The above title is not a parody, somebody is seriously making that claim under the banner of “science”. To be clear, the use of that word is not the scientific data-driven sciency stuff that you will find in credible science journals, but instead is “science” as taught by Answers In Genesis.
Who?
It comes via Answers in Genesis. They are the folks who built the life-sized replica of Noah’s ark over in Petersburg, Kentucky right next to their creation museum. After spending a sum that exceeded $100 Million, Ark Encounter opened their doors to the very gullible public 2016.
Not content to leave it at that, last year they announced that they would be building a Tower of Babel attraction.
If you happen to be in the area, then be aware that it will cost you $54.94 per adult to go and have a look at the Ark. Since they also have a Creation Museum, a desire to go and gasp in amazement at both will cost you $84.95 per adult.
One notable event in the History of Ark Encounter happened back in 2017. It rained and it rained, and it rained. Net impact, their Ark Encounter infrastructure suffered flood damage. When the insurance companies refused to pay they took them to court.
One can only wonder if the insurance providers claimed they did not have to pay for “an act of God”. They eventually settled out of court.
Claim: “creation science is real science”
Ken Ham, the guy who founded and runs it all, has a vision that consists of the following three central points …
- Evolution is evil and very damaging to society
- The opening chapters of Genesis, the first book of the bible, are literal truth. They are a wholly accurate and 100% reliable description. For his viewpoint Genesis also contains guidance on how we today should organise society.
- Proper “christians”, meaning those that totally agree with him, are obliged to engage in battle against humanism.
Their “scientific” position is this – the entire universe is only 6,000 years old. In other words there are trees that are older than a timespan that they think applies to the entire universe.
In this “scientific” universe, everything magically popped into existence in six literal 24-hour days. That whooshing sound you can hear is modern archeology, cosmology, geology, paleontology and evolutionary biology being rapidly dismissed and replaced with just Genesis.
The AiG folks have also been very upset with Hollywood.
Why?
Well because they nefariously slipped “evolutionary content” into … (drum roll here) … SpongeBob SquarePants, Lilo & Stitch and Finding Nemo. I’m literally not kidding. To counter this “challenge”, because of course you all naughty sinners embraced “evolution” after watching “Finding Nemo”, they launched their own streaming service called “Answers.TV“.
Damn, Netflix or “Answers.TV, it’s such a hard call to make.
If you just love batshit crazy religious propaganda, then I guess Answers.TV is for you.
So what about those Unicorns and Dragons?
OK, let’s get into that then, because this is indeed truly their pièce de résistance.
Unicorns
When you embrace the idea that the bible it literal truth and is never wrong about anything … ever, then that does tend to quite naturally throw up so truly weird stuff for you to promote as “truth” and “reality”. This of course is all “science”.
Since 2008 their website has been promoting the “truth” that Unicorns are real …
To think of the biblical unicorn as a fantasy animal is to demean God’s Word, which is true in every detail.
Some people claim the Bible is a book of fairy tales because it mentions unicorns. However, the unicorns in the bible were real animals, not imaginary creatures. ….
…God points out in Job 39:9–12 that the unicorn, “
whose strength is great,” is useless for agricultural work, refusing to serve man or “harrow (plow) the valley.” This visual aid gave Job a glimpse of God’s greatness. An imaginary fantasy animal would have defeated the purpose of God’s illustration.
Yea I know … but but but … so they lay it out like this …
The absence of a unicorn in the modern world should not cause us to doubt its past existence. (Think of the dodo bird. It does not exist today, but we do not doubt that it existed in the past.)
As a rather blatant and very stark contrast to Unicorns, we have written eyewitness accounts, drawings, and stuffed examples of dodo’s – actual evidence that Dodos existed.
Their “evidence” basically is just this – the bible says so, therefore it is real.
For the truly curious, you can find Unicorns mentioned in Job 39:9–10, Numbers 23:22, 24:8; Deuteronomy 33:17; Psalm 22:21, 29:6, 92:10; Isaiah 34:7, and since the bible just must be right about everything, then bugger reality because unicorns are real.
Yes it’s funny, but it is also utterly tragic.
