Sunday, May 4, 2014

#1023: Dennis Petersen


The infamously insane fundie conspiracy theorist Peter J. Peters, famous for this one, seems to have passed away.

But there are plenty of others ready to take his place. Dennis Petersen is another fundie conspiracy theorist, and founder of The Creation Resource Foundation, which is devoted to “helping families build a confidently Bible-based world view through multi-media seminars, books, videos, newsletters, media interviews, and field trips. Every production is designed to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ as The Creator, to whom every human must be ultimately accountable.” He is also author of Unlocking The Mysteries of Creation, which seems to enjoy some popularity among homeschoolers. Both his organization and book are hardcore young earth creationist. His objections to evolution are rather familiar: how could all the complexity happen by random chance (which rather clearly demonstrates that he doesn’t even understand the fundamentals of the theory he purports to criticize)? And what about the second law of thermodynamics?

In other words, Petersen promotes your standard creationist talking points, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they have been refuted a thousand times. But then, Petersen’s goal isn’t truth or accuracy, but Jesus.

Diagnosis: Facts, evidence and reason simply have no traction with this kind of people, and Petersen appears to carry some influence among the less reality-apt segments of the population.

No comments:

Post a Comment