Christians Debunking Science
“10 Questions Atheists Can’t Answer” Another video made by a Christian who is desperately trying to debunk science. My experience with this type of video’s is that the argumentation is usually pretty bad and that I learn nothing from it. But despite that, I decide to give it a shot and click on the thumbnail.
A young fellow, probably around my age, starts talking in a poorly lit room. Within the first few minutes I already feel like returning to YouTube’s homepage. ‘Atheists, science cannot explain love. Isn’t that evidence for God’? I laugh, although this time it’s not because I am amused. ‘Speak for yourself, kid’ I think when scrolling through the comment section. ‘Just because you can’t explain it doesn’t mean that science can’t’.
These type of questions annoy me. The first time I saw them, was after the debate between Bill Nye [the Science Guy] and creationist Ken Ham. People could send in questions or statements that were supposed to prove Bill Nye wrong. The “best” ones were selected and published, and the results were laughable.
‘Why is there a sunrise if there is no God?’’ one woman said. ‘If there is evolution, then why are there still monkeys?’ a man asked with a satisfied grin of confidence on his face. ‘Evolution is just a theory, so why is it being taught as a fact?’ another man said.
Arrogance? or Something Else?
Maybe you wonder why questions and statements like these annoy me. Well, the answer is short and simple: because they show these people’s ignorance. It shows us that none of these individuals made even the slightest attempt to read up on the topic before “picking a side”. They decided that the experts in this field are wrong, although they don’t even really get the topic these people are “wrong about”. It’s an inappropriate air of can I call it arrogance? that gets under my skin.
The reason why there are still monkeys despite the fact that we evolved, is because it’s a common misconception that apes are our ancestors. They aren’t. Apes and humans share an ancestor and both evolved differently. The reason why the “theory” of evolution is a theory, is because the word “theory” here has a different meaning. In science, a theory is a wellsubstantiated explanation accounting for a body of wellsubstantiated facts. Just because you can’t explain it, doesn’t mean that science can’t.
When someone asks questions like this, or brings up the infamous “crocoduck”, that person automatically loses the debate. Do your homework and make sure you know what you are talking about. You owe this to the audience, who might take your word for it and will be misinformed.
A while ago, I was on the website of the Richard Dawkins Foundation. Richard Dawkins, who is an outspoken atheist, allows people to post comments and open letters on his website. Many of these are furious responses written by angry creationists. ‘If gravity is real, then why doesn’t the earth fall to the moon’ one man writes. I can’t do anything else but laugh when I read his comment. Once again, someone is riled up about something they do not understand. The answer to his question could have been found in a basic English dictionary. Look up the word “gravity” and enrich your knowledge.
But is it arrogance? You could ask yourself that question. Maybe it’s just ‘laziness’ or unconditional faith. Maybe it’s a combination of all these aspects. After all, if you grow up believing that one book has all the answers, that will take away your motivation to look for alternatives and information. Why even reading about evolution if Genesis is all you need to understand the world?
Lacking Empathy
In this case it’s a lack of empathy that adds to the overall problem. Because you believe in God you don’t see how other people can find their answers elsewhere. So you join the debate with Bible knowledge, assuming that is enough. In the meanwhile you don’t understand what your opponent is talking about, but you do think he is wrong. It’s partially a matter of thinking outside of the box: do you even consider the other option or do you simply “refuse” to be wrong?
You may have heard this quote before, but I don’t want people to “think like me. I just want them to think”. Ignorance is not dumb. Refusing to learn and choosing to stay ignorant, however, is. It is being close minded that annoys me; spreading false information because you refuse to inform yourself. And we are all wrong on things from time to time. But it gets on my nerves when you treat experts in their field like idiots while you didn’t even take the effort to read on the topic you are advocating against.
Photo Credit: Nobu Tomura
