No, not the tech blog, but a story that I couldn’t make up if I tried. Apparently a legislator in Georgia has been accused of sending a memo saying that evolution is actually part of a Jewish conspiracy.
There is a lot of denial and ‘he said/she said’ going on (involving at least 2 state representatives), but there clearly was a memo, and it clearly said that the Big Bang and evilution were offshoots of Kaballah.
Even in the denials by Rep. Bridges, though, there’s some shocking stuff:
“Bridges acknowledged that he talked to Hall about filing legislation this year that would end the teaching of evolution in Georgia’s public schools. Bridges said the views in the memo belong to Hall, though Bridges said he doesn’t necessarily disagree with them.
“I agree with it more than I would the Big Bang Theory or the Darwin Theory,†Bridges said. “I am convinced that rather than risk teaching a lie why teach anything?â€
The “Hall” mentioned in that quote is the author of the memo, and the head of a group–again, not making this up–that believes in a fixed earth. (And has coined the great phrase “big bangism”.)
“Indisputable evidence — long hidden but now available to everyone — demonstrates conclusively that so-called ‘secular evolution science’ is the Big Bang, 15-billion-year, alternate ‘creation scenario’ of the Pharisee Religion…This scenario is derived concept-for-concept from Rabbinic writings in the mystic ‘holy book’ Kabbala dating back at least two millennia.”
Next up: Elders of Zion were the first to use stem cells!
(thanks to Uppity Rib for the link to the actual memo!)
Meshuggeh as it may seem, there are actually some orthodox jews who claim that the Big Bang theory is already described in medieval kabbalistic texts. I suppose it's possible that these xtian fundamentalists got the idea from them.
My usual response to such claims is "So what does kabbalah predict for the primordial lithium abundance?"
Evolution a Jewish Conspiracy???
DAMN!!! We’ve been found out!
Bah, this is tosh.
We all know that the star of David is irreducibly complex. How could it stand for evolution??
Dammit! We’ve all been jewed! By the Jews!
Logic? We don't need to steenkin' logic!
This is the guy I was thinking of:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Genesis-Big-Bang-Gerald-Schroeder/dp/0553354132/sr=8-4/qid=1171881678/ref=sr_1_4/203-3808349-3462361?ie=UTF8&s=books
And there was me thinking the Big Bang was invented by a Catholic.
Or are they basically the same as Jews? I mean, I know a lot of Fundamentalist Protestants don’t count Catholics as Christians, so they must be Jews, right? Is that the logic?
Look, the Pope rides around in a white Cadillac and he wears a yarmulke! How much more evidence do you need???
Does this mean that all the atheist scientists who worked on the subject of evolution and the big bang are really Jewish too?
BTW, is being Jewish really a religion? This has been argued before, as being Jewish is about more than just religion, it’s a cultural thing. Is it the same as saying that being American equals being christian?
There’s so many things wrong with this particular angle of attacking evolution that I wonder how they ever figured they were going to get away with it.
Exarch, the problem is that they already *did* get away with it. Not in the sense that anyone with a brain agreed with them, or was fooled, but in the sense that just putting it out in the wide marketplace of ideas, it now is fodder which can be cited to serve this or that purpose. It is in the zeitgeist, true or not.
Zeitgeist pollution . . . insidious.
I fixed the link to the memo–you’ll see it went out with the full authority of the State Legislature.
Sigh.
You be the judge:
http://www.internationaljewishconspiracy.com/
OK, here’s some much happier news, via the good folks at the Knight Science Journalism Tracker:
No wonder my memory feels sharper in the week following the day after St. Valentine’s.
Blake, that’s the best news I’ve heard today. I’d love to accept that information on blind faith (if the Creationists can have their Creator, I should have my chocolate faith, right?), and that Mars, Inc. helped to fund the research is…well, a wee bit of a conflict of interest, but…
Well, it can be a mental health food, at the very least. I am certain, through testing, observation, and evidence, that the bag of Hershey’s Kisses I put out on my desk definitely enhanced my cognitive abilities through the subsequent days. I won’t bore everyone with details, but I’d be happy to test this theory out again with various grades and brands of chocolate. Why wait for another Valentine’s Day? This is important research! Certainly it’s more useful than the hooey of the nutsos that Bug Girl brought up here – sometimes I wonder how we all live on the same planet.
Chocolate is good. :-)
How are Hershey's kisses going to prove any claim regarding chocolate?
Wouldn't you actually need chocolate to do that?
exarch,
I was thinking it, but you said it. Get out of my head!! :-P