#586: Lita Cosner

Lita Cosner has a BA in Biblical Studies from Oklahoma Wesleyan University and is a member of Creation Ministries International. She has contributed frequently to such incisive, scientifically solid journals as Creation magazine, the Journal of Creation, and the Creation Ministries International's website, on topics such as pro-life, New Testament studies, alleged Bible contradictions and errors, and general apologetics topics, primarily from a presuppositionalist standpoint. She has, for instance, argued that the teaching of evolution makes it much harder for the church to expand and grow, since people start doubting the inerrancy of the Bible. Therefore evolution is wrong. And science is areligion, too. To bolster her argument from adverse consequences, she has also pointed out the inherent racist upshots of the theory of evolution. After all, evolutionary theory entails (according to Cosner) that “More ape-like = less evolved”. Of course evolution does not entail this, and the whole notion of apes being “less evolved” than humans is a mainstay of creationist misunderstanding. More interestingly is how Cosner can take the claim, even if it were true, to entail that evolution is racist – the tacit premise needed is rather illuminating. The whole thing is very similar to but better written than this. Creationism, of course, is not racist, since we are all descended from Noah – fully and deliberately overlooking the fact that one of the most prominent justifications for racism is exactly that very idea.

She defends the writings of G.K. Chesterton (apart from the fact that Chesterton seems to have been too sympathetic to science), and claims that “Chesterton also successfully debated some of the leading anti-Christians of his day, such as George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, Bertrand Russell and Clarence Darrow. 17 Against Darrow, he was much more successful than William Jennings Bryan, winning the audience vote about 2–1.” Clearly Chesterton’s rhetorical skills settle the issue.

Diagnosis: Cosner’s arguments and conclusion constitute a study case of what happens to the standards of good reasoning if truth is deemed unimportant and other standards are used instead (e.g. blind faith). Her influence is probably rather limited, however.

#228: Lyndon LaRouche

A.k.a. Lyn Marcus

Lyndon LaRouche is a legend. Perennially running for president, LaRouche manages to be a wingnut/moonbat on the radical left and the radical right at the same time. He has a severe messiah complex and runs his organization like a fundie cult, and is – fortunately – insane enough to be rather toothless.

So why should you vote for LaRouche (given that he – as he certainly will – runs for president again)? Among the issues LaRouche is firm on, and that no one else seems to deal with effectively are (more details here):
- Using tactical nukes to build a canal across Africa to solve the world's water crisis.
- Break the Satanist conspiracy between Henry Kissinger (and/or George Soros), the Queen of England, ADL, Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund that controls the world’s drug trade.
- Avoiding the imminent global economic collapse (which has been immediately around the corner since the 60s, apparently). His suggestions on how to deal with it are rather diffuse.
- Banish rock & roll (especially the Beatles), which is a tool used by British Intelligence to control American minds. In fact, according to LaRouche, British liberalism is the main threat to the world at present, and they are secretly working to take over the world and bring it back to the dark ages (other conspiracy theories are dismissed as British propaganda).
- Remove any trace of the politics of the betrayer Barack Obama (LaRouche’s followers have compared Obama to Hitler, but were staunch supporters of John Kerry); in fact LaRouche has called for the impeachment of Obama.
- Dismiss and end the propaganda for the fraudulent idea of global warming (a conspiracy).
- Drawing on the resources of the already existing (worldwide) LaRouche Youth Movement to do, well, whatever youth movements do? (It really exists, btw, and bears all the hallmarks of a cult; the spokesperson is one Barbara Boyd and it seems to be led by Lakesha “Kesha” Rogers, a certified nutcase.

LaRouche was originally a Trotskyist (under the name Lyn Marcus), instigating several labor strikes among students during his leadership of the sectarian leftist National Caucus of Labor Committees (LaRouche promoted the use of physical violence, however, against his competitors in the Communist Party). He established relations to the extreme right – e.g. Willis Carto’s Liberty Lobby – during Reagan (particular over drug policy and staunch opposition to environmentalism). He eventually turned from (some semblance of confused) Marxism to anti-Semitism. This quote, from 1978, is, uh, interesting: “America must be cleansed for its righteous war by the immediate elimination of the Nazi Jewish Lobby and other British agents from the councils of government, industry, and labor" (more quotes here).

He also erected a quite wide-ranging intelligence network and a surprisingly large international organization (or somewhat militia like cult) with ties to a frighteningly many questionable regimes, including South Africa’s apartheid regime and Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party. He also achieved a certain success in the 80s, before being imprisoned for tax evasion (sharing a cell with Jim Bakker). LaRouche’s followers are known to be among the most persistent at comparing Obama to Hitler. They’re still running a variety of fronts and publications (including the crackpot science cesspool “21st century Science and Technology”, known in particular for its rabid and completely unscientific papers arguing (ranting) against global warming). This one is worth a visit.

