#2288: Bob Staples

Somewhat obscure, perhaps, but Bob Staples is member of the Villa Rica Church of Christ and a young-earth creationist. He is, we suspect, not the only young-earth creationist in his congregation. What’s more disconcerting is that Staples is also “a college math teacher” – what or what kind of college is not specified, and the fact that Bob is there is itself sufficient reason to choose a different institution for your education – and that, as of 2012, he was, according to one source, (apparently) serving on some “state committee that is working to develop science standards for education”; at least he was pestering the Carroll County Board of Education with letters and protests.

Staples was clear about his goals for those science standards: evolution should not be part of them. It should not, because Staples believes in a literal reading of the Bible, and although he didn’t expect public schools to teach the Bible’s view of creation, they should at least drop the scientific alternative: As Bob sees it, you can’t have it both ways: “You cannot read Genesis 1 and 2 and also agree with evolution. They are contrary to each other. They are contradictory,” said Staples. In his letter to the state science committee, he claims that shools teaching evolution since the 1960s has contributed to what he sees as a decline in American morals. “The crime rate, child abuse, divorce. All of these things rose from a period following the implementation of teaching Darwinian Theory,” Staples said, because correlation proves causation even when there isn’t really a correlation. 

He also said that “[e]volution is a theory in crisis [claims about the imminent collapse of the theory of evolution has been a creationist staple for well-neigh a century] and harmful to our progress.” Why is it in crisis? “There is no evidence of evolution [at least Bob hasn't bothered to look]happening in the past […] Evolution is not a fact, but is taught as a fact in many educational settings,” whereas “[b]elief in creation and a global flood are consistent with the facts of science.” Apparently you have to take his word for it, and not look at the glaring inconsistencies in the creationist flood geology narrative (of course, the problems are not scientific; since Bob has no clue how science actually works he gets to define the word “science” any way he likes.)

Diagnosis: At least he is honest. None of that “teach the controversy” waffling here. Unfortunately he is also a rabidly insane fundie.

Hat-tip: Alethian worldview