by Matthew Cobb
Over at The Guardian, young PhD student Jonny Scaramanga has just given Andrew Brown a lesson in a) how to write a decent article and b) why it is important to oppose creationism—and other pseudoscientific beliefs associated with religion, including in the UK.
Scaramanga was educated at a UK creationist school between the ages of 11 and 14, studying what is called Accelerated Christian Education. He is now researching a PhD at the Institute of Education in London, focused on this pernicious form of religious indoctrination. In his article he explains some of the loonier beliefs foisted on children in these schools. How about generating electricity from snow? That’s right. Here’s ACE’s explanation:
Scientists have known for years that snowflakes are shaped in six-sided, or hexagonal, patterns. But why is this? Some scientists have theorised that the electrons within a water molecule follow three orbital paths that are positioned at 60° angles to one another. Since a circle contains 360°, this electronic relationship causes the water molecule to have six ‘spokes’ radiating from a hub (the nucleus). When water vapour freezes in the air, many water molecules link up to form the distinctive six-sided snowflakes and the hexagonal pattern is quite evident.
Snowflakes also contain small air pockets between their spokes. These air pockets have a higher oxygen content than does normal air. Magnetism has a stronger attraction for oxygen than for other gases. Consequently, some scientists have concluded that a relationship exists between a snowflake’s attraction to oxygen and magnetism’s attraction to oxygen.
Job 38:22, 23 states, ‘Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?’ Considering this scripture, some scientists believe that a tremendous power resides untapped within the water molecules from which snowflakes and hailstones are made.
How can this scripture, along with these observations about snowflakes, show us a physical truth? Scientists at Virginia Tech have produced electricity more efficiently from permanent magnets, which have their lines of force related to each other at sixty-degree angles, than from previous methods of extracting electricity from magnetism. Other research along this line may reveal a way to tap electric current directly from snow, eliminating the need for costly, heavy, and complex equipment now needed to generate electricity.
Already in 2009, Scaramanga highlighted the nonsense that the ICCE includes:
One of the textbooks tells pupils: “Have you heard of the ‘Loch Ness Monster’ in Scotland? ‘Nessie,’ for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur.
“Could a fish have developed into a dinosaur? As astonishing as it may seem, many evolutionists theorize that fish evolved into amphibians and amphibians into reptiles. This gradual change from fish to reptiles has no scientific basis. No transitional fossils have been or ever will be discovered because God created each type of fish, amphibian, and reptile as separate, unique animals. Any similarities that exist among them are due to the fact that one Master Craftsmen fashioned them all.”
The point of Scaramanga’s recent article is not only to hold ACE’s scientific pretensions up to ridicule, but to sound the alarm in UK universities. Following Freedom of Information requests from the British Humanist Association, it appears that at least four UK universities – we’re looking at you, Bath, Cardiff, Essex and Nottingham – accept the International Certificate of Christian Education, based on the kind of nonsense quoted above, as an entry qualification for university. And this despite the fact that the ICCE is not recognised by the official English qualifications authority, Ofqual.
Head over to Jonny’s article, and to his blog, to read more. It will make your hair stand on end.
And if you work or study at Bath, Cardiff, Essex or Nottingham Universities – these are all highly respectable institutions, with some great evolutionary biology groups – get onto your Deans, Admissions Officers and Vice Chancellors, and ask them why on earth they accept this kind of nonsense as a qualification for university entry.
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Interesting, ‘eh, given the attainment targets of the standards for evolution (JC commented on them relatively recently) for public schools which are quite good.
Interesting is the wrong word. Unbelievable, given the quality of the institutions and more.
Interesting that Profs from Nottingham and Essex have chimed in as concerned.
Prof Moriarty is the chap from Notts who responded, and he’s on record for not putting up with bullshit – clicky for him taking down Prof CC’s old friend Dr Lanza!
And he left a somewhat encouraging message in the comments:
LOL. Electricity from snow. I think I see another SyFy move high concept.
Actually, I moved to Florida because I was tired of getting zapped every time I shoveled snow.
Good for Scaramanga (wait, isn’t that the villain from “The Man With the Golden Gun”), for tackling this stuff. The quoted excerpt shows the role of authority in shutting down critical thinking — there can’t be any proof that fish evolved into reptiles because God.
Uh-oh, laptop dying, where’s my ice bucket….
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Severe penalty for apostasy makes strategic sense: don’t let one of your former indoctrinated inform others how truly dangerous, crazy, and grossly fabricated these ‘respectable’ religious beliefs are.
Scaramanga was indeed the villain of “The Man With the Golden Gun.” In the original novel, Ian Fleming named the character after George Scaramanga, a schoolmate of his at Eton who he didn’t get along with. Given the rareness of the name in Britain, it’s quite possible that Jonny Scaramanga is a relative of George. Presumably Jonny uses his golden gun on creationists.
Speaking as an amateur Bond expert, neither the book nor film of TMWTGG are particularly good. Fleming was dying as he wrote the book and unable to revise it; the film was hurriedly made, throws out even the good bits from the book, stars a still unsteady Roger Moore, and is nastily misogynous even by Bond standards.
I forgot to mention that the full name of the fictional character is Francisco Scaramanga (he’s supposed to be Spanish).
And while I don’t recommend the movie overall, the title sequence is a hoot thanks to Lulu’s campy title song–she belts out some awesomely dumb double-entendres (“He has a powerful weapon, he charges a million a shot!”).
You can view it here. Trigger alert for campy stupidity!
I just remember it as the first Bond movie I saw in a theater when it came out, so it has a certain sentimental pride of place.
