There is an almost perpetual and on-going background chatter that claims evolution is a lie. If you are familiar with this claim then here is where you insert your face-palm moment.
Once again today I tripped over several such claims, all from Muslims who were 100% sure. You might or might not be aware, but Islamic Creationism is an anti-science pandemic that is quite pervasive. A 2007 study of religious patterns found that only 8% of Egyptians, 11% of Malaysians, 14% of Pakistanis, 16% of Indonesians, and 22% of Turks agree that Darwin’s theory is probably or most certainly true, the rest rejected it. To add to this mix of confusion we also have Adnan Oktar, also known as Harun Yahya, the Turkish Islamic Creationist who pumps out daft creationist claims via TV Broadcasts, books and numerous web sites to the Islamic world.
It is all anti-science of course. Mr Oktar might indeed proclaim that science has refuted evolution, but there is no scientific basis to that claim (You did know that I hope), and as for his own credentials, it turns out that the only education he actually received, apart from the religious stuff, was as an interior decorator. OK, let’s be clear here, just in case you have not yet worked it out, he is a complete kook. In addition to all the anti-evolution stuff, he also advocates that the Holocaust never happened, makes pronouncements regarding Masonic conspiracies, Jewish conspiracies and even claims that there is an Atheist Freemasonry plot. That last one is just bizarre and truly does confirm that he is a complete lunatic. Least you wonder, to become a Freemason you have to believe in a higher power, but to be an atheist you would reject all such myths, so I truly do struggle to comprehend how he thinks this Atheist-Freemasonry plot is supposed to work.
So how should you respond when faced with claims that evolution is a lie, what should you do if you are not an expert in the science being presented? Here is the key, if they do indeed wish to claim that evolution is false, then that is a scientific claim they are making. It is easy to verify, all they need to do is to cite just one article is a credible peer-review science journal that refutes evolution.
- No article = not true
As a hint, a peer-review journal is not … YouTube, or a book. Any such claims need to refer back to some real science and if they can’t then they are also not true.
It has been my ongoing experience that when discussing evolution there is no honesty or integrity here, just deceit and lies. There are of course many claims that evolution is fictious and has been disproven by science, so it is understandable that many are successfully conned, especially when presented with a slick YouTube clip and web site packed with apparent facts.
However, when challenged to cite real evidence, not only can nobody do it (because there is none), but many also would rather discard the overwhelming evidence and cling to the delusional belief. Nobody ever comes back with “You know what, it’s actually true, there is no credible evidence against it“. Some smart sensible folks do indeed make that leap, but due to the open hostility of the true believers around them against such a rational thinking, they take the very wise step of keeping quiet about it.
Side note: yes I am aware that this Discovery Institute has a list of supposed peer-reviewed items from real science journals, but I have been through the lot, each and every single one. I blogged the results of that here about a year ago. There are exactly zero credible articles in that list.
It is truly a sad day when you find out that many people would rather stick with a fantasy and ignore the far more beautiful and truly elegant reality.
One further thought, this is not an atheist vs believer thing, it is instead an anti-science stance. There are many believers who are quite happy to be scientific and accept that evolution is indeed one of the most well-established facts in modern science, the topic of belief vs non-belief is quite separate.
Chris writes … No article = not true…. really ?
Yes.
Kind of close minded statement isn’t it ?
Nope. no evidence means it is not true. If you attended a trial, would you find it acceptable to see folks being deemed guilty without any evidence being presented?
Even if this was true, there were many “article = true” moments for Sir Isaac Newton… until Albert Einstein came along.
That is indeed correct. Newton’s laws still work, they have not been repealed. The problem was that they did not explain it all, and so relativity was added into the mix. It has been confirmed using empirical data that can be verified. Thats the beauty of science, if you present evidence, you change minds.
The Bible has a lot to offer, if people would just read it and not shut themselves down every time they read something they don’t like or understand….
That’s an odd comment, what has that got to with evolution? Our discussion here relates to science, not belief. Is there any objective empirical evidence in there that refutes evolution?
BTW, evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics (entropy always increases)…. Which should I believe ?
You should never just ‘believe’, instead you should look at the evidence. The claim being made here is not actually correct, it is of course a popular creationist claim, but would take too long to explain why in brief a comment so I tell you what, I’ll write it up for you in my next posting.
What I will initially say now is that if this were indeed correct, then it would be a quick trivial exercise to write this up and publish it, but the fact that nobody has done this should at least make you suspicious about the claim.
I will also ask one further question. Without googling the answer, can you tell me how many thermodynamic laws there are, and what the first law of thermodynamics is? No need to answer here, this is simply for you to ponder over. The point I am making is that many tout this 2nd law claim without really knowing anything about it at all. I simply want you to ask yourself how much you actually know or understand about it.
No article = not true…. really ? Kind of close minded statement isn’t it ? Even if this was true, there were many “article = true” moments for Sir Isaac Newton… until Albert Einstein came along. The Bible has a lot to offer, if people would just read it and not shut themselves down every time they read something they don’t like or understand…. BTW, evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics (entropy always increases)…. Which should I believe ?