Why I am no longer a Creationist - Part 1: Genus Homo

There are many well-meaning creationists who have just been misinformed. It takes a good deal of time to come to a thorough understanding of a major scientific theory; and many just don't have the luxury of investing enough. They often become the unwitting victims of a few charlatans, and of their own confirmation bias.

It is the evangelical creationist leaders who are the main targets of my criticism. These men either should know better; or they are deliberately lying. Some, like Ray Comfort while on Pat Robertson's show, are obviously lying. Ken Ham sabotages the minds of children with stupid questions like "Were you there?" and other "suicide of the mind" statements. Eric Hovind teaches people to ignore evidence and just mindlessly parrot "you wouldn't have science/logic/reason if it weren't for [insert personal god-belief or holy book here]." - or some such crap like that.

It is these and other creationist leaders who I reserve my strongest language for. The only thing I would say to the rest is - look at the evidence.

[AbdullahSameerVideos]

DUDE, YOU ROCK. This is the best video I've seen on this topic. I also recently left Islam and researched evolution for the first time. I was amazed just how much evidence there is for it.

[sc]

Hail critical thinking who freed this man from creationism !

[MrCmon]

"There are many well-meaning creationists who have just been misinformed."

That's something we often forget about. Not all people cling to Creationism because they fear the loss of their faith and death, or, because they want to make money.
There is lots of people, who have been lied to from all sides. If you are not already educated on biology and geology and your whole environment misinforms you, you can easily be led to believe the most ridiculous things.

[maxwellsimon]

Not once has an evolutionary scientist ever said that a lightning bolt stuck a mud puddle and made a Boeing jet. Except of course, when mocking the ignorance of a creationist.

[TheIronwil]

When I heard Ken Ham asking who the kids should trust first - god, or the scientists... this illustrated a fundamental problem with Ham's epistemology. It's a little like Sye Ten Bruggencate saying that if you say you don't believe in god, you're calling god a liar. Set aside for the moment the idiocy of telling someone they're calling an entity a liar they don't even believe exists. I'm not entirely sure which fallacy this falls under, but what Ham is really asking is who should you trust first, ancient documents written by nomadic goat herders that make extraordinary claims of divinity, or the scientists. Ham equates the claims of his god with the deity itself, as does Sye. Both of them seem to worship a book over any posited deity, and are quite happy to ignore facts that contradict their conclusions.

Christian creationists and apologists - the bible is a book that makes claims, including that it was composed with help from the Christian god. These are claims of godhood, which is not at all equivalent of any demonstrated deity. To put it more simply, if you get up on stage and say something as outlandishly stupid as Ham's comment about god and the scientists, you'd better have a lot more to support your claims that a book of unsupported claims.

[exsikhutus]

Every fossil, every living creature is intermediate.

[Kman]

I'm not sure how a fundamentalist creationist comes out of this sickness. It seems impossible if not completely impossible. Most people who come out of it were never deep into it but just associated with Christianity because it was in their family. How does someone so deep get themselves to look at the evidence objectively and honestly without being subject to bias? Very interesting tho. Great video.

[hjalmar.poelzig]

How does any normal person come to be a Creationist?  Are they just raised that way?  Once one has committed oneself psychologically to Creationism, how does one find one's way out of it, considering the fact that Creationism consists entirely of psychological defense mechanisms?

[lennyhipp]

bravo. perhaps the best explanation i've seen yet. the simplicity is what makes it great.

[michaelwadleigh]

really good videos, glad you made the recovery.

[atheismisnotatheism]

You forgot the missing link: Closet Homo Creationist

[oojanikyabollackov]

A good video, glad that you're no longer a blinkered creationist. I would point out 1 error, though. Your diagram at 6:35 appears to show Neandertalensis as an evolutionary stage in the development of Homo Sapiens, which is a widely discredited part of evolutionary theory. Whilst it is possible - probable, even - that there was some interbreeding between Neaderthals and Sapiens, Sapiens actually migrated out of Africa whilst Neandertalensis was already established in Europe. It is believed the divergence between the two happened at an earlier point in hominid evolution, when H.Erectus and H. Ergaster migrated out from Africa. Other than that, though, I enjoyed it.

[jeremybr]

I would love it if Ken Ham got some sort of illness and while he's at the doctors office, the doctor would say something like "So Mr Ham, we have diagnosed your problem and results show you have a deadly but curable disease. However, seeing how you don't trust science. And the medical field is a branch of science....we are going to just withhold any treatment and let you go ahead and ask God to cure you instead.  Have a nice life Mr short that may be."   :)

[AmerginMacEccitt]

"God put them there to test our faith!" - Bill Hicks about God the Prankster

[happyotter]

3:20 Lol, just imagine T-Rex walking through a jungle and waving his head and teeth as a set of sharp machetes.
It is fascinating how stupid creationists are not able to make a simplest analogy with modern animals to see how bizarre their assumptions are.

[tubbytimmy]

0:21 - This is actually from an ISIS kids training video... true story.

[markyounger]

At some point in each person's life they must ask themselves the following question. Is my highest priority in life the search for objective truth OR emotional comfort. This is a very important question because when you find one, you may lose the other. Choose carefully.

[DaysDX]

atheistcoffee you are a gentleman and a scholar!

[enigma]

"Those sharp teeth on a T-Rex would have been perfectly designed to cut plants" I'd say it could bite your head of pretty easily

[buzzwerd]

God says for you to give me money and power, and you have to trust God or burn for eternity.