change within species. Over thousands of years a population of golden retrievers will adapt with its environment. Suppose, however, that the population gets separated. Half of the golden retrievers are stuck on one side of a mountain, and the other is similarly isolated. Years pass and both populations adapt to their respective environments until they are so different that they can no longer interbreed. They are now separate species, and macro-evolution (also known as speciation) has occurred.

Next, the video tract makes an amusing leap in logic. How believably precedented.

If you believe in evolution you also believe we came from a rock. It’s funny how you believe the most ridiculous concepts of creation just so long as you’re not accountable for your actions.

Whether or not we came from a rock is irrelevant to the libraries of evidence that confirm common ancestry. Evolution is a supported theory that begins with the first cell. It doesn’t pretend to know where that cell came from; that’s a different field of science. This caricature of abiogenesis exists only to distract.

Moving on, he claims there are missing links in the fossil record. Of course there are, and this only serves as evidence for evolution. Every time we find a transitional fossil (y) between species x and z, we fill one gap but wind up creating two new ones. Claiming all transitional fossils have been “proven false” demonstrates a willful ignorance that need not be addressed.

In addition to lying about transitional species, they argue for a young earth by referencing organic tissue found on a dinosaur bone. An impossibility, he claims, given the evolutionary timeline. I remember seeing this last year in a prolonged discussion. As it turns out, the bones were fossilized in sandstone, a material where the enzymes of decay and degeneration are “drained away.” Moreover, the Harvard researchers called this “a brilliant technical achievement, and it’s because we know that birds evolved from dinosaurs that it makes sense.”

Finished disproving “evolution,” our friend gets on his theological soapbox. In yet another leap of topic (where are the transitions?!) he’s asked, “what about Jews, Muslims and Buddhists? Aren’t they going to hell?” The answer is presumably yes, but he goes on to say unlike those other faiths, Christians believe we’re saved through faith, not works. Isn’t that wonderful? The omnipotent, all-loving creator of the universe judges us based on what we believe. Thought crimes are celestial no-nos when it comes to the afterlife. Eternal consequences for thinking the wrong thing – regardless of worldly action! God wants us to have faith. A faith that is demonstrably irrational.

Tearing this pathetic apologetic to shreds was a cheap shot. However, the people that made this video were inspired by the same type of faith we see in the rest of religion. Built on a foundation of dogma blind to contradiction, “faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”

Mike Huckabee gave a speech this week in Michigan. When he got to talking about a ban on abortion, gay marriage and other fun “family” values, the republican frontrunner had this to say.

I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that’s what we need to do – to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view.

Why not, Huck? Your god sure did a great job coming up with standards in the Old Testament. How about we ban physical labor on Sundays, kill homosexuals and stone disobedient children while we’re at it? Maybe your pal Chuck Norris could be in charge of the blood sacrifices.

This man is absolutely insane. Not only does he believe that teaching the fact of evolution is “indoctrination” – he’s open about his theocratic intentions and a good number of people want him to be leader of the most powerful country in the world.

What’s strange is that unlike his revisionist counterparts, it appears Huckabee hasn’t bought into the lie of America being founded on “Judeo-Christian principles.” He acknowledges the Constitution as a secular document as well as the government’s responsibility to remain neutral in the realm of religion. Make no mistake: he is the one wanting to change things.

The thought of a possible president with such perverted views of religious liberty would make our nation’s founders roll in the grave. It’s time America realizes the dangers of electing a theocrat salivating over the idea of instituting canon law.

A new movie is being released this December called The Golden Compass. It is based on the first novel in a fantasy trilogy by Phillip Pullman. The trailer makes it looks a lot like Narnia, so it’s probably not a movie I’ll go out of my way to see.

Nonetheless, Bill Donohue of the Catholic League (a far-right lobby unaffiliated with the Vatican) has called for a boycott of the film due to an anti-religious sentiment in the final two books of the trilogy.

The Catholic League wants Christians to stay away from this movie precisely because it knows that the film is bait for the books.

Though the movie promises to be fairly non-controversial, it may very well act as an inducement to buy Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials. And remember, his twin goals are to promote atheism and denigrate Christianity. To kids.

And we’re the angry militants? Now there’s nothing wrong with them wanting people to avoid the movie, but I think the hypocrisy here needs to be pointed out.

Catholics baptize their children – they promise to teach faith as a virtue from the cradle. Indoctrination should be no radical concept, but that’s not what this is about.

Donohue is afraid. He is terrified that kids will get their hands on these books and read something challenging what they’ve been told to just accept. So instead of confronting these fictional attacks on their dogma, Christians are being encouraged to close their eyes, cover their ears and scream frantically in the intellectual gymnastic act known as faith.

About a year ago, outrage ensued after a video of an eight year old girl shamelessly grilling religion was posted to YouTube. Even though she turned out to be a paid actress, her parents were accused of forcing their views upon her, for she was too young to understand what she was saying.

Now browsing the blogosphere, I came upon GodTube, a Christian video sharing network. On the front page was a video of a similarly young child reciting Psalm 23 to her father’s clear indulgence. I honestly hope that this too is a paid production, as the result is neither “cute” nor “adorable” as some of the commenters have put it. It’s terrifying on par with Jesus Camp.

I don’t need to be a parent to know the act of memorizing prayers or ideas (religious or not) in exchange for daddy’s approval is abusive. Indoctrination, beginning out of the cradle poisons child’s mind into thinking religion is worthy of an automatic respect – a dogmatic view that has no place in this age.

The double standard is obvious: brainwashing is okay as long as it’s in Sunday School. This is child abuse. Where is the outrage?

So besides sleeping late and catching up on Battlestar Galactica’s second season, I’ve purchased Victor Stenger’s God: The Failed Hypothesis to get me through my spring break. I haven’t finished the book (in fact, I’m the kind of person who will read five or six books simultaneously at an equal glacial rate), but I’m almost done and it’s worth a quick comment.

Stenger describes specific experiments that could actually support the existence of a personal god. He argues that only a completely irrelevant deity would leave no trace or evidence. If there’s a God, an omnipresent creator with any impact on the natural universe, he would be detectable by natural science.

Was the universe fine tuned? Does our morality come from God? After defining a God model, a falsifiable list of characteristics assigned to God, Stenger refutes the God model with science.

Overall, Victor Stenger provides a welcome, necessary addition to the chain of blasphemic best sellers.