You missed your chance!


I’m sorry, the last day to register for the International Conference on Creationism was 3 July, so it’s too late for you. It will be held at Cedarville University, a glorified Bible college in Ohio.

It’s sponsored by a fine assortment of organizations dedicated to promoting ignorance:

I don’t think you’ll miss much. One of the things that struck me about the list of speakers at this meeting is just how familiar they all are. These are mostly the same old frauds who’ve been parroting nonsensical lies for years, in some cases, for decades.

  • Dr. William Barrick (Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, The Masters Seminary) — Theology
  • Dr. John Baumgardner (Vice President Logos Research Associates & Research Professor Emeritus, Liberty University) — Geophysical Modeling
  • Dr. Danny Faulkner (Researcher at Answers in Genesis and editor of the Creation Research Society Quarterly) – Danny Faulkner
  • Dr. Joe Francis (Dean of the School of Science, Mathematics, Technology and Health, The Masters University) — Biology
  • Dr. Aaron Hutchison (Professor of Chemistry and Forensic Science, Cedarville University) — Chemistry
  • Dr. Russell Humphreys (Independent Researcher & Board member of the Creation Research Society) — Physics
  • Dr. Matthew McLain (Associate Professor of Biological Science and Geoscience, The Masters University) – Education
  • Dr. Douglas Petrovitch (Teaches Ancient Egypt at Wilfrid Laurier University) — Archaeology
  • Dr. John Sanford (Director at Logos Research Associates) — Genetics
  • Dr. Andrew Snelling (Director of Research at Answers in Genesis) — Geology
  • Dr. Kurt Wise (Director of the Center for Creation Research & Professor of Natural History, Truett McConnell University) — Paleontology

I have to compare it to real conferences. There, you also find the old establishment giving review talks in plenary sessions, but the real meeting, the interesting and exciting new stuff, is given by hordes of grad students and post-docs presenting their current research. It’s a rich and complicated event with lots of people at all stages of their career talking things they’ve done that, mostly, no one else has done before.

Creationist conferences, not so much. It’s mostly old fuddy-duddies rehashing tired old arguments that have been repeatedly debunked and dismissed, and you have to pity any younger people who have been deluded and dragged into this mess. It’s just sad.

Also, is including representation from a few fringe ‘researchers’ at a Canadian university sufficient to call it an “international” conference? At the international meetings in the US that I’ve attended, I’m used to seeing a majority of the sessions led by European and Austrialian and Asian scientists.

They also tend not to be sponsored by religious institutions.

Comments

  1. fusilier says

    Dr. Danny Faulkner (Researcher at Answers in Genesis and editor of the Creation Research Society Quarterly) – Danny Faulkner

    He’s giving a talk on himself??

    fusilier

    James 2:24

  2. Oggie: Mathom says

    I am so happy I missed that chance. But, even if I had signed up for it, I would be unable to attend as I will be visiting my in-laws down in DeSantisland.

    Inlaws and Florida in July? A definite impervment.

  3. birgerjohansson says

    De Santisland is political perversion so impervment is apt.
    Both better and worse than a creation conference.

    BTW on a very long time scale the 4,5 billion years -aka a small slice of infinity- is s short creation time, but biblical types cannot absorb that fact.

  4. Matt G says

    The speaker list is made entirely of old, white dudes? Not that there’s anything wrong with that….

    A shame to see John Sanford there. I used his prototype gene gun at Cornell Ag Station back in the late eighties.

  5. dschultz says

    I get my fill of that sort of thing on the rare occasions I step through all the local OTA TV stations. Including the ones I delete from my usual list.

    For example, on some station with a bug “3ABN” there was some guy going on about how cells have 50 (I think that was the number he used) genes for DNA repair. So no amoeba was going to crawl out of a pond and grow eyes. Take that, evilutionists.

    Or something. 60 seconds or so of that and I was done. Except for wondering how anyone could be so stupid/ignorant as to believe it.

  6. Oggie: Mathom says

    Except for wondering how anyone could be so stupid/ignorant as to believe it.

    Religious schools. Seriously. Children are trained to believe impossible things in order to keep them biblically pure. And ‘give me the child, I will give you the man’ works.

    What I wonder about is how people can be content with facile simplistic answers. I guess the curiosity must be stifled in Christian schools.

