Nothing new here, just more of the same. I thought this time I'd insert my reactions into the stream of a fairly typical creationist letter that I received this morning. Really, people: you may think you're very clever and persuasive, but I hear all of this same stuff every single day, and you've never got a new argument.
Thanks for removing all doubt as to what will be taught at U-Morris.[Yes. We will be teaching science, not creationism.] My daughter was considering attending after she graduates next year. [Good for her! She sounds like a smart young woman already]That will not be the case anymore.[I am very sorry to hear that—she clearly needs a good education to correct the indoctrination of her father. But then, any good school she gets into will teach her the same things I would]
For you to take it upon yourself to have people e-mail U of Vermont, protesting the invitation to have Ben Stein speak at commencement, shows a narrow minded disdain for relevant[From Stein? Nixonion hack with no knowledge of science and a failed track record in economics?] opposing [Some opposing views can be wrong because they are stupid, you know] views
in not only science but probably everything else.
Everyday. And I mean everyday. Your 'we come from goo'[Uh-oh. Your true colors as a devotee of the crazy people at Answers in Genesis is showing] stance is loosing[Maybe your daughter can be an English major] ground [Actually, no — evolution is doing very well, is beautifully supported by the evidence, and is getting stronger year by year among people who bother to evaluate the evidence] and you and your ilk[Nice word] are scared to death of continually being proven wrong[Not at all. Easy to refute: prove evolution wrong. Go ahead. I'll listen. Just don't regurgitate AiG nonsense at me, OK?]. So you go nuts at these opposing views of creation[Just being an "opposing view" does not make it valid. You really need to learn some critical thinking skills.] and what not. Funny thing is Stein is a nice guy[Stein: "Science leads to killing people"] and probably wouldn't even talk about that scary creation point of view anyway[Maybe instead he'd talk about his inane and demonstrably wrong views on the economy. Which is scarier?]. You have got to lighten up.[Dude, you're the one writing a long letter to a stranger protesting that you're going to dictate which schools your daughter can attend, because you don't want her exposed to different ideas about evolution.]
Please do not take this personally[Since yours is one of 11 weird harangues I found in my mailbox this morning, I won't. I just laugh.], since I have never met you or even heard of you[Nor I you. But I have heard this same cookie-cutter, boring creationist spiel a few thousand times.] until I saw Pharyngula. There are lots of people over the years that have been ramming[Really? Ramming? I suppose you could say your math teachers also rammed algebra down your throat.] this impossible Theory of Evolution[Sir, you do not understand the theory of evolution, and you are clearly planning to make sure your children don't, either. Not only is it possible, it's been demonstrated time and again] down our throats. But that does not mean its true.[Funny. I have never heard a scientist say evolution is true because we have indoctrinated people into it. That's more the kind of thing that is true of creationists]
We need to keep open minds and field and teach opposing views and let truth take it where it leads no matter how improbable a direction[I repeat, guy: your whole letter is built on an assertion that you will not allow your daughter to be exposed to ideas you dislike. Why are you creationists always so oblivious?].
Respectfully,[Somehow, I doubt it]
Steve Broten
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