The Atheist Blogger

Well just look at that, the young earth creationists, fundamentalist Christians, and general ignorant conservatives over at the vile mess of misinformation “Conservapedia” have selected their article on Richard Dawkins as the article of the month for February! To add insult to injury, the article of the year just happens to be on Evolution, a piece of horrendous propaganda that has no science in it whatsoever, and tries to link the theory of Evolution to Nazism and general racism. How a scientific theory (which is after all an inanimate concept) can be held as the cause of the holocaust is rather beyond me.

Not only do these articles simply rely on lies and misconstruing scientific research (and often just making stuff up), they are full of logical fallacies. For instance, in the main page excerpt for the “article of the year”, Conservapedia writes:

In 2006, the prestigious science journal Science reported concerning the United States: “The percentage of people in the country who accept the idea of evolution has declined from 45 in 1985 to 40 in 2005. Meanwhile the fraction of Americans unsure about evolution has soared from 7 per cent in 1985 to 21 per cent last year.”

As if this is proof of anything other than the American society’s general lack of science education or outright ignorance or refusal to do proper research into the area! On the actual article page, a critical analysis is given of the statistics within the scientific community, with possible explanations as to why so many scientists accept the theory (think “Expelled”). Here are a few section headings from the article:

• Evolutionary Theory and Cases of Fraud, Hoaxes and Speculation (No idea what hoaxes and frauds have to do with the theory…if anything they prove science works)
• Lack of Any Clear Transitional Forms (Of course they forget to define what the word “clear” entails. Perhaps they want a fossil of the crocoduck)
• Age of the Earth and Universe and the Theory of Evolution (Let’s just combine physics and biology fora moment…)
• Creation Scientists Tend to Win the Creation-Evolution Debates (No such thing as a creation scientist, nor has any creationist actually won a debate on points. Style maybe, but points? No.)
• Theory of Evolution and Liberalism (Just to throw some liberal bashing into the mix as well)

The Richard Dawkins article spreads the lie that Dawkins was “stumped” by a creationist question, and that he has failed to answer this question ever since. For those who are interested, a detailed analysis of the video and the facts behind it can be found here.

Oh dear, oh dear. It seems like a consortium of deluded fools are going to try and tap into all of Britain’s positive energy on 6th March at 11am. The “event” website has this to say on the choosing of the date:

March 6th has been chosen as Faith of Britain Day because March is a time of seeing light emerging from the darkness of Winter, therefore emphasising hope in an unsure world. Numerologically this date is symbolic because the 3rd month, the 6th day and the 9th year are all multiples of 3 which is about balance – which is what we strive to achieve as humans. The time, 11.00am is a master number, or a powerful 2 (1 + 1) which is the duality of the inner and outer self, encouraging us to look within to find solutions.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such numerical nonsense in the same paragraph before…but wait! There’s more!

How do I take part?

At exactly 11.00 am on March 6th 2009, we ask that you stop whatever you are doing for just two minutes. Take that time to concentrate your thoughts on overcoming a particular difficulty or solving a problem that has affected your life. It may help to say quietly or aloud “I have faith” while you are thinking about this difficulty.

Why will this work?

It is a proven scientific fact that thinking about something often causes it to happen. Some call this quantum physics. Others simply call it “faith.” We ask that you open your mind to joining in with a unique psychic force that will change our lives through the power of thought.

I’d really like to see the scientific research papers they have been reading. Of course, as soon as I read all this, I knew somehow the freethinking community had to act. So I hereby declare March 6th “Think Negative” day. Do as much as you can to thwart the evil positive energy by being generally grumpy and negative. Some ideas:

• Email the organisers (info@thefaithofbritain.com or support@thefaithofbritain.com) and have a good moan at them about their lack of science skills.
• Find a psychic and proceed to predict “terrible happenings” for them within the next year.
• On March 7th, contact the organisers again to complain about the number of things that went wrong for you on March 6th, say you hold them personally responsible, and that you plan to sue them.

Have fun abusing all the negative energy!