Creationists: They're Not Really Inbred Morons
There is some irony in the fact that surviving Flat Earth believers
don't wish to be equated with Creationists. The self-deception and
delusional thinking required to believe in either, however, are
identical and the analogy holds true. But it's not low intelligence
that allows such notions to persist into the 21'St Century.
When we hear about Creationist cultists in the news, it's very often
from States in the Union that have a history of unkind jokes told
about the average intelligence of the State's populace: Georgia,
Alabama; States that are considered to be "backwards" and "inbred"
in jokes told around the nation. Obviously such generalities are at
best inaccurate. While it's undeniably true that Creationists are
worthy of being the butt of everybody's jokes, the fact is that
intelligence -- or the lack there of -- doesn't factor in to the
equation. The primary causes of Creationism -- and Flat Earth belief,
for that matter -- isn't low intelligence, it's willful ignorance
coupled to superstition. Add a large helping of pathological lying
directed at one's own self in order to retain a belief in light of
overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and one ends up with a
Creationist.
Otherwise intelligent people have -- against all reason -- persisted
in the freakishly bizarre belief that the Universe, Earth, Life, and
Everything was created by the Christanic pantheon as described in the
various conflicting versions of the classical Christanic mythologies.
At work is the compartmentalization of that which the cultist will
think critically and rationally about, and that which the cultist
won't.
The ability for humans to bifurcate between what they will apply
reason toward and what they will believe against all reason is,
ironically, an artifact of human evolution just as are all other human
psychological traits. During human evolution, survival must have
benefited from both the increased intelligence of the species and the
compartmentalized, willfully ignorant faith in what the species knew
damn well to be false.
The most likely culprit is, I suspect, humanity's fear of death. As
human intelligence increased over millions of years, so did humanity's
understanding of its own mortality. To alleviate the anxiety, humans
also acquired the ability to believe they could some how survive their
own death while at the same time knowing innately that such a belief
is false. From that pathology sprang occult superstition resulting in
religious leaders, organized and disorganized religion, and mythology.
In an age lacking science, belief in mythology and occultism might be
understandable as a means to attempt to explain natural phenomena:
where the rains come from, why food plants grow, why the river drowned
one's children. From the mythology sprang a growing variety of gods
and goddesses, many of which were responsible for creating the Earth.
Unfortunately, at the same time sprang the priesthood: men who realized
they could control their tribe by proclaiming to speak for the gods
while at the same time not having to work another day of their lives.
With the advent of science, however, the gods and goddesses have been
pushed back into the realm of the non-existent. Every place gods were
said to exist that were reachable by science -- mountain tops, under
oceans, under rivers -- science investigated and found no gods present.
Those of us in modern times who don't harbor pathological levels of
dread and fear of our own deaths can accept science because we don't
feel threatened by the loss of gods and goddesses. Those among us who
still cling to occult superstition are divided into a variety of camps,
most of which consider science to have no impact on their occult deity
beliefs.
A small percentage of cultists, however, feel threatened by science,
believing their gods are some how facing complete extermination and,
along with said extermination, their eventual lack of hope that they'll
some how survive their own deaths. These few become Creationists.
These are the few whose fear of death motivates them to engage in
behavior that verges into the realm of the absolutely insane. Reason,
science, rational thought, truth, honesty -- in order to retain a
belief in an "after life" they think is threatened by science, these
things have to be discarded.
The result certainly looks like inbred morons who are pathological
liars but that's not the case. When looking at the leaders of such
amusing organizations such as the euphemistically named "Institute
of Creation Research," one really can't be faulted for immediately
concluding these unfortunate folks are laboring under equally
unfortunate mental constraints. True, Creationists are grossly
ignorant of science, but it's willful ignorance, not a lack of
intelligence that drives them.
In addition to assuming that Creationists are inbred morons, there's
another compulsion to assume that maybe they're just joking. Flat
Earth Society followers are constantly having to demand that their
advocacy of their notions aren't some kind of long-standing hoax or
some kind of joke. Since Creationists are more often assumed to be
inbred morons, people don't often accuse them of only pretending to
be profoundly ignorant and superstitious just for the laughs.
The suggestion that Creationists might be joking is further
complicated by the fact that many Creationist cult leaders appear by
all outward evidence to be motivated solely by the money that can be
taken from the unwashed rubes that are ignorant enough to believe in
Creationism. Historically the leaders of cults -- and the leaders
of nations -- have not honestly believed in the superstitions of their
followers yet only contrive to believe to control the minds and
wallets of their followers. (In the movie Sparticus, the Roman leader
was asked whether he believed in the gods. His answer reflects an
historic truth: "Publicly I believe in all of them. Privately, none
of them.")
But no, Creationists aren't joking. It seems likely that leaders of
various Creationist cults don't believe the nutty notions they try to
sell to their followers, but the unwashed minions do honestly believe
in Creationist nonsense hook, line, sinker, rod, and reel. And it's
not that they're unintelligent, it's that they're willfully ignorant,
superstitious cultists who don't wish to employ reason when it comes
to their occult beliefs least they have to admit they're going to die
like everyone else and there's nothing they can do about it.
Any text written by the creationist cult which may be quoted within this
criticial examination of the creationist cult is provided according to
U. S. Code Title 17 "Fair Use" dictates which may be reviewed at
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
"You can lie about ICR all you want." --
Jason Daniel Henderson
"Thank you for your permission however there's never any need
to. Creationist propaganda is already self-debunking." --
Fredric L. Rice
This web site is not affiliated or associated with any creationist cult in any way and neither the web site host, the web site owner, or any of the authors which assisted in debunking creationist nonsense are in any way connected with any creationist cult.
E-Mail Fredric L. Rice / The Skeptic Tank