They vigorously promote this rather blatant mythology as fact, not just within their museum of the absurd, but also via churches, Sunday schools, and home-schooling – basically the “get them young and they will be hooked for life” philosophy.
Now, let’s move on and talk about Dragons.
Yes really – Flying Fire-breathing Dragons are Real
They truly do also claim that Dragons are not just myths.
They are not just going for something sort of dragon’ish, they are in with flying fire-breathing dragons, and promote this with “logic” such as …
Many dragon legends such as what we find outside the Bible could be embellished, but the basic characteristics of dragons can be found in known creatures. Some dragon descriptions fit well with certain dinosaurs. Fossil pterosaurs reveal dragon-like wings. Certain beetles shoot out burning chemicals, so is a fire-breathing dragon really that far-fetched?
“But but, why would they assert this?”, you might howl back in laughter.
Well because that is what the bible says, so it just must be literally true. Here is the specific bible verse ..
The burden against the beasts of the South. Through a land of trouble and anguish, From which came the lioness and lion, The viper and fiery flying serpent, They will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys, And their treasures on the humps of camels, To a people who shall not profit. (Isaiah 30:6)
By now you will perhaps be seriously considering the thought that Answers In Genesis is just parody and not real.
If only it was.
Nope, not at all, they are dead serious. The moment you embrace the concept that every word in the bible is literally true, then you must either embrace the weird bits as truth, or revise that belief and simply dismiss such references as metaphorical, or symbolic and poetical imagery.
Guess which they went for?
There is no middle ground for them.
This full on embrace of literalism means that it is real. The moment they consider other possibilities their entire edifice of belief would collapse like a house of cards.
You might perhaps wonder what happened to these flying fire-breathing dragons within this alternative universe. They have an answer …
Land and air dragons would have been taken on Noah’s Ark and probably existed for some time afterward, based on the descriptions we see in the Bible and legends and artifacts worldwide. But they died out due to the curse of sin, with factors such as environmental and habitat changes, food source problems, genetic mutations, and diseases. Also, man most likely played a role in the demise of dragons, as we read in the legends of dragon slayers.
You can now seriously pity all those poor unemployed dragon slayers once the last fire-breathing dragon had been dispatched.
Beyond the bible says so, their “evidence” is this …
Dragons are memorialized in legends, historical accounts, and artwork from around the world. To name a few, there’s an Aboriginal depiction of a water monster that resembles a plesiosaur, an ancient historical account of serpents in Egypt with bat-like wings, the epic poem Beowulf with its account of a fiery flying serpent, and Native American petroglyphs (etchings in stone) that resemble dragons. Dragons are depicted on flags, emblems, tapestries, maps, pottery, pictographs, and more.
This level of “evidence” leads you to conclude that Krypton is real because look at all those stories, books and movies about Superman.
You might perhaps be tempted to think that the reference on their website to dragons being real is simply one lone page.
Nope.
It is plastered all over their website in multiple pages and is rather hard to miss. For example …
- Dragon Legends—Truths Behind the Tales
- Tannin: Sea Serpent, Dinosaur, Snake, Dragon, or Jackal?
- Dragons: Legends & Lore of Dinosaurs
- Dinosaurs & Dragon Legends
- Hank Hanegraaff’s Abuse of Biblical Truth
- The Dragons of Peru
- Slaying the Dragon Myth
What do other Creationists think about all of this?
You might assume that they would consider Answers In Genesis to be on their team.
Apparently not.
Creation Ministries International not only consider Ken Ham and his Answers in Genesis crusade to be guilty of “unbiblical / unethical / unlawful behaviour“, but also went as far as taking him to court in Australia.
The Board of Great Homeschool Conventions, Inc. (a young Earth Christian group) have voted to disinvite Ken Ham and AiG from future conventions because Ken made “unnecessary, ungodly, and mean-spirited statements that are divisive at best and defamatory at worst“. Basically he verbally pisses all over anybody who does not embrace his literalist beliefs.
Meanwhile AiG want kids to come to their “Science” Summer camp
Once again, I’m not kidding …
Yes you too can enable the folks who believe Flying Fire-breathing Dragons and Unicorns are real to brainwash your kids.
On the other hand, if your kids really do love science, then enrolling them in this might not be your best ever decision.