#1686: Richard Gunther

If density annoys you, you better stay well clear of this one. Richard Gunther, of Living Waters Ministry, is a cartoonist and creationist. In fact, he is Ray Comfort’s official cartoonist, and probably one of the dumbest creationists you’ll come across on the whole, wide Internet. His cartoons are more like … illustrated creationist talking points, and Gunther doesn’t really have the faintest idea what the theory of evolution actually is or how science works. Actually, Gunther’s misconceptions and errors are so staggering that it really has to be seen – here you go, but brace yourself and expect to lose some intelligence points. If you don’t want to try, you can instead ponder this statement: “A while ago I drew a cartoon as a joke, with the picture of hairy primate and the words to the effect: ‘If we come from apes, and if humans are “fitter” than apes, then how come there are still apes?’” Oh, yes, he did. He did also receive some flak for that one, to which he offered the Ray Comfort response to making a fool of himself with the banana argument: “This joke was drawn and written for its humour, not its accuracy, because of course it is downright silly to argue this way.” So it was really a joke on the expense of creationists? (Otherwise, what was the joke? … are we just trying to furiously backpedal here, Richard?) And he carefully explained: “Just because humans are ‘fitter’ than apes does not mean that apes ought to be extinct.” Indeed, “[t]here are also many examples of very ‘unfit’ plants and animals, such as the panda which lives almosty exclusively on bamboo, or the koala which likes mainly eucalyptus. Most ‘unfit’ yet they survive.” No, he doesn’t get it. Not even close. And for the grand non-sequietur, he once again offered an illustration of how silly evolution is. It is best quoted at some length:

“[L]et us see where the Darwinian view leads, if we follow it through: Darwin saw Mankind as the product of millions of years of slow development, an increasing trend, from lower to higher levels of intelligence and complexity – a development which he claimed was a normal part of living things. Apply a logical progression to this: If this premise is true we should see:

- A continuing improvement in average human phisique, health and resistance to biological opposition over time,

- A continuing increase in average human intelligence, and technology,

We do not see any of these things. The trend is the other way. Darwin’s theory of evolution upward doesn’t fit the real, observed world.”

You can’t but marvel, can you? Well, Gunther can back up his hypothesis about the devolution of human civilization, don’t you know: “Health? Humans are increasingly beset by new diseases (small pox, malaria, cholera, ‘black death’. etc)” Ok, one down – evolution is refuted by recent increases in incidents of cholera and the black death (and note that according to biologists the theory of evolution applies only to humans, not other organisms). What about technology and intelligence? “How[sic] Intellect? Increasingly discoveries of ancient civilizations are revealing that those people were actually brighter they we are in many ways (i.e. huge monuments made of incredibly heavy stones, the antikathera, astronomical knowledge, metal-work, more complex languages, etc.” Perhaps the rocks were just heavier back in those days. And yes, Gunther is, in full seriousness, trying to argue that our intellectual level has exhibited a downward trend since the stone age by using examples from technology. And he is doing so in a desperate attempt to falsify a ridiculous strawman of evolution (“[a]ccording to [Darwin], evolution for humans is all up and up”). The failure is, in other words, so complete it transcends stupidity. You can’t make this up.

The conclusion Gunther draws from his inane ravings is, of course, that evolution couldn’t have happened (remember he is still dealing with his weird misconception about what it is) and you should accept the obvious truth of a literal interpretation of the Bible instead (there is probably little to gain in pointing out to him evidence against evolution, if such was offered, is not evidence for Biblical creationism); and ominously enough: “evolutionists don’t want the public to know this. They prefer to believe the lie than face the truth.” Guess who’s ultimately running the scientists and behind their nefarious tactics.

Diagnosis: Absolutely hilarious. It’s hard to believe that anyone could challenge Ray Comfort or Jim Pinkoski for inanity, but you betcha there is. Marvelous.