More proof of fundies failing their children in "science"

[dairyfreelife]

meghancarver.blogspot.com/2013/05/is-earth-only-6000-years-old.html

I'm not going to snark on Holly. She's 13, so she doesn't understand why the "science" she's been taught is wrong. I am mentioning it though to show how poor the science education is with fundies. I hope Holly will be able to see through the lies of creationism as she gets older. She writes well for her age and seems very bright. I wish her and her five siblings success despite the failings of their "science" education.

Sample:

Evolutionists try to prove evolution but cannot find many ways, if any, to prove it. The Earth isn’t millions of years old as proved by radioisotope dating. It is only a few thousand years old as proved by spiral galaxies, 14C in coal and fossils, salt in the ocean, and soft tissue and red blood cells in bones.

[anachronistic]

oh, that is so sad..........would it be wrong to post that essay that that scientist wrote in response to a kid asking 'were you there'? about evolution? (I forget where it was but it was awesome.) I know she's 13 but she does seem bright, couldn't she see through this stuff with help?

[Dev83]

It is interesting to imagine how easy it would be to accept the whole young earth creationist speal if all you had ever been exposed to was religious "sciences" books that discredit modern science. If you book tells you that evolution is nuts and has been disproven many many times while the bible is totally factual and science has proved that - why would you believe otherwise? It is so sad that they are fed such complete and total lies about science. We can only hope that as these kids get older they will get their hands on some forbidden materials (like a real biology textbook!) and start to understand what lies they have been fed.

[browngrl]

Wow. I'm a bit stunned at the complete lack of actual data in that report. I should not be surprised - she has only two references and one of them is Ken Ham. When I was 13 I had a far better understanding of science - because - you know - actually being taught science. I wish I would tell her the truth but I suspect it would be misconstrued as an attack. I guess knowing actual science is not that important to her - her future career options are: wife/mother or mother/wife.

[oil]

Its sad because I dont think she will ever want to read a real science book. Im guessing they are taught it is against G-d to even consider any thing other than literal Bible of 6000 year old earth. The fundy kids wont even try it to see what real science is. This really hurts my heart for this little girl. I wish she would at least do some research and if she choose not to believe real science, ok that is fine. But she will probably never do that research to have the choice to reject it or not due to her OWN decisions. :(

[August]

oh, that is so sad..........would it be wrong to post that essay that that scientist wrote in response to a kid asking 'were you there'? about evolution? (I forget where it was but it was awesome.) I know she's 13 but she does seem bright, couldn't she see through this stuff with help?

Ask and I shall deliver

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011 ... ar-emma-b/

[LadyBlue]

I think this article from The Onion aptly covers the idiocy of the belief the Earth is only 6000 years old: http://www.theonion.com/articles/sumeri ... /?ref=auto

[August]

Ask her why, if the earth's only 6000 years old, creationists dated a piece of wood to 30,000 years. And if the half life of C14 is 5700 years, and the universe is 6000 years old, why do some things have almost none?

Here's a nice debunking of her arguments. From 1982.

http://ncse.com/cej/3/2/answers-to-crea ... -14-dating

[doggie]

there is a 7000 year old tree a 6000 year old tree several in the 4000 to 5000 year old range still living.

A clonal colony can survive for much longer than an individual tree. A colony of 47,000 quaking aspen trees (nicknamed "Pando"), covering 106 acres (43 ha) in the Fishlake National Forest of the United States, is considered one of the oldest and largest organisms in the world. The colony has been estimated to be 80,000 years old, although tree ring samples date individual, above-ground, trees at only an average of about 130 years.[1][2][3][4] A colony of Huon pine trees covering 1 hectare (2.5 acres) on Mount Read, Tasmania is estimated to be around 10,000 years old, as determined by DNA samples taken from pollen collected from the sediment of a nearby lake. Individual trees in this group date to no more than 4,000 years old, as determined by tree ring samples.[5]

But does it really matter? there is no way most of these fundies would listen or believe it. As long as someone tells them what they want to hear and sounds credible that's all that matters.

[Maggie Mae]

Answers in Genesis and Ken Ham are not science! Grr.

Also, what is an evolutionist?

[ThrK]

Answers in Genesis and Ken Ham are not science! Grr.

Also, what is an evolutionist?

Someone who performs evolutions. Similar to an "abortionist," obviously.

[ILoveJellybeans]

That poor kid :(

[Sailing on Europa]

This is especially sad, because this kid seems smart! Her writing is WAY better than that of other fundie kids (hell, and many fundie adults). She is also able to logically follow the [albeit, flawed] arguments she has studied from her brief list of sources. I hope she gets the hell out of her fundie lifestyle someday and pursues higher education - maybe even science! It says on the blog that they visit the creationist museum often. :angry-banghead:

[nelliebelle1197]

The mother is a lawyer. An educated lawyer. Who practiced law. And had a job. This one is really twisted - she does know better.

[Joan of Snarc]

Isn't one of the arguments against abortion that the mother could be killing the next Jonas Salk, Albert Einstein, or James Watson and Francis Crick, thereby denying humankind great advancements? Well, these fundies, by denying their kids a proper science education, are doing that very thing.

What if summer science camps were as common as vacation Bible schools? Wouldn't that be something? What if all the money spent building megachurches over the last 30 years had been spent on scientific research and promoting science education and careers to children? Where would we be today? What if we started now? Where could we be in 40 years? A girl can dream, I guess. And make sure her kids get a proper science education.

[merrily]

I am tempted to put a well phrased rebuttal and a link to thethinkingatheist's ask me about the second law of thermodynamics video. But the mom would undoubtedly come charging to her daughter's rescue... and the poor girl would never read true science. Like the SADH who wrote an A+ essay on a fictional abortion sob story.