E.T. Burn in Hell!!

“You see, the Bible makes it clear that Adam’s sin affected the whole universe. This means that any aliens would also be affected by Adam’s sin, but because they are not Adam’s descendants, they can’t have salvation,’ he explained. ‘Jesus did not become the “GodKlingon” or the “GodMartian”! Only descendants of Adam can be saved. God’s Son remains the ‘Godman’ as our Savior.'”

And here’s your counterpoint: Creationist Ken Buck argues that space exploration is a boondoggle because aliens are going to Hell anyway. “Ham argued that ‘secularists are desperate to find life in outer space’ as a part of their ‘rebellion against God in a desperate attempt to supposedly prove evolution.'”

Erm, yeah. I would hope the John Olver rule is in effect if and when this fellow is inevitably queried about his views on television, against Bill Nye or Neil DeGrasse Tyson or somesuch.

Learning is Fundamental.

Sent to me via one of my students (we discussed the Scopes trial last week), this NYT editorial has some perhaps-surprising poll numbers about Americans and evolution. Apparently, 48% of Americans – including our crusading President – believe in creationism (although I would like to see how the question is worded.) Reminds me of middle school back in the day, when I was one of three students in my 30-person history class that believed in evolution. Yes, Virginia, things are different outside of BosWash.

Twenty-First Century Scopes.

A Texas Tech biology professor gets in hot war for refusing to recommend creationists for medical school. And as you might expect, the Ashcroft Justice Department stepped in. Pretty pathetic, really…I can’t believe this case will go anywhere. However you feel about creationism, we’re not talking about grades here – we’re talking about recs. A professor is well within his or her rights to refuse a recommendation to anyone he or she so desires. If Prof. Dini here thinks creationism and faith healing make lousy prerequisites for med school, then so be it…get a rec from the bible-thumping biology professor down the hall. And, as for the Justice Dept…well, if another student was denied a rec because she believed in the efficacy of bloodletting, would the Justice Department be getting involved? I doubt it. But somehow Ashcroft still finds time enough outside of spreading panic and buying duct tape futures to prosecute his theocratic agenda. Sad, sad, sad.