Elves with Grappling Hooks

Picked up in Pharyngula this week: Ray Comfort -- the guy who idiotically preaches that bananas are proof of god's existence (and is pretty much a pariah even in creationist circles)--has a new book out bashing atheists and evolution and science and whatever else he figures isn't godly. He's quite convinced that there is a huge conspiracy to ensure that his book gets bad reviews...he never seems to comprehend that his book gets bad reviews because he's a class A idiot and his book sucks, but there you go.

Here is a sample of his 'reasoning"

I simply expose atheistic evolution for the unscientific fairy tale that it is, and I do it with common logic. I ask questions about where the female came from for each species. Every male dog, cat, horse, elephant, giraffe, fish and bird had to have coincidentally evolved with a female alongside it (over billions of years) with fully evolved compatible reproductive parts and a desire to mate, otherwise the species couldn't keep going. Evolution has no explanation for the female for every species in creation.

There is so much wrong with his line of 'argument' that I don't even know where to begin. It's just jaw-droppingly stupid (and he wonders why rational, intelligent people are panning his book? Wow).

He apparently thinks that since he doesn't understand evolutionary biology, that it must be wrong. He has absolutely no idea what evolution is and does, no idea about biology, and even less of an idea about common logic. He apparently thinks that females are a distinct species from males, I guess. A few people might agree, but that's not based in biology. Yes, the theory does explain this, there is no coincidence about it - a mutant male dog does not suddenly arise from a population and have to find a mutant female dog -- they evolve from existing species which have male and female; this is trivial, noncontroversial, and well-established. To question it shows a lack of understanding of basic facts and aggressive ignorance of the fact that this has been explained over and over. I don't understand specifically how magnets work, for example, but that really does keep me from blathering on about how it's really little tiny elves with grappling hooks that keep papers stuck to my refrigerator. If someone suggested that, we'd all laugh them out of the room.

And to think, thousands of people listen to this drivel and think it's correct and logical. This is marketed to the ignorant and the fanatical believers to keep the "controversy" boiling away. No wonder we have ongoing issues with science and religion in the classroom. A persuasive voice and charismatic manner do not equal intelligence and truth. We should know that by now.