The Invisible Library

Ever wonder what it’d be like if Stan Lee and Jack Chick had collaborated on a tract? Wonder no more!

Seems that the Evangelical children’s brainwashing camp “Kids on Fire,” featured in the documentary Jesus Camp will be closing.

Fisher’s camp—located in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota—has been the subject of much attention since the film’s release, with many critics and moviegoers denouncing the camp’s methods as militant and inappropriate. Upon the film’s release, the Kids on Fire camp site and the local Assemblies of God church were both vandalized, with damages at the camp totaling $1,500. Says Fischer about her decision to close down her camp: “I have a responsibility to keep the children safe.”

It’s too bad about the vandalism but I can’t say I’m sorry to hear about such a foul place shutting down. The poor Dominionists are left with just Church, Sunday School, Summer Bible Class, popular movies and the Left Behind Video Game to turn their children into Christian Terrorists.

I was a little hard on Stephen Hawking last week but only because I except better form one of the most brilliant men on the planet. Better, like this:

HONG KONG (AP) - Famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said Thursday that the late Pope John Paul II once told scientists they should not study the beginning of the universe because it was the work of God.

The British author _ who wrote the best-seller “A Brief History of Time” _ said that the pope made the comments at a cosmology conference at the Vatican.

Hawking, who didn’t say when the meeting was held, quoted the pope as saying, “It’s OK to study the universe and where it began. But we should not enquire into the beginning itself because that was the moment of creation and the work of God.”

The scientist then joked during a lecture in Hong Kong, “I was glad he didn’t realize I had presented a paper at the conference suggesting how the universe began. I didn’t fancy the thought of being handed over to the Inquisition like Galileo.”

We’ve come along way in a few short centuries. Today, a brilliant scientist can joke about being fed to the Inquisition by an obtuse man in a funny hat, rather than fear that the current Pope (formerly the head of the Inquisition) would actually tie him to the rack and break out the anal pear.

But some things never change. It’s the 21st century and we still have Pope for one thing. For another, people still listen to that gassy windbag as if his lunatic rantings about sky fairies and the moral implications of masturbating were anything but backward superstition. But three pips for Dr. Hawking for not backing down and going ahead with his fantastically important research, even if (and especially if) it honks off some dipshit in a fancy dress who believes the sky is falling.

In a nice change of pace, I recieved this piece of spam from a website of a Muslim Creationist from Turkey, declaring simply:

Primitive Man never existed, and there never was a Stone age

And providing a link to the website of Harun Yahya (http://www.harunyahya.com/index.php)*. If you haven’t heard of Harun Yahya, he’s the pen name for Adnan Oktar:

Adnan Oktar (a.k.a. Adnan Hoca) was born in Ankara in 1956 and lived there until he moved to Istanbul in 1979. He is one of the leading figures in Turkish creationism, and a fervent advocate of creationism in the creation vs. evolution debate. He is considered the leading Muslim advocate of creationism; unlike the majority of Christian creationists he subscribes to Old Earth creationism. He is an anti-zionist and anti-mason which he sees as very interrelated movements. Although he rejects allegations of anti-Semitism, claiming pagan and Darwinist roots for anti-Semitism [1] he is also credited as a Holocaust denier [2], with his book Soykırım Yalanı (The Holocaust Hoax).

[…] Oktar has written numerous books using the pen name Harun Yahya (Harun (Aron) and Yahya (John)), arguing against Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. He also argues that evolution is directly related to the claimed evils of materialism, nazism and communism. Most of his anti-evolution resources are identical to Christian creationist arguments and the scientific community have made identical critiques. [8]
He also has produced various works on Zionism and Freemasonry, accusing Zionists of racism and arguing that Zionism and Freemasonry have had significant negative effects on world history and politics. Finally, he has written more than a hundred books describing the morals of the Qur’an and faith related issues. Literally hundreds of books are credited to Oktar. Some claim therefore that others must have contributed to, or simply written, many of the books. This charge is adamantly denied on his web site; he claims sole authorship of all of the books.

[…] These books attempt to display for non-Muslims what Oktar claims to be signs of the existence of God, and the excellence of his creation. A sub-group within this series are the series of “Books Demolishing the Lie of Evolution”. The main purpose of these books is to attack the ideas of Materialism, Evolution, Darwinism, and atheism.

He even blindly attacks Buddhism for being a false religion built upon idolatry and falsehood […]

The covers of all of Oktar’s books bear the seal of the Prophet Muhammad. This seal is used on the Qur’an as an indication that the Qur’an is the last book and the last word of God, and the Prophet Muhammad is the last of His messengers. By taking this attribute of the Qur’an and the Prophet, Oktar claims that his books are the “last word” which will put a definite end to the arguments of his adversaries.

He makes all the usual mistakes that the ill-informed and ignorant make about Evolution and atheism: guilt by association (linking Evolution to Nazis, Communists, and whatever else enters his addled little mind), fringe science, The usual Social Conservatism and racism and offering it up in a nice frothy stew of mysticism and nonsense. And here I was hopping he would have something unique to add to the culture war. But unfortunately, he just borrows the same Christian Creationist screeds and substitutes the Christian names for Muslim mythological proper nouns.

Wikipedia links to some of his videos, in case you feel like a good chuckle.

George Washington was an honored veteran of two wars. Jefferson spoke three languages and wrote fluently in all of them.* Grant, it was said, could write in Greek with one hand while simultaneously writing in Latin with the other. President Bush, well, he gets his science from a science fiction author, and not even a good one:

In his new book about Mr. Bush, “Rebel in Chief: Inside the Bold and Controversial Presidency of George W. Bush,” Fred Barnes recalls a visit to the White House last year by Michael Crichton, whose 2004 best-selling novel, “State of Fear,” suggests that global warming is an unproven theory and an overstated threat.

Mr. Barnes, who describes Mr. Bush as “a dissenter on the theory of global warming,” writes that the president “avidly read” the novel and met the author after Karl Rove, his chief political adviser, arranged it. He says Mr. Bush and his guest “talked for an hour and were in near-total agreement.”

“The visit was not made public for fear of outraging environmentalists all the more,” he adds.

And so it has, fueling a common perception among environmental groups that Mr. Crichton’s dismissal of global warming, coupled with his popularity as a novelist and screenwriter, has undermined efforts to pass legislation intended to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas that leading scientists say causes climate change.

Mr. Crichton, whose views in “State of Fear” helped him win the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ annual journalism award this month, has been a leading doubter of global warming and last September appeared before a Senate committee to argue that the supporting science was mixed, at best.

“This shows the president is more interested in science fiction than science,” Frank O’Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, said after learning of the White House meeting. Mr. O’Donnell’s group monitors environmental policy.

“This administration has put no limit on global warming pollution and has consistently rebuffed any suggestion to do so,” he said.

I saw Barnes on the Daily show and on Bill Mahr, Friday. His book is pure hagiography and Barnes couldn’t defend it even a little without stumbling into lugubrious platitudes. I don’t know what Crichton’s problem is. He used to be smart and sort of cutting edge in the science department. Now he’s just a cranky shill for pseudoscience. I guess that’s what happens when real science passes your fiction by at light speed: what sounded far out and whizbang a decade ago now sounds haplessly naive and about as forward thinking as a coal burning car.

“But it burns coal! It can shuttle a man at twice the spead of a horse and gets fifty gallops to the hogshead!”

Oooh! Tell us more, Dr. Crichton.