More here. This one seems to have gone a little over the top, however.

Diagnosis: Schizophrenic, megalomaniac raving lunatic who seems to wish to establish a socially conservative, fiscally socialist political system based on cult-like worship of the strong man (himself). That political system has been tried before. Fortunately LaRouche doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of implementing it in the US, despite the fact that he has a frighteningly large number of followers.

#216: David Klinghoffer

Klinghoffer, who has a bachelor’s degree from Brown, is a Senior Fellow of the Discovery Institute (and author, for instance of the interestingly titled “How Would God Vote?: Why the Bible Commands You to Be a Conservative”), staunch proponent of Intelligent Design creationism, a frequent contributor to National Review, and former columnist for The Forward. Klinghoffer is the major peddler of creationism among orthodox Jews.

He has argued, famously, that if convergent evolution were true, then evolution would have led to Cthulhu. Literally. Since “Darwinists love him [Lovecraft]” (“Darwinists” are here supposed to be people like Ken Miller). More here. He has also been adamant that Darwin is to blame for the Columbine killings and several other incidents (and for Hitler, of course) – Klinghoffer is a standard Discovery Institute revisionist, in other words. A more original one is his attempt to blame Ted Haggard’s moral failings on Darwin.

He seems to have a strange view on the Holocaust.

Klinghoffer was the receiving end of Dr. Nicholas Gotelli’s famous response to invitations to debate creationists.

And for his truly insipid take on the Texas science standards (with Charles Garner), enjoy this one.

Diagnosis: Another shrill idiot who subordinates truth, evidence and reason to ideology, and in the most dishonest manner imaginable. As a part of that center of ignorance, the Discovery Institute, he has some influence, and he is certainly productive.

#207: Linda Kimball

One of our previous idiot Alan Keyes’s pet projects is the delusionally ignorant website Renew America (for which luminaries like Fred Hutchison, Bryan Fischer, Wes Vernon and Grant Swank have written). Among their writers are Linda Kimball, who is apparently engaged in a desperate battle with Ray Comfort (and some others) for the most thoroughly moronic anti-evolution screed ever written.

Her masterpiece is surely “Evolutionism: the dying West’s science of magic and madness”. Here she traces evolution back to Nimrod of the Old Testament, and then to Ancient Greek where “evolution serves as the mechanism of soul-transference in metempsychosis and transmigration of souls. In the ancient East, the mystical Upanishads refine evolution and it becomes the mechanism of soul-movement in involutions, emergences, incarnations, and reincarnation.”

Huh? Does she have the faintest clue what she is talking about? Not at all. This is Time Cube level stuff. After carefully inventing the genealogy of the cult of evolution, she points out – in a manner that would probably make even Alex Jones raise an eyebrow (or perhaps not) – that “whereas occult pantheism quietly flowed beneath 'red-colored' atheist-materialist-communism and Nazism during the twentieth century, that order is quickly reversing. Today, 'green-colored' occult pantheist-socialism is brazenly striding onto the world-stage in full public view while materialist-secularism slowly fades to black. Already, zealous High Priests and Priestesses of the occult arts are calling the U.N the world church and the world mind, while other madmen such as David Spangler, demand that everyone submit to a satanic-initiation to qualify for entry to the coming green New World Order.”

And that, readers, is Linda Kimball’s attempt at refuting evolution. Discussed here.

She also made an earlier attempt, where her main argument seems to have been: “Jeffrey Dahmer, a psychopath who cannibalized his victims, acted on Darwin's advice.” (remember that Dahmer’s father was a known creationist lecturer, and Dahmer was raised a creationist).

Her contributions to other matters are not pitched at a higher level of quality. Her column is here. Enjoy.

Diagnosis: Mind-numbingly idiotic wingnut fundamentalist who is pathologically unable to separate evidence, science, logic or reason from religion. One of the most hilariously stupid characters we have covered thus far.

199: Rick Joyner

Rick Joyner heads MorningStar Ministries, which he co-founded with his wife Julie in 1985. He also oversees MorningStar's “University”, Fellowship of Ministries, and Fellowship of Churches, as well as editing their various publications. According to Joyner, the purpose of his ministry is the “biblical mandate Matthew 24:45–46” as well as a commitment to equip future leaders and work in relationship with current leaders to prepare and strengthen the church for the last days.

He has written numerous books, including the “The Final Quest” series. This is a series of prophecies based on revelation Joyner claims to have received personally – as such it has remained rather controversial even among Evangelicals. Joyner claims to have been (literally) transported to Heaven and to have had long conversations with Jesus (and some saints and prophets). Hence, his talk about spiritual warfare and the impending 'civil war' within the church bears the stamp of authority, doesn’t it?