Oh, and the business of Scaramanga being a friend of Fleming’s is awesome! Thanks.
I had the honour to meet Scaramanga (the real one – ie Christopher Lee) when he came to where I worked about 12 yrs ago. He was about 9 foot tall, ram-rod straight, 90 years old, incredibly cool powder-blue mod-style suit, incredibly cool shades.
I have met a lot of celebs while working, but Christopher Lee is above and beyond. Sorry – a bit off topic…
Lee is awesome. His filmography is incredible. And he’s made metal albums, with Rhapsody of Fire and his own about Charlemagne.
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“Holy” crap – I didn’t know that. I must buy them NOW.
I would guess that Scaramanga might come from the same source as the roguish Scaramuccio as in Punch and Judy/Commedia dell’Arte and the Italian novel.
Scaramouche in modern Italian means a small fight (as in skermish).
To call a child by that name would be like calling him ‘little rascal’. For a man, maybe ‘Battler’
I would also point out that Professor James Moriarty was the arch villain of a Sherlock Holmes short story and Holmes’ nemesis.
And he was an astronomer! Has this Moriarty ever studied the dynamics of an asteroid?
My guess is that someone there thinks they need a challenge… 😉
“No transitional fossils have been or ever will be discovered”
Love the quote. Not just haven’t but CAN’T
Isn’t that the best way to do science? Certainty instead of this wishy-washy we-have-to-see-if-the-evidence supports our theory or disproves it way of doing science
Of course! Because every time such a fossil if found, that only means there are two more transitional forms to find. One is for the predicted earlier and more ‘primitive’ species, and the other is for a later and more ‘derived’ species. By now we have dug ourselves a very deep hole of negative evidence by finding all those transitional forms!
Some scientists have theorised that fossils are the petrified remains of once-living organisms.
Some scientists have theorised that gravity is an attractive force that acts between massive bodies with a magnitude proportional to their masses and inversely as the square of the distance between them.
Some scientists have theorised that the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter is greater than three.
But you won’t catch us Christians believing such silly stuff!
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I feel awful for the children forced to attend these places. Some of them might eventually have the opportunity to undo the damage done to their education. But nothing will ever give them back the 12 years of sitting listening to lies and dogma. They have been betrayed by their parents.
Mixed feelings here. On the one hand, we don’t want academic admissions standards that constitute acquiescence in the teaching of nonscience. On the other hand, we want young creationists to attend college, where they can finally get the help they need . . . .
It’s sad that anyone would get conned into signing up with them. It’s bottom of the barrel type creationists stuff of the worst kind. What a joke.
Is it the pound/dollar these universities are after or is it they just forget what they stand for?
I Kings 7:23 provides the famous line that basically says that the value of pi is 3. Well, close enough for university I guess.
Avicenna over at A Million Gods has more on this, including pre-Flood pink skies that triggered the release of norepinephrine, which apparently did the opposite of what that hormone does today.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/amilliongods/2014/09/26/accelerated-christian-education-bad-science/
There’s an opportunity here for universities to set up a programme to bridge the gap between a religious education and what’s required for university entrance. Even if these students just did the pre-admission programme, which would need to be at least a year, it would be a huge benefit.
Perhaps it depends on what course they are intending to study: if it were theology based on the Bible or Koran for example, they should be already well enough formed in their cognitive dissonance so as to proceed superbly.
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“Modern scientists are just now discovering what Christians have always believed – that God’s Creation was perfect.”
Wait…what?
God’s Creation = the creation of God
or
God’s Creation = that which God created
car design = the design of a car
or
car design = that which a car designs
Are they saying that God is created perfect or that what he has created is perfect?
Can a perfect being create something which is not perfect?
Is therfore an imperfect creation proof that its creator is likewise imperfect?
None of this would be a problem if the UK didn’t have consecutive governments that are playing cosy with religion – and the resulting exceptions for schools like these that allow them to reach nonsense.
Also, proud to be a member (= supporter) of the British Humanists, who did a cracking job here.
Historically in Britain religion has had a lot to do with political power structure and won’t change easily: the Protestant/Catholic issue concerning Monarchy, the Irish question, Bishops in the House of Lords. Religion is part of the political status quo here.
It would require a total sea change to confront “the religious question”. Secularising Britain would probably require abolition of the Monarchy, disestablishment of the Anglican Church from political representation, getting the Presbyterian/Orangist/Masons out of Northern Ireland politics and the Papists out of the South. Maybe the Two Islands could form a proper Federation of States and finally get its act together as a modern state. Pity the Scots didn’t grasp the mettle and move things on a bit.
The UK has an appalling history of religious intolerance and infighting, and that’s only between the Christians. We don’t need Muslims to cause strife.
The Brits INVENTED an English version of Christianity for political convenience(how else could it be called Anglicanism), not that the preceding Roman version was any better. How are they supposed to cope with Islam when they can’t even cope with the their own home made religious squabbles.
“Job 38:22, 23 states, ‘Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?’ – this sounds like nothing so much as the attempts of Muslim “scholars” to cherry-pick passages from the Koran purportedly showing that the document, indeed, anticipated modern technological developments and findings.
I find it interesting that no mention is made of generating electricity from hail; perhaps our scientists just haven’t advanced enough to find that particular “manna from Heaven”? It’s a perfect example of how far desperate believers will stretch logic in an attempt to paint God as the author of this inconsistent, muddled, contradictory text. You taxonomists better revise your charts, too- Leviticus clearly tell us that bats are birds, rabbits chew their cud, like cattle, and that locusts have only four legs.
I like to say, “If God wanted to write a book, he would have done a helluva better job than this!”