Letter to Pleasant Valley Baptist Pastor
This past weekend, Pleasant Valley Baptist Church hosted , of which I attended the first session.
Here’s the email message I sent to Harold Phillips, the church’s senior pastor:
Dear Pastor Phillips,
I attended the first of Kent Hovind’s presentations at Pleasant Valley Church, this past Saturday. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the Sunday sessions.
It was clear from his presentation that what he calls “evolution” is a ridiculous strawman that bears no relationship to what any evolutionary biologist studies; likewise, his claims about the Big Bang and astronomy in general are not just wrong, but laughably so. (e.g., at one point, he asked, “if evolution is true, why aren’t the laws [of the universe] evolving?”)
This does not paint a flattering picture of Christianity: what sort of religion needs to resort to misinformation and insults? (Hovind referred to “National Pornographic”, “Carl Pagan”, and called the ACLU “the Atheist Communist Lawyers’ Union.”)
Mr. Hovind said that 75% of students lose their faith after one year of college. I seriously doubt this figure. But if it is true, then it doubtless has something to do with presentations like his: once a student learns even a little biology, geology, or astronomy, he or she may wonder, “if my church misled me about science, what else has it been wrong about?”
So far, I haven’t received an answer.
science digs deep into the observed (is there an unobserved?).
religion digs deep into the unobserved (the observed being contrary to its beliefs).
my take is.
things are just the way they are. take it or leave it!
whether we explain it or not isn’t gonna make a difference. we are insignificant.
oh yeah… and forgot to tell you, no point arguing about these things. in the end, everybody says, “you might be right, but i’m happier this way. let me be!”
I won’t argue with this. The problem comes when the religious folks start denying observed reality because it conflicts with their wishes, which is what’s going on here.
Except that these people are registered voters. And increasingly, policy matters touch on science, and this comes up in elections and referenda, e.g., stem cell research, therapeutic cloning, global warming, species extinction, manned space missions, “Star Wars” missile defense, etc. I, for one, don’t want these policy matters decided by ignorant people.