Science and Creationism 23. Education © Colin Frayn,

© Colin Frayn, Learning leads to Atheism Learning leads to knowledge Parents brainwashing children –They will eventually encounter strong disconfirming evidence –This can be a traumatic and socially damaging experience Those who have been taught to think –Tend to come out of University enriched –Some change their religious views, many don’t –Some of them actually gain religious faith Are your religious views based on sheltered ignorance, brainwashing, denial and delusion? –Then your faith will be very fragile –This is the type of faith that Hovind wants you to have

© Colin Frayn, Equal Time in Schools Equal time for creationism? You can’t give equal time to every theory But there are thousands of mutually contradictory creation myths. Which ones should we teach? What if we had some way of discerning between theories…? We do – it’s called science. We have to teach the scientific consensus in science lessons. Anything else is absurd.

© Colin Frayn, Teach the Controversy What controversy? There isn’t one! The ‘evolution vs. creationism’ controversy only exists outside of science –The majority of scientists are atheists or agnostics –In relevant subjects, much less than 1% of scientists are creationists There were 6 peer-reviewed papers in 2007 mentioning creationism in the title –5 were critical of teaching creationism in science classes –One was a study of the psychology of belief in Alzheimer’s patients Compared with, for example, 8427 mentioning ‘speciation’ Nobody has sensibly accepted the possibility a young earth for two centuries Giving any time in science lessons for any kind of creationism, including Intelligent Design, would be massively misleading

© Colin Frayn, Most People Disagree Truth is not determined by democracy –You don’t vote on what is true –Truth is determined by the scientific method Collecting and analysing evidence Comparing evidence with predictive hypotheses Evaluating statistical likelihoods Quotes are irrelevant –Except to concisely illustrate something that can be proved separately –Famous people often say stupid things –Clever people often say stupid things –Nobel prize winners often say stupid things –PhD does not equal ‘always correct’ Science requires evidence, not academic titles

© Colin Frayn, Hovind Encourages Brainwashing Kent Hovind’s steps to ensuring that your kids are efficiently brainwashed and sheltered from rational thought: 1.Understand the problem 2.Isolate - Get your kids out if possible The problem is not fixable in the short term Private school, home school. 3.If you leave them in: Don’t send them off unarmed - drill creation materials into their heads. Insulate them within the system - exempt from classes. Train them how to deal with hostile teachers, homework questions. Equip them to win their teacher, classmates, friends. 4.Become political activist by: Influencing legislation, school board, teachers.

© Colin Frayn, Educational Cowardice The cowardly message of Hovind’s advice: Hide your children from any theory that you disagree with Isolate them from people who disagree with you Drill materials into your children’s heads –Don’t give them the free will to decide for themselves In short, teach them to be intellectually feeble, brainwashed and isolated