After the Sunday service in Westminster Chapel, where worshippers were exhorted to wage “the culture war” in the Second World World War spirit of Sir Winston Churchill, cabbie James McLean delivered his verdict on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.”Evolution is a lie, and it’s being taught in schools as fact, and it’s leading our kids in the wrong direction,” said McLean, chatting outside the chapel. “But now people like Ken Ham are tearing evolution to pieces.”
This is a short piece in the Barrie Examiner updating the growing American-like trend of creationism in Britain.
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It’s a creationist cabbie conspiracy! http://thebeagleproject.blogspot.com/2007/11/little-bones-big-inference.html
Ham’s not really tearing evolution apart. He just showing to the whole world just how crazy, idiotic, ignorant, and stupid-minded this madman really is.
Where the hell is “Westminster Chapel” ?There is a Westminster Abbey, which is Anglican. There is also a Westminster Cathedral, which is Catholic. Neither denominations are noted for the opposition to evolution.I can only assume that “Westminster Chapel” is some fundie church taking advantage of the repute of the Abbey and Cathedral.
But is it south of the river?
“the growing American-like trend of creationism in Britain”Got some evidence for this ‘growth’? The article doesn’t present any, probably because there is none. A ranting taxi driver is just another anecdote. When Ham visited Britain a couple of years ago he was struggling to get audiences into three figures in most places. Show me how it’s changed significantly since then. There’s a group that wants to set up a Creationist museum in northwest England. I’ve got more money than they have.Evolution is part of the national school curriculum. David Attenborough is a national treasure for presenting massively popular programmes about evolution on the BBC for the last 30 years. We laugh at creationists; nobody takes any notice of them.
“But is it south of the river?”lol.Not last time I was in London. Who knows what Ken Livingstone has done since.
Here we go. Some stuff on the Chapel.”We are an Evangelical, Bible believing Church with a long tradition of preaching the infallible truth of the Bible as inspired by God through the Holy Spirit. We seek to glorifyGod’s son Jesus Christ through obedience to His Word.”And their webpage: http://www.westminsterchapel.org.ukJust as I thought, a fundie church. Being going longer than most though, founded in 1840.I can only apologise, and hope that if any of you ever visit London and get that cabbie, that his knowledge of geography is better than that of biology.PS. Americans, sure you don’t want a braindead cab driver ? We will pay his airfare and all!
sharon very sensibly asks:
Yeah, good idea. But more important: Make sure Ken Ham is taking the same plane back.
Sharon is right on the mark when she says ‘We laugh at creationists’, but I dont think its entirely true that ‘nobody takes any notice of them’.Evolution is accepted, thats clear. My copy of the Guardian yesterday included a free guide to ‘The Origin of Species'(with an introduction by Richard Dawkins), and they probably wont get very many complaints. The problem lies under the radar, largely away from the media. Evangelical churches are growing fast, while the established churches are losing members. The new churchs might be still relatively small, in terms of absolute numbers, but they can pack them in on Sunday, and access both large sums of money and people willing to takes their message to a wider audience.And while the government might say it deplores the use of dodgy ‘educational material’ from creationist groups, it has no problem with religious groups taking over schools under the academies programme, which allows them to have a huge amount of control over what the school teaches, and who teaches it. When Tony Blair was asked about the teaching of creationism in one city academy, he was famously vague. I dont expect the current PM to be any more interested.These groups might be small, but they exploit the media’s obsession with ‘balance’, the lack of decent scientific knowledge amoungst the general public, and the ability of a small but coordinated group to manipulate opinion.On the other hand, Attenborough is on again tomorrow, which is far better than anything they can come up with…
These days, London cabbies will talk about whatever they are paid to talk about…Rolling PR machines with a captive audiencehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/21/AR2008012102131.html