Interestingly, while Joyner claims to regard the utterly insane William Branham as something of a lunatic, he also claims to have seen Branham close to the throne of God in his travels to Heaven. Hence Branham must be closer to the truth than one thought (this is perhaps the most feeble attempt I’ve seen of trying to argue that your apparently crazy views are not as crazy as they seem, Rick).

He also weighed in on the health care reform, pointing out that the bill "is about euthanasia, the power to determine who lives or dies in America. Hitler and Stalin would have loved to have had a means such as this for dispatching the millions they killed – it would have made their job much easier, and probably given them the ability to kill many more than they did. THIS BILL IS THAT SINISTER. This is not a joke."

Joyner was also (along with Jack Deere and Bill Johnson) in on the attempted curing and rehabilitation of Canadian televangelist Todd Bentley (famous for his Lakeland revival and for “healing” cancer and AIDS patients by beating them up), after Todd had been involved in – you guessed it – an adultery scandal.

Diagnosis: Pathologically delusional kook and madman who sometimes display glimpses of self-awareness that he is quick to explain away. That only makes him even more zealous of course. Impact unknown – he has many followers, but had he not existed the followers would probably have found another loon to worship.

#172: James Hartline

San Diego’s most famous wingnut, and one of the most thoroughly unhinged anti-gay activists out there (the competition is pretty fierce), James Hartline is the publisher of The James Hartline Report, which addresses issues involving homosexuality. A fine example is here, where Hartline urges his voters not to cast their votes for Mayoral Candidate Jerry Sanders because it violates the Bible, and because Sanders “will be bringing with him a new wave of moral compromise and radical homosexual ideology. This is the core problem in San Diego, which, for the last ten years has destroyed all sense of morality in America's once Finest City, and left the citizenry with an unfixable financial black hole.” The point was the Hartline found homosexuals among Sanders’s campaign sponsors (which are, by default, extremist promoters of the insidious homosexual agenda). By not treating gays as shit, Hartline claims, Sanders is disrespecting every Christian voter. He also claims that “both Jerry Sanders and Donna Frye are rabid supporters of the liberal, social experiment of the sexual revolution”, but I am unsure that Hartline has earned the right to use the adjective ‘rabid’ of other people. Here, by the way, is some context and a snapshot of ordinary San Diego lunatics.

He also blamed the 2007 forest fires on the gays (God’s punishment), or actually on the anti-christian California lawmakers who even considered legalizing gay marriage.
And last year, the torrential rains in Southern California were … well, you guessed it.

Particularly charming is his tendency to start sounding like an incoherent Old Testament prophet when his hysterical rants reach their climax. He is also oppsed to the “Nazi-style stem cell research”.

This entry could also serve to indict Phil Magnan, the director for Biblical Family Advocates, who joined forces with Hartline on at least this occasion, and who thought it was ‘sad’ that the Gay Men's Chorus of San Diego was allowed to sing the National Anthem at the San Diego Padres baseball stadium.

Diagnosis: Hartline’s Report is one long, hysterical, unhinged, garbled primal scream against sanity, reason and freedom, and the guy is totally insane. Impact unclear, but I doubt he convinces anyone not already positioned well beyond the reach of reason

#166: Ken Ham

Arguably the successor of Kent Hovind to the title of mackerel baron of the biblical creationist movement, Ken Ham is the well-known founder of Answers in Genesis (a pertinent description of which is found here, and also here). He originally hails from Australia (where all the kangaroos apparently floated after the Ark stranded in Turkey; see here). He is very diligent and shovels a lot of shit every day, completely delusional and utterly unable to distinguish fact from fantasy.

Also generally recognized as a human spambot that generates sentences with no regard for their truth or justification, their cogency with previous statements or any conceivable rules for good critical thinking, but in a completely predictable manner, such as in this case where the input cue is the term “atheist”. See this, and also this.

His favorite debate technique is a version of the Gish gallop known as the “Ham Hightail” which consists of jumping from point to point, ignoring all contrary evidence, and quoting the Bible whenever proof is required. Since the purpose is to retain the hold of those who already believe creationism is backed by science, if all else fails the hightail prescribes the “different worldviews” (i.e. atheist vs. moral) gambit.

Ken Ham and AIG also run the world-famous creation museum in Kentucky, a monument to ignorance, fundamentalism and denialism. The main purpose of the museum is to promote the idea that humans and dinosaurs coexisted peacefully before the Flood. The T Rex ate coconuts, and the reason animals ended up on different continents was that plate tectonics happened really, really fast after the flood. It “says quite a lot about Ham and his followers that they find a 4.5-billion-year-old Earth wildly implausible next to the notion of a tyrannosaur calmly grazing in a meadow.” Ken Ham and AiG seem to have failed to realize that the Flintstones is not a documentary. This is also pertinent, as is this.

