Monday Meme Madness - Eclipse Edition

Happy Eclipse Day everyone! While you're waiting for the moon to briefly blot out the sun on our side of the third rock from the moon, why not giggle at some stupid creationist memes?

I tried to find some stupid eclipse themed memes but to no avail. I did find one featuring Newton, so close enough.

Take it away, ignorance and absurdity!

Meme #1 (above): "He finds creation, global flood, resurrection to be absurd yet believes everything came from nothing"

Here is one of the "haha aren't you stupid believing that the universe just popped into existence from nothing" memes. The reality is science does not say that the universe came from "nothing" in the sense of non-being, absolute nothing, or however you describe it. The Big Bang theory does not describe a creation ex-nihilo event and "bang" is a misnomer. Look it up. I'm not here to teach you everything.

As for "creation," I'm sure Dawkins believes in a type of creation, artistic creation, for instance, but of course, the meme means Biblical creation based on the addition of global flood and resurrection to the list. Here's the deal: show some evidence for Biblical creation. Give a model for Biblical creation. Explain how the Biblical god created everything. Tell us how the deity used a handful of dirt to create the first man and then took a rib from him to create woman. Go ahead, I'll be over here reading War and Peace.

Lots of religions have origin stories about how the world was created. Why don't you believe those?

The fact of the matter is there is evidence for a Big Bang, formation of our galaxy, abiogenesis, and evolution. We have models that explain how the universe works. There is nothing but an account in a book to back up Biblical creation. And remember, Genesis includes a talking snake and a magic tree.

As for global flood: no evidence and many cultures were thriving during the period when a global flood would have occurred

As for resurrection, of Jesus, we can all assume: no evidence.

Let's move along.

Meme #2: "'Religion is anti-science.' 'Issac (sic) Newton, who's that?'"

You have to admit a typo in a stupid meme is just delicious. What's that, you were so excited about the really biting point you were making you couldn't bother to proof-read a handful of words? Yes, "Issac" Newton is your guy, but you can't spell his name!

Anyway, this meme relies on a couple of mechanisms, neither of which is particularly impressive. First is the image of Janeane Garofalo, one of those people conservatives in general have a hate for because she's outspoken liberal. Myself, I don't have any particular feelings about her. As a rule, I don't care what celebrities think. I mean, it's nice they're using their fame to speak out on important issues and stuff, but at the end of the day, these are people who play-act for money and their thoughts are the same as any rando in your life or on the internet: handle with caution and fