#329: Georgia Purdom

Purdom is a molecular biologist and young earth creationist associated with Answers in Genesis. Her view of science is summed up here, if you can stomach it. She is fond of the “different worldviews” gambit, and has pointed out (with Jason Lisle) that “[t[he Christian worldview accounts not only for morality but also for why evolutionists behave the way they do. Even those who have no basis for morality within their own professed worldview nonetheless hold to a moral code; this is because in their heart of hearts they really do know the God of creation, despite their profession to the contrary. Scripture tells us that everyone knows the biblical God, but that they suppress the truth about God (Romans 1:18-21)” – a good, question-begging (though that’s not its worst sin) premise for a fruitful debate.

She is a frequent contributor to AiG’s journal “Answers”. To vol.2 she contributed (with John Francis) the article “More Abundant than Stars”, rambling on about the fledgling field of “creation microbiology” in an attempt to review the literature. They proposed to classify microbes according to baraminological concepts (no experiments, data or evidence provided). She also contributed “The Role of Genomic Islands, and Displacement in the Origin of Bacterial Pathogenicity” – another review paper about bacteria without evidence, data or experimental results, and without any testable hypotheses presented – just a rambling rant on how bacteria adapts (but don’t evolve!). It ends, though, with the one substantial claim: “From the creation perspective, all bacteria were originally created ‘good’” (as in the “good” bacteria in our digestive system), then along came the Fall … and that says it all, doesn’t it? No evidence, just a peevish point about how “[a] creation model is needed to understand how bacteria become pathogenic in a post-Fall world.” Surely evolutionary theory won’t give us that, so evolution is false. (It seems like one of Purdom’s favorite pastimes is to confuse and contradict herself on the evolution of bacteria)

She was also, with Menton and Andrew Snelling, one of the AiG associates behind the op-ed designed to correct some “misconceptions” about them.

As a good loon, Purdom is of course able to take any strong evidence for a hypothesis to be evidence for a completely opposite one by applying the standard creationist data handling rules: distort, mangle, quote-mine, confuse and assert. She was an early critic of Richard Lenski’s famous experiment, entering the fray even before ultramoron Andy Schlafly launched his helplessly gomeric attacks.

Purdom has claimed that there is a direct link between evolution and the Holocaust – not in terms of the standard, refuted claims that Nazi ideology was somehow based on evolution (it wasn’t; it was hardcore and explicitly creationist), but because once you start compromising on the Biblical account of creation it is a step down the path to full-blown genocide.

Diagnosis: Moronic hackjob with a real education and a pathological inability to admit that evidence and data are kinda important in science. She’s diligent, and as such moderately dangerous.