Absolutely clueless and ignorant about science, Ham is also fond of dismissing any evidence on the grounds that the presenter is (purportedly) an atheist – a standard conspiracy theory trick, really.

He does, however, realize that Dembski’s old earth, intelligent design creationism is “bizarre", though not obviously for the right reasons.

Ham is also constantly complaining that scientists are unwilling to take him seriously. Go figure (He really, really doesn’t get it, though).

A couple of other examples: Ken Ham (feebly) claims that his Noah’s Ark claims are misrepresented.

Ken Ham on the Virginia Tech shootings (predictably).

Ken Ham on Tiktaalik.

Ken Ham applies double standards for Jesus.

Ken Ham fails to stay classy.

Ken Ham goes insane.

Oh, and Hitler.

And so on, and so forth. You get the gist.

Diagnosis: A clod, crackpot and (unintentional) con artist; seriously deluded and influential in the manner of Kent Hovind; Ken Ham is perhaps the leading advocate of traditional creationism and naïve biblical literalism. A threat to reason, sanity, intelligence and rationality everywhere.

#163: Louise Kuo Habakus

We follow one anti-vaccine crank with another. Louise Kuo Habakus is less powerful than Grossman, but quite a bit more unhinged. Habakus won the crackpot-and-lunacy organization Age of Autism’s “person of the year” award in 2009. She won it for “rallying vaccine advocates and concerned citizens in numbers that made the difference in the New Jersey governor's race, defeating Jon Corzine and carrying Chris Christie, the first candidate to go on record for vaccine choice, to victory” (AoA obviously entertains some delusions of grandeur). “Vaccine choice” means “vaccine denialism”, and Habakus’s stance is well covered here. She likes to talk about the vaccine gestapo.

Her own website “Life Health Choices” is crammed with woo, strawmen and links to pseudoscience and conspiracy theories (she links to Mercola, for crying out loud). It is pretty transparently bad and would never have risen to notice were it not for the fact that certain news outlets sometimes seem to entertain an almost pathologic need to cover “both sides” of an issue regardless of whether that issue in fact has two legitimate sides.

Apart from her blog, Habakus gives lectures and talks on vaccines and other woo.

A good, concise primer on the Habakus-style anti-vaxxer is here.

Diagnosis: Not particularly original, but nevertheless scary peddler of disturbing woo and dangerous myths. Her influence is presumably a function of the influence of the despiccable Age of Autism organization, but she is notable enough nonetheless.

#154: Mark Gold

To some people, reason and evidence count when assessing claims about health benefits or hazards of various food products. To others, what matters is to find an appealing conspiracy and a plausible culprit. Mark Gold isn’t the only one who has hit upon aspartame as the culprit, but he seems to be representative of that group. From the point of view of science, there is little evidence to suggest that aspartame is actually a hazard, though it may admittedly not have been properly tested. But what does science matter when it doesn’t fit your preconceptions? I am, by the way, using this entry as a general entry for this particular conspiracy theory.

Mark Gold has no medical expertise. Rather, he presents himself as an expert on holistic healing (with 20 years of background in “research" (not further specified)). He seems to be behind this cesspit of misinformation, and this one, which may appear convincing to someone with no medical training (and no background in critical thinking). He is even featured on whale.to, for crying out loud. A typical example of Gold’s research occurred when, preceding the European Food Safety Authority’s acceptance of aspartame as safe, Gold “investigated the background of the first two speakers and knew they had no intention of giving an honest opinion". That, readers, is a prime example of what confirmation bias and conspiracy theory research looks like. Considering the claims does not matter when you can challenge the integrity of the people presenting them.

Apart from the aspartame conspiracy, Gold seems to be into every form of woo imaginable.

And here is, apparently, the face of the “scientific” opposition to aspartame.

It is all there. Random capitalization and colors and claims like “aspartame is the molecular Auschwitz” (with pictures of FDA members juxtaposed with pictures of Hitler), “The actual letter from the FDA Gestapo is here! Is this the U.S. or Nazi Germany?” and: “We need to tell the world that the NutraSweet Company is guilty of MURDER and we need to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law as well as all individuals who stood by them and protected them such as the media, Medical Associations (AMA, ADA, JDF, IFIC, Public Voice, etc) congress, FDA, and the Justice department just as they did with Nazi war criminals.” If that’s not scientific evidence enough for you, I don’t know what is! And of course: “Does Michael J. Fox really have Parkinson's or is his nerve damage from many years of consuming diet soda and other aspartame laced products? Michael EMAIL us!” [the garish color schema removed]

And there has been research! Such as Carol Guilford's Report: “ARTIFICIAL SWEETENER, ASPARTAME, (EQUAL, NUTRASWEET) LINKED TO BREAST CANCER AND GULF WAR SYNDROME”. Unfortunately Guilford is an author of cooking books and not exactly a scientist.

