Rev. Bryan Griem, a California-based pastor, may be an unpleasant fellow who doesn’t like the idea that people who disagree with him on metaphysical
issues have rights, but being an unpleasant fellow is not enough to give you an
entry. Griem, however, is also a creationist. Like most creationists he doesn’t
really understand evolution, but he is nevertheless not afraid to conclude that
“Big Science” is in some sort of conspiracy against good religious people like
himself. Accordingly, he has called out Bill Nye as “the scary guy, the pagan
guy; one worshiping godless misdirection,” and concluded that scientists
are motivated by money and anti-religious arrogance (yeah, a standard trick for
justifying why you won’t bother to actually understand something or look at the
evidence): They “garner funding, find
arti-‘facts’ and pretend life’s knowledge. They’re ignorant, as Nye
illustrates. I don’t like him anymore. Neither do my kids.” Indeed, like
Voltaire, Nye is a “dork.” So that
settles that. Griem is also behind a very positive review of “Expelled”,
but I won’t link to that one (search it up yourself if you, for some reason,
should want to read it).
Aside from that, Griem is on record lamenting the status of
the US as a Christian nation (which he, like so many fundamentalists, claims is what the Founding Fathers
intended all along), for instance pointing out that in a truly Christian nation “pregnant
women would not murder the offspring they produced from their wanton lifestyles”
and “gay pride would be an oxymoron,”
and that Obama was not elected by a Christian nation – he couldn’t have been
(ostensibly since people who disagree with Griem on politics couldn’t be real Christians). So, yeah: that kind of
guy.
Diagnosis: An unpleasant person. Stay well away (but I doubt
minimally reasonable and decent people would have much trouble realizing that
on their own once Griem opens his mouth).
Ha! He cheated with my then-fiance, no he's not a very good Christian either.
ReplyDeleteMichael Mirth, aka, Paul Burdick is guilty of libel in this published comment. His "fiance" escaped his abuser clutches of two years. She was fully single when she and her 20 year old friend of this Encyclopedic listing touched base and wound up happily married going on a year now. Get off it dude. I"m not a very good Christian? At least I don't speak falsely of others or worship the devil (nice picture btw).
DeleteG.D., I'd appreciate it if you would remove this defamatory posting. I do not disagree with intelligent discourse or differing opinions being expressed. I am biblical, and so that is my foundation for my own platform. Grant me the same respect you say you deserve without the name calling. Bill Nye is not a scientist. He worked on hydraulics for an airline before he got into showbiz and auditioned for the part of a science expert. He's not. Most of my comments that posters like to attack are answers to the Times asking specific questions of me and a croup of differing spiritual leaders. That's the only reason I am online for such as yourself to take potshots. I am a creationist because I believe in God. He tells us he is the creator. Evolutionists thing that everything that exhibits design just happened. Everyone believes in adaptive evolution, its the cows-turn-into-whales kind of stuff with which I disagree. And the Founding Fathers, the specific group to which this term applies, were the signers of the Declaration of independence. One was a pastor (Witherspoon) and all but 4 of the 55 were church members. So my positions are not loony, they are just not yours, but they are informed, either by scripture or historical fact. You blog does me no justice, and I would once again request that you not include me with your myriad entries of "unpleasant persons."
ReplyDeleteWe strive for accuracy, so if we have made a mistake here we welcome corrections. But you haven't pointed out any mistakes.
DeleteWe do say that you don't understand even the fundamentals of the theory of evolution. You amply demonstrate that in your comment: "Evolutionists thing that everything that exhibits design just happened [no they do not!]. Everyone believes in adaptive evolution, its the cows-turn-into-whales kind of stuff with which I disagree." In short, you don't understand the theory (and, by the way, if you believe "in adaptive evolution", i.e. genetic changes as response to environmental pressures, what mechanisms are supposed to prevent those adaptations from accumulating? What mechanisms are you positing here that prevents microevolution from entailing macroevolution?). So, you deny scientific consensus over a theory you don't comprehend, for religious reasons. That's lunacy.
As for the Founding Fathers, their religious beliefs of course varied: several were deists, many were Christians. But the relevance of their personal beliefs is, of course, completely irrelevant to whether the US "is a Christian nation" in any way relevant to constitutional or legal issues. You should really stay away from David Barton's dominion-motivated pseudohistory if you value truth.
Science denialism is sufficient to count as a loon; anti-gay bigotry sufficient to count as unpleasant.