Entry #050: Kirk Cameron

Formerly beloved former child star Kirk Cameron is currently a dysfunctional apologist for the ever moronic Ray Comfort (to be covered later). He claims to have been an atheist who later found Jesus (yes, that one again). Since “Growing Pains”, his most prominent roles have been in the “Left Behind” movies and “Fireproof”. So, yes – he is currently a religious fundamentalist touring with Ray Comfort, possibly the most ignorantly inane road show ever, prominently featuring Comfort’s banana argument and the crocoduck argument.

Vigorously opposed to evolution, and has – together with Comfort – designed a board game (here and here). His project to hand out copies of his and Comfort’s annotated version of “The origin of species” generated this response (among many others).

And of course there is a conspiracy theory here. Cameron is worried that we are currently experiencing a whole generation “brainwashed by atheistic evolution” (I don’t think “brainwashed” means what Cameron thinks it means).

Here's Kirk Cameron trying his hand at American history. According to himself, criticizing Kirk Cameron is the same as criticizing freedom itself. I suppose it is superfluous to point it out, but sometimes Cameron says really stupid things.

More entirely unsurprising incoherence from Cameron here.

Here's Cameron entering hardcore David Barton territory, predictably with the same aptitude for truth and accuracy. A fine summary of the weirdness of Cameron's otherworldly pseudo-history is found here.

Would you believe it, but Cameron has come clean as a hardcore conspiracy theorist, and so thoroughly so that he seems to entertain entering the terrains of Eric Jon Phelps rather than Alex Jones. At least Kirk Cameron’s movie is out.

More Bartonisms from Cameron here.

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Diagnosis: Among the most breathtakingly moronic bozos alive, Cameron manages to make Mel Gibson look moderately intelligent. The Comfort/Cameron superteam is, I suppose, not taken seriously as anything who could even begin to pose a threat. I suspect their popularity is more due to their breathtaking inanity.

Entry #041: Nancy Bryson

Bryson holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry and was for a while a teacher at Mississippi University for Women.

Creationist (intelligent design) and witness for the minority at the Kansas evolution hearings (a general discussion of the hearings can be found here). Claims that she used to accept evolution, but that critical studies turned her around (yes, that canard). Currently a “creationist icon”.

Notorious for giving a presentation on creationism (mostly the argument from design and the unlikelihood of evolution since if there is no designer then evolution must be just random chance) at the university, “very warmly received by the students.” Afterwards, however, she was severely criticized by biologist professors and subsequently left the university (circumstances are unclear – her faculty evaluations were bad, and she claimed that she was harassed and realized she would never get tenure). Her story was picked up and publicized by the American Family Association and resulted in some outcry from fellow creationists. Bryson has subsequently achieved status as one of ID’s Expelled Martyrs. Currently she is used as one of the most notable examples of the discriminations (“hate crimes” against the religious, according to Jerry Bergman) against dissidents by “evolutionists”, and proof of the major “atheist and materialist conspiracy” that currently infests science.

During the Hearings, her story was by her supporters taken as evidence for the lack of academic freedom in that science curricula systematically exclude evidence for theism. By scientists her story was taken as evidence for incompetence and mixing religion with science. Bryson admits that her views on evolution is based on religion rather than science.

A discussion of Bryson’s role in the Hearings is here.

A sympathetic website, with links, is here.

This entry also indicts other witnesses for the minority, such as James Barham, an MD in classics and “independent scholar” who used to believe in evolution and materialism but who reasoned his way to Jesus and ID (surely a pattern of argumentation here). Christiancinema.com calls him a “Scholar and author specializing in evolutionary epistemology”. His basic argument is: “evolution leads to materialism and no meaning or purpose with life; God exists, and thus there is purpose; hence materialism is false, hence evolution is false” (yes, with the fallacy).

Entry #034: Pat Boone

Singer, actor and writer Pat Boone was hailed (by the conservatives) as the conservative alternative to Elvis Presley back in the 50s. Currently, he is a political commentator, Christian activist and preacher, and a columnist for the fringeloon magazine WorldnetDaily. He is an ardent young earth creationist and has had several stabs at disproving evolution, such as this one; he uses the tried and dishonest “it’s only a theory”, “there is no evidence”, “Darwin recanted on the deathbed” fallacious arguments from authority (his authorities are uniformly preachers and Boone praises their credentials as award-winning missionaries and staunch Biblical literalists) + some novel ones I have, for obvious reasons, never seen before. Another attempt is discussed here (updated here). Boone later wrote an editorial in the form of a fairy tale where a young Prince Charming was seduced by a dwarf, got AIDS, and then overdosed.

Apart from anti-evolution, his columns are filled with the standard delusional moron stuff – Christians are a persecuted (particularly by the ACLU) minority in the US (discussed here and here), defense of torture (discussed here - the ignorance and dishonesty is astounding, even for a wingnut) and similar stuff.

He got attention for the claim that Democrats and others who were against the president during the Iraq War could be questioned for their patriotism – under an interview on this, he expressed his outrage against the opponents of George W. Bush (namely the Dixie Chicks) that their criticisms of the president showed they did not "respect their elders". He also vigorously defended Mel Gibson after the actor was recorded making an antisemitic rant.

He is also a vocal opponent of gay rights, and won some fame for his tasteful comparison between equal rights activists and the terrorist attacks in Mumbai (Boone apparently thinks that the “homosexual jihadists” should be sent to concentration camps because they are anti-freedom, or something like that); discussed here and here.

He is also a birfer (i.e. Obama is not a natural born citizen, but a Kenya-born Muslim, and hence not eligible for being a president). More on Boone's birferism here.

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Diagnosis: Complete moron; hateful, dishonest, zealous bigot and loon. Impact uncertain, but he is probably read by a lot of people who are initially sympathetic to his views – whether he comes across as spurring them onwards into wingnuttery or helping them come to their senses by displaying purefied idiocy is unclear.