Other “researchers” associated with the stupidity seems to include one Betty Martini, Russell Blaylock (an actual doctor, but still a loon), and one Dr. H.J. Roberts.

Diagnosis: Very typical, and very insane. Gold and the aspartame conspiracy theorists are prime examples of how confirmation bias works in practice and how certainty is not a function of good evidence. The influence of the movement seems to be on a level that must be considered to be a cause for concern.
(ed. note - I'm having a hard time finding a photo I can reliably identify as the Mark Gold of this post, but since this post is also largely about aspartame conspiracy theories, this logo should suffice for the time being.)

#130: Bryan Fischer

Another big fish for our encyclopedia, up next is Bryan Fischer, the director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy for The American Family Association. Now it is hard to keep these groups apart, but any organization with “Family” in their name is guaranteed to be, shall we say, over the top. AFA’s mission is to make homosexuality illegal, along with abortion, and possibly even women's voting rights. More information here (they have rather effective strategies, in particular targeting companies that have made statements or policies in favour of gay rights, advertised in gay publications or advertised during a commercial break in a TV show which they find objectionable. They call for members to bombard these companies with complaints, or boycott their products).

But turn to Fischer, an unrepentant theocrat who is known for wanting the government to force gays and lesbians into "reparative therapy" or prison (discussed here).

He has recently fallen out with Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter, since these are not sufficiently against gay marriage for his taste - they associate with organizations that want to destroy the American military and the institution of marriage.

Well, sometimes it seems that “ruining the military” isn’t the goal of the guys – rather, they want to take it over for their own nefarious purposes. Quote Bryan Fischer: “Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews. Gays in the military is an experiment that has been tried and found disastrously and tragically wanting. Maybe it's time for Congress to learn a lesson from history.” (Fischer actually bases his claims on a book by Scott Lively, who will be covered later).

He is apparently completely oblivious to the irony in this one.

Fischer received some flak when he blames a grizzly bear attack at Yellowstone National Park on America for turning their back on God: “History reveals that God's covenant with an ancient nation suggests that one of the consequences for a nation which walks in his statues is that it will have nothing to fear from wild animals”. He phrased the whole incident in a slightly peculiar manner.

The AFA has also called for an end to allowing Muslims to immigrate to the United States, for banning them from joining the military, and for a moratorium on all new mosque building in America.

He is also, unsurprisingly, a staunch creationist, and was formerly the head of the Idaho Values Alliance.

More on Fischer here (we’ve touched on just a small selection).

Diagnosis: Totally insane, vile and zealous, theocrat and Godbot, hatemonger and crackpot, loon, moron, dumbass, crank. You pick, they all fit. Yet he still seems to enjoy quite some influence. I can’t quite find words.

#113: Wiley Drake

The amiable, lovable Wiley Drake is a Californian Southern Baptist minister and talk radio host, and a prominent member of the American Independent Party. In fact, he was their vice-presidential candidate in 2008 (with Alan Keyes - who will be covered later - rest assured, as the presidential candidate). He is most famous for calling for prayers for the deaths of those who disagree with him, including political opponents.

He was most famous for urging his followers to pray for the death of Obama ("Imprecatory Prayer is now our DUTY"). In fact, his obsession with imprecatory prayer is based on its success rate. God had already answered his call with the murder of George Tiller who, according to Drake, “was far greater in his atrocities than Adolf Hitler, […] so I am happy. I am glad that he is dead". Actully, Drake said he didn’t think the killer was pro-life – rather, the killer was planted by Obama to make anti-abortionists look bad.

Well, it wasn’t his first attempt at calling down the wrath and death mongering of God. The reason he wanted to take down Americans United for Separation of Church and State was primarily not because they defend the separation of church and state, but because they filed a complaint against him with the IRS for violating his church's tax exempt status. A fairly typical Jeebus and Christian™ cause for invoking the wrath of God, in other words.

Before running on Keyes’s ticket, Drake had endorsed Huckabee. Even Huckabee wasn’t particularly pleased about that.

Drake is a birfer. In fact, his main (official) argument against Obama is that he was born in Kenya rather than Hawaii and is thus an usurper.

Diagnosis: One of the most repugnant characters alive. Clinically insane, fascist piece of mindrot who needs serious medical attention. His influence is to some extent marginal, but he can’t be written off as harmless.

#110: Larry Dossey

A staunch opponent of the scientific method, Larry Dossey argues that the scientific method leads to Hitler and that indoctrinating children with the scientific method is a form of child abuse.