  7. StevoR says

    @7. Oggie: Mathom : Good schools teach children that curiosity is a good thing and how to think and ask questions. Christianist “schools” teach them NOT to question and NOT to think and discourage the natural curiosity.

  8. Oggie: Mathom says

    StevoR:

    Oh, I know.

    Actually, some teachers in public schools are also real big on not questioning or thinking. Luckily, even my schools in Bible Belt, Maryland, had some really good teaches to leaven the rote teachers.

  9. wzrd1 says

    Oh shucks, I missed it!
    Just as well, I do have a far more pressing engagement anyway. That paint drying won’t watch itself!
    After that, since the Almighty is taking the day off, I have to supervise grass growing.
    Then, time allowing, I have to inspect all singularities, as apparently, some have been caught trying to go naked, which is totally against the law.
    I’ll have to send a gift in my stead, perhaps a gram of condensed antimatter, suitably freed from its unfair and oppressive confinement at their conference.

  10. david says

    Douglas Petrovicth, listed here as “Teaches Ancient Egypt at Wilfrid Laurier University”, is not mentioned on the W.L.U. website. He does seem to be affiliated with Answers in Genesis.

  11. larpar says

    From the conference’s home page: “Although we are a little late in completing the schedule for the conference, we now have a draft available. This is subject to change, but is close to its final form.”
    Trying to fit too many events into too short of a time? Sounds about right.

  12. Matt G says

    Avi Loeb just announced he found alien technology in an extrasolar asteroid! How will the creationists explain THAT?! Maybe they have their own Jesus, with four arms, one eye, nice green legs….

  13. Doc Bill says

    I’m surprised to see some of these creeps still alive!

    Hey, where is the Disco Tute? Obviously personna au gratin!

  14. AstroLad says

    wzrd1@12
    About 43 kt of TNT? Bit of overkill. Maybe divvy it up and share the wealth with the likes of Trump, Putin, DeSatan, Kim, Thomas, Alito, and most everyone in DC with an R after their name. About a mg would do nicely for most of them, and leave plenty for the Who’s Who of Ignorance gathering.

  15. StevoR says

    @12. wzrd1 : ” I have to supervise grass growing.”

    Which species? Bamboo grows extremely quick as do some (locally weedy) species eg. Kikuyu (Cenchrus clandestinus previously Pennisetum clandestinum..)* but a lot of Aussie native ones eg Kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra)** not as much.. Then there are one’s favoured precisely becoz they gro so sloooooooooooooowww like Zoysia Matrella ..***

    As much fun as wacthing that tar experiment drip..?

    See : Cenchrus clandestinus (previously Pennisetum clandestinum

    ** Wikipage : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themeda_triandra

    *** See & scroll down : https://lawnsolutionsaustralia.com.au/turf-supplies/best-lawn-for-me/low-maintenance-and-low-mow-lawns-is-there-such-a-thing/

  16. Matt G says

    Doc Bill@17- Hey, the Discovery Institute is full of Serious Scientists™! They don’t go for that Young Earth nonsense (except when they do).

  17. StevoR says

    Of course when watching grass grow it does help to use time lapse photography like this one (Grass Roots Growing Underground Time Lapse – 30 days -1 min 18 secs long and this one – Time-Lapse of New Lawn Growing from Seed – 2 mins 35 secs long – not that I’m a huge fan of lawns – but still rather impressive growth rate really. Oh & then there’s Bamboo like this BBC wild footage time lapsed and beautiful – 1 min 53 secs long and yeah, a type of grass that makes forests not lawns.. Still real time versus time lapse, not so much fun..

  18. Erp says

    Douglas Petrovich (note Petrovich rather than Petrovitch seems to be his preferred spelling; the conference got it wrong).

    His thesis seems to be “Tayinat’s Building XVI: The Religious Dimensions and Significance of a Tripartite Temple at Neo-Assyrian Kunulua”, Near and Middle Eastern Studies, U. Toronto, 2016. He did have some position back in 2017 according to a mention in the History department newsletter Wilfrid Laurier though given the apparent briefness, I would guess instructor in ancient Egyptian for a year.

    His books are “The World’s Oldest Alphabet: Hebrew as the Language of the Proto-Consonantal Script” (2016) and “Origins of the Hebrews: New Evidence of Israelites in Egypt from Joseph to the Exodus” (2021). A critique of the first can be found at https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/sites/bibleinterp.arizona.edu/files/docs/Petrovich%20for%20BI_0.pdf

  19. says

    What I find entertaining are the names of the groups. Just so very, very earnest in showing their legitimate science-y scienceness :

    Core Academy of Science
    Real Science Radio
    True Science 1.1 (just how bad was True Science 1.0?)

    I know it’s not how they use the word, but the only one that has an honest name potentially is Apologetics Press. I mean, it would be if they actually apologized for this dreck in print.

  20. numerobis says

    Also, is including representation from a few fringe ‘researchers’ at a Canadian university sufficient to call it an “international” conference?

    At a low-rent conference? Sure! Same goes with international airports.

  21. wzrd1 says

    What? The Earth is young! It’s not even half the age of the universe, thanks to project slippage on completion dates and cost overruns requiring authorization.

    StevoR, well, I watch local grasses and bamboo and tropical grasses are totally out here in Pennsylvania.
    But, the tar drip experiment is quite exciting.
    Although, we had a highly exciting view this morning. A parade of antique and current fire trucks and ambulances, complete with a 1960’s vintage station wagon ambulance. Pity that they didn’t have any of the horse drawn fire engines. But then, I’ve long felt that history is cool – as long as one isn’t involved in enacting it in the first place.

  22. Oggie: Mathom says

    But then, I’ve long felt that history is cool – as long as one isn’t involved in enacting it in the first place.

    A couple of the things that I do not miss now, that I am retired from the NPS, were living history programmes (I was a hobo — wool trousers, wool hat, canvas jacket, wool blanket) and dealing with the grease, dirt, grease, sound, grease and vibration of live steam locomotives. I never ran one, but I was in very close proximity. When they popped off (tested the lower pressure release valve by pushing the boiler pressure up to the safety valve pressure setting) ran about 145 decibels. And the steam release from the cylinders always had oil mixed in. And, of course, the wonderful ‘CLUNK’ sound when something broke.

  23. weylguy says

    Oh doctor, doctor! It’s often hard if not impossible to trace the “academic” credentials of these guys. I know, because of tried, and when I can it’s always something like the Southern University of Fiddle-de-Dee. But having a PhD associated with one’s name provides comfort to believers, who often haven’t gone past high school.

  24. birgerjohansson says

    Regarding young Earth creationism, I recall a quote fron Dr Who, Genesis of the Daleks , episode one.
    “Doctor, we time lords have mastered that technology since the Universe was less than half its present size”.

  25. birgerjohansson says

    Weylguy @ 28
    I wish we could send The Doctor to straighten out these wannabe doctors.

  26. tacitus says

    Also, is including representation from a few fringe ‘researchers’ at a Canadian university sufficient to call it an “international” conference?

    That’s more an American thing, than a creationist thing. After all, Major League Baseball calls their championship series the “World Series” despite there being one solitary team north of the border, and the NFL crowns their Super Bowl winners as “World Champions” even though it’s an entirely domestic league.

    So yeah, it’s silly, but hyping up “international” events is often par for the course when marketing your wares in the US.

  27. wzrd1 says

    Wait, are you saying that the International House of Pancakes doesn’t import their pancakes?

  28. Erp says

    Is that the biggest number of fake PhDs ever assembled

    At least some have legit PhDs
    I was doing some checking
    * William Barrick haven’t checked but his area is theology
    * John Baumgardner – UCLA Geophysics and Space Physics, 1983 “A three-dimensional finite element model for mantle convection”
    * Danny Faulkner – Indiana University, 1989, “Violet and visual flux problems in red giant stars”,
    * Joe Francis haven’t checked yet
    * Aaron Hutchison haven’t checked
    * Russell Humphreys haven’t checked
    * Matthew McLain – Earth Sciences, Loma Linda University, 2016, “Taphonomy of a Lance Formation (Maastrichtian, WY) Dinosaur Bonebed with a Focus on Tooth Trace” This one may be dicey
    * Douglas Petrovitch – Near and Middle Eastern Studies, U. Toronto, 2016, “Tayinat’s Building XVI: The Religious Dimensions and Significance of a Tripartite Temple at Neo-Assyrian Kunulua”
    * John Sanford – haven’t checked
    * Andrew Snelling – haven’t checked
    * Kurt Wise – Harvard, 1989, “The Estimation of True Taxonomic Durations from Fossil Occurrence Data”