Wow. Mention “Darwin” and the fundie-fools really do come crawling out of the woodwork. Recently ABC news had a fairly bland article about Evolution and it has drawn some mind-boggling responses. It seems that evolution is one of those topics which people feel eminently qualified to talk about, despite having no knowledge or understanding. People (sadly atheists as well as theists) seem to think that science is not a process of rational inquiry but is simply a collection of rag tag ideas where everyone’s opinion has equal validity. Wrong doesn’t do it justice.

First up is “Jerry Nendel” who gets us of to fantastic start with this:

One simple question. How did mammals manage to survive while they waited for the complex design of procreation to “evolve”. Global warming people are saying that mammal species are now dying out because they can’t evolve fast enough to cope with the 1/4 degree increase in temperature, but somehow they managed the other.

No really. This is actually exactly what the comment reads. Obviously Jerry doesn’t know the first thing about evolution – thinks mammals are older than reproduction and has some serious dislike for climate change. A proper two in one nutter here. Until recently, I had considered emigrating to the US, but now I fear for the education my children will receive.

Jerry’s brainwave is followed by someone called “Realist” who claims to fear for the US and says it is a laughing stock amongst developed nations. Ironically, this generates two responses which are so funny I have to put them in full:

@Jerry Nendel:

We are the advanced nation.

Posted by: Jerry Nendel is a moron | Jan 3, 2008 4:28:35 PM

That comment was meant for Realist.

Posted by: Sorry Jerry Nendel | Jan 3, 2008 4:30:03 PM

Ouch. It would have been nowhere near as funny if the idiot hadn’t made such a hash of the attempted claim to America’s advancement.

“Scott” chimes in with the tiresome:

We came from monkeys. LOL Whoever believes that must have the intellect of monkeys, so maybe they just evolved.

Just another idiot parroting out something his pastor said which made him chuckle. Shame on him. He is not alone though:

“Cliff”

If we evolved from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys?? If I am wrong for believing in God, oh well. If the atheists are wrong, well, Hell.

Blimey two false statements in one. First off only a total retard would think evolution suggests humans evolved from monkeys. Secondly, Pascals Wager is wrong. If Cliff is wrong, Allah will punish him for eternity, Thor will not allow him to feast at the great table (etc). Sadly this isn’t even original idiocy.

“Benjamin” at least has some form of rationale to present (even if it is wrong, which it is):

Sad that people still believe in evolution. It’s a scientific community that is desperate to prove that it is still in control and that absolutely everything can be proved by experimentation. As a student of science and a student of the Bible, I see absolutely no reason why true science and religion don’t harmonize. It’s those so-called ‘creationists’ who advocate the Earth was created in six, literal, 24 hour days that do much discredit to people who believe in creation. Yes, evolution in general is indisputable, since germs and viruses evolve and so forth. But human evolution? Impossible. Impossible to the nth degree.

You know what? I agree creationists do much to discredit those who believe in creation. However, believing in creation is the main flaw. For a “student of science” to claim evolution is “impossible to the nth degree” there must be some alternative meaning to the words I am not privy to.

Cliff F brings in the Christian persecution complex:

It is always interesting to me, that I am considered a kook, for believing in God. But, the evolutionists are considered “sane”, for their beliefs. Do you really believe that the earth and everything on it (including man), just developed as a coincidence? That it all happened just by chance? What are the odds of that happening? ASTRONOMICAL!!

Here we see a prime example of someone not knowing what they are talking about, but still talking about it. Cliff bandies words such as “beliefs” “coincidence” “chance” and “odds” without having any real idea what they mean or how they relate to the scientific theory of evolution.

In a universe, astronomical odds are pretty low…

Sadly the odds of this thread on ABC getting stranger (and further from any real definition of “correct) are already low. Jim Strawn chimes in with this bit of madness: [emphasis mine]

The matter is far from settled. Evidence for a created, young earth is also mounting rapidly from Astronomy, Geology, Genetics, Physics and other fields. Both sides of the debate have the same facts to deal with and are both left with difficult questions. This booklet speaks of Evolution as if there were no difficulties, comparing Evolution to something so observable as Gravity. It also speaks of Evolution and Natural Selection as synonymous, but can Evolution explain such difficulties as the sheer number of unlikely beneficial mutations required to form a single anatomical addition? Ultimately, either side is left with evidence, observations, and preconceived ideas. Each side must answer this plain question: “Were you there?” Frankly, I’m disappointed with the NAS.

WTF! What evidence from Astronomy, Geology, Genetics, Physics or any other field is “rapidly mounting” to support YEC? Lying for Jesus is still lying. The “both sides” fallacy is getting annoying but the real weirdness is how this loon wants the final decision made. What the **** does he mean “were you there?” Is he saying the (ahem) testimony of the bible counts as evidence the world was created by God 6000 years ago? Sadly, we have no written testimony from Adam and Even and not even YECs have a young enough Earth to have been around at its creation, so I think we have to go with the scientific evidence. It overwhelms the supposed testimony of the bible. If this was a court of law, the forensic evidence would outweigh the, frankly dodgy, witness testimony and the bible would be sentenced to hard time.

The entire medical profession is shamed by this nutter: [emphasis mine]

The next BIG Bang event to happen will be Christ returning. As a Doctor anyone who can look at the human body with its DNA and the complex being that we are and think this happened by chance and not design skipped thier Bio classes. We find a fossil of a fish with legs on this same website they are showing you pictures of conjoined twins skeletons so in 100 years will people think we all had two heads. One fossil makles a nice museum peice 1000 makes an argument.

Yeah, I would really like to visit this crank next time I have a viral or bacterial infection… Especially as the retard can’t write…

More stupidity:

There are enough holes in evolution to drive a mack truck through it. But this isn’t a battle between evolution and Intelligent Design or evolution and Creationism anyway. This is really a battle of worldviews – the atheistic/materialistic/naturalist worldview and the theistic worldview.

Hmmm. Wrong. Next.

Evolution??? Evolution is a THEORY.
You are welcome to your theory. So are those that believe, or in other words, have a theory that God created man.

Common sense rules out evolution.
Natural selection would dictate that only a few select species would survive.
Why don’t pigs fly or talk. Why just monkies able to “evolve”.
Why science has observed is ADAPTATION.
There is zero evidence, or observation oof one species becoming a more acompletely new advanced species.

Argh. What a blinding indictment of the education system. I can only pray to Toutatis that this retard is home schooled and only has access to a computer as part of his rehabilitation classes. This makes my head spin with its retarded nature. “Common sense” is a great buzzword for the loonies who seem to ignore the fact that “common sense” is a poor thing for looking at anything outside the scale of spending an hour in your garage. What freak taught this retard only monkeys could evolve? The adaptation sentence is too incoherent for me to work out what he even wants to say. Finally he finishes with an appeal to personal ignorance. Aren’t these people great.

What about this for weirdly insane: [emphasis mine]

As a dog owner, I can tell you that my dog is very intelligent but did not evolve from any cells of a creature that man did. Evolution is fine but only after stating that all was created and allowed to evolve by the Creator and not chance. Man’s mind should show people how man is nowhere near related to animals.

Mind boggling. It is really making my head spin that this person has an animal in his house and is still blind to the obvious. Wow. I worry for the world.

I will stop now, but may return to this later when I get over the headache these early posts have made (plus I want to try and respond on the ABC site as well. Before I go, this final quote, from jmac0011:

Evolution=more $$$$$ for the Liberals.

Gosh. What more needs to be said…

(hat tip: FSTDT)