It is unclear what he wants to replace it with; presumably intuition, anecdotal evidence and “different ways of knowing” (i.e. “facts are just opinions and claims that are true for you may not be true for me”); perhaps something like this. You see, Larry is completely out there – he’s a virulent defender of all kinds of woo - Deepak Chopra, Gary Null, Joe Mercola, Gary Zukav and those kinds of people. He is, in fact, reckoned as one of the “Three musketeers of Woo”. Dossey is the author of (among other books) “Healing words: the power of prayer and the practice of medicine”, “The power of premonitions” (uh-oh) and, with Lewis Mehl-Madrona (who must be considered equally insane on this evidence alone) “Coyote healing” about the power of Native American healers to produce "miracles". Betcha there was a lot of controlled studies behind that one. He is also the former co-chairman of the Panel on Mind/Body Interventions, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health. And he is the executive editor of the “peer-reviewed” journal “Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing” (the journal known for this one, and this one). He seems to accept any conclusion as long as it is not science-based, since science is a conspiracy of the pharmaceutical companies and therefore a sham (which, you know, does not follow even if the premise is true – it’s called “ad hominem”, and is, in this case, a fallacy). Kinda like Alex Jones.

Diagnosis: Clinically lacking in critical thinking skills and understanding of the scientific method, and utterly lost to confirmation bias. Impact uncertain, but he does (of course) write for Huffington post on a regular basis. Total moron.

#107: James Dobson

Dobson runs the evangelical Christian organization Focus on the Family (although he has stepped down as chairman and CEO), an organization in war with the evil Big Government that wants to steal your children and which strongly encourages corporal punishment for kids. A helpful site for information about the organization is this one. The organization is also behind the sites “True Tolerance” (i.e. intolerance) and “Stand for Christmas”

They are also strongly committed to Biblical values being observed in Washington (Obama, for instance, isn’t really Christian because he distorts the Bible), and argue incessantly for the right of Christians to discriminate against gays and Muslims (the allowing-gays-to-marry-is-discriminating-against-Christians argument). Dobson is also personally committed to restoring Tom DeLay’s reputation (which is especially awesome in light of DeLay's recent conviction).

He has also claimed that teaching tolerance in school leads to Hitler.

Dobson is (unsurprisingly) a creationist and a frequent critic of evolution. He also, with 24 other evangelicals, called for the ouster of Rev. Richard Cizik from his position at the National Association of Evangelicals because Cizik had urged evangelicals to take global warming seriously. Dobson was also a firm opponent of McCain’s presidential candidacy, partially because he “voted for embryonic stem-cell research to kill nascent human beings”.

If you're willing to run the risk of your head exploding, you can watch this dialogue between Dobson and Glenn Beck.

Diagnosis: An astoundingly repulsive character, and a true loon. He has been referred to as "the nation's most influential evangelical leader" by Time, and Slate described him as "America's most influential evangelical leader." A not insignificant threat to civilization, then.

#104: Tom DeRosa

Executive Director of the Creation Studies Institute (an outreach of Coral Ridge Ministries), author of “Evolution’s Fatal Fruit” and self-proclaimed loon (well, he hasn’t literally said that, but he explains the fact that the earth is 4.7 billion years old and that this contradicts the Biblical 6000 years away by claiming that God created a 4.7 billion year old earth 6000 years ago, and that pretty much amounts to the same thing). His institute’s website is worth a visit.

Yes, he is a young earth creationist, trotting out the same old, same old – radiometric dating is unreliable, the Flood occurred 4000 years ago, Tyrannosaurus Rex was really a firebreathing dragon (behemoth of the old testament), evolution is solely responsible for all the ills of the 20th century (including, it seems, the travesties of religious fundamentalism – it is a little unclear). And these pieces of untarnished lunacy are typical creationist talking-points, remember. A typical debate is summed up here.

His notability does in part also stem from his own claim that he used to be an atheist who has since seen the light (See here. See also, well, more or less the rest of them, for example this guy). Apparently, DeRosa was the one who lead Pat Boone to creationism – I mean, Boone used to be an atheist, didn’t he? Apparently, Tom has a blog as well, where you can read about (among other things) his profound insight that creation vs. evolution is really the war between worldviews and neither is better than the other (yet his is, somehow, the best and correct one anyway).

Diagnosis: Total moron; impact is uncertain but he shouldn’t be underestimated.

#99: Vox Day (and his dad)

A.k.a. Theodore Beale (real name)

Computer game designer, published SF writer, arrogant conservative pundit, WorldNetDaily columnist and anti-evolutionist whose main argument against evolution appears to be “I am a member of the SFWA, Mensa and IGDA, and I don’t believe in evolution”. If his credentials are correct, it is good evidence for the claim that critical thinking skills need to be learned; they don’t just come automatically with a high IQ (actually, he applies a genuine ad hominem as well, but I don’t think that helps his case). Day likes to go on long rants without even the slightest hint of an argument. For his other endeavors, look here. We’ll restrict ourselves to documenting his lunacy.

He is, for instance, an anti-vaccinationist loon (parroting the anti-vaccinationist lunacy, again concerning a field he does not know anything about, just like biology). Also, he has actually argued that women shouldn’t be allowed to vote since they are fascists at heart,and that they should be kept out of science because they are a threat to it (this coming from an anti-evolutionist anti-vaccinationist). Atheism is hence a threat to science as well mainly because it apparently leads to introducing equal treatment.

Vox Day’s most famous loony claim, however, might just be his suggestion that we look to Hitler to solve the illegal immigrant problem in the US.

He also rejects AGW, and he seems to do so primarily because science and scientists support it. Vox Day is no fan of science, really, even though he himself thinks he is. In fact, he thinks that materialist science is refuted.

Claims to be a Christian libertarian, but is more or less as libertarian as Chuck Baldwin.

Diagnosis: Exasperatingly ignorant bigot and anti-science loon and lover of middle school level fallacies. In fact, he is the very epitome of a crank. He does in fact have a fair amount of readers, however, and must be considered dangerous.

His daddy, Robert Beale, is actually even more unhinged. He is one of those I-refuse-to-pay-taxes-and-don’t-recognize-the-authority-of-the-courts type. Instead he and his organization seeks to establish "a superior court for the People, original jurisdiction under Almighty Yahweh exclusive jurisdiction in and for confederation-government United States of America."

#93: Brad Dacus

President of the Pacific Justice Institute and common-style theocrat of the vocal and paranoid type. Dacus thinks that policies set up to secure the equal rights of gays and lesbians are (by default) discriminating against Christians (because it limits their ability to act out their bigotry, apparently) – and Dacus predictably uses completely overblown language to assert it.

Dacus actually thinks that stopping same-sex marriage in California is exactly like stopping Hitler and the Nazis.

He is also a big fan of David Barton.

Diagnosis: Paranoid, vocal wingnut and loon; impact uncertain – there are lots and lots of these people out there, and they’re all loons.

#79: Ray Comfort

A.k.a The Banana Man

Quite possibly the densest man on earth, and at the very least the guy behind the famous banana argument (probably the stupidest argument on the Internet, and the competition is pretty fierce). Watch it here in all its glory (the sound isn’t the best – maybe there’s a better version around).

Subject to a thorough (and hilarious) analysis here.

One curiosity, though: As other commenters have pointed out, since the main thrust of the argument is that the banana is clearly designed for its purpose (being eaten) by fitting perfectly in the human hand and mouth, the argument should also be extendable to other, roughly banana-shaped items that also fit well in various human orifices or hands (but which fundies tend to claim should be kept out of these). Keeping that in mind, pay attention to (roughly) 0.39–0.42, where Comfort says: “when you pull the tab [of the banana] the contents don’t squirt in your face”. Why does Comfort fear or think that a banana would squirt in his face? What is really going on here?

Comfort is New Zealand-born, but operates in the US, and as such qualifies for inclusion in our Encyclopedia (OK, real reason: he’s got to be in here, come on). Other sources, e.g. Rationalwiki, suspects that Comfort may be a deep-cover atheist out to destroy the creationist movement from the inside. He works closely with the equally dim Kirk Cameron to produce the Way of the Master series, TV and radio shows, and Internet articles (and the ID board game: brilliant). His blog seems to have mainly atheist readers. Do visit it. It’s hilarious.

A couple of Comfort highlights:

Comfort claiming that the Bible is a science textbook.

The debacle concerning his knock-down argument against evolution, the point that there would be a cosmic coincidence for a male to evolve and a suitable female to evolve in the exact right manner at the same time, discussed here and here (this one is priceless).

Concocted his own edition of the Origin of Species to hand out to students at various universities, with a fifty pages long foreword written by himself (repeating the usual creationist drivel, not understanding a word of the science, partially copied and pasted off the Internet and with subsequent legal action being considered) Part of the situation is summed up here (the male/female argument makes a reappearance).

Comfort on atheists, Muslims and chickens.

Apparently he also runs an Agony Aunt column.

Comfort on the swineflu “showing how useless and sometimes deadly a mutation can be”. So because the swineflu is detrimental to humans, it is evidence that all mutations are detrimental to survival and so undermines evolution. That’s seriously the argument.

Then there is the electricity argument against atheism.

And the usual Godwin stuff.

And so on, and so forth.

Has written books as well (something like 60 of them), such as “You can lead an atheist to evidence, but you can’t make him think”. Several of his more famous arguments were first presented there.

Diagnosis: Possibly the densest person alive. He does make the world a more entertaining place and can hardly be claimed to boost the popularity of ID. I’ll nominate him for the Templeton Prize anytime. He really should get it (and thereby hopefully put an end to that institution).

#78: Charles Colson

Charles “Chuck” Wendell Colson is a Christian leader, cultural commentator, and author of lots of book books, several of which have been recognized with ECPA Christian Book Awards. Colson was a former Special Counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973 and the first member of the Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges (he was named as one of the Watergate Seven). He was never charged with or convicted of anything related to that, but did plead guilty to obstruction of justice in another case and served seven months of a one-to-three year sentence in Alabama's Maxwell Prison. He is also a Templeton foundation recipient and winner of a number of awards, among them honorary doctorates from you-know-what-kind-of institutions, and the Others Award from the Salvation Army (you might want to look up the list of previous winners here. He's also a member of the Family (more here).

He also maintains several media channels which discuss contemporary issues from an evangelical Christian worldview, his own views usually being conservative interpretation of evangelical Christianity. He zealously opposes same-sex marriage, argues that Darwinism is used to attack Christianity, and that the Enron accounting scandals were a consequence of secularism. He is, in short, a hard-core creationist repeating Discovery Institute lies - claiming Darwinism helped cause forced sterilizations by eugenicists – and a steadfast anti-abortionist, claiming that abortion is the real cause of illegal immigration by creating a labor shortage due to "40 million sacrificed since 1973". He is also a steadfast proponent of the Bible Literacy Project's curriculum “The Bible and Its Influence” for public high school literature courses – a poorly disguised wedge trick.

There is much to choose from in Colson’s career. There is, for instance, his argument that the real causes of terrorism are pornography and abortion, and if only the US restricted the freedom of its citizens some more, terrorism would go away (I mean, the Taliban hates us for our freedom, don’t they? Take it away, and they wouldn’t hate us anymore).

A short biography here.

Diagnosis: Deranged wingnut and blind zealot with no aptitude for truth or reason. Still pretty powerful and influential.

#42: Pat Buchanan

a.k.a. Mr. Republican

The very epitome of cryptofascism, Buchanan is a noted paleoconservative and racist, suspected holocaust denialist (discussed here, with links. Alternatively, the Holocaust was France and Britain's fault), Nazi sympathizer and believer in the Zionist Conspiracy. A good sample of his views, in his own words, can be found here.

Buchanan needs little introduction, I guess, but anyway: He was originally a senior adviser to presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, and an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1992 (where his speech during the Republican party nomination might have scared several moderate Republicans to vote for Clinton – invented the concept of ”culture wars”) and again in 1996. He ran on the Reform Party ticket in the 2000 presidential election.

He co-founded The American Conservative magazine and launched a foundation named The American Cause, has been published in Human Events, National Review, The Nation and Rolling Stone. Currently Buchanan is a political commentator on the MSNBC cable network including the show Morning Joe and a regular on The McLaughlin Group.

He is most noted today for his opposition to free trade and immigration, both legal and illegal. He could be considered an "economic nationalist", but is more likely simply a xenophobe. He is (by the same token) a staunch opponent of military actions related to the war on terror. He is, however, very positive to using torture on people suspected of terrorism.

Also an amateur historian; in ”Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War” he takes a pro-German view of World Wars I and II. Buchanan argues that the US shouldn't have gotten involved in World War II, that Churchill helped provoke Japan to attack Pearl Harbor, and that Hitler could have been contained. Curiously, he rejects evolution because, among other things, it lead to Hitler (no, these people aren’t overly concerned about distinguishing the question of the truth of a claim and consequences of believing a claim, presumably because they aren’t overly concerned with truth to begin with); discussed here and here.

Diagnosis: Insane crackpot and zealot, evil. Relatively influential though his impact is probably smaller than his media exposure could be taken to indicate.

#29: Mark Blaxill

Blaxill is not a scientist. Nor is he a doctor, though he plays one at SafeMinds. Blaxill is a former businessman turned spokesperson for the anti-vaccinationist movement (Vice President of SafeMinds). Fancies himself a self-made expert epidemiologist. In the grips of extreme confirmation bias (science doesn’t support his views, hence scientists are probably mislead by their own personal interests – having no clue as to how a controlled experiment is carried out).

Liar, crank and conspiracy theorist (Big Pharma is out to get us – Blaxill actually terms it the “autism holocaust”), as discussed here; also a professional shifter of goalposts (without necessarily being aware of it himself).

Among his most prominent techniques are faking statistics to show an explosion in autism the last thirty years, and looking at new studies to determine whether they are scientifically "solid" or not (meaning he determines whether they can be interpreted as agreeing with his lunacy or not).

Diagnosis: Delusional and belligerent crank; relatively influential and quite dangerous.

On an unrelated note, here is a hilarious game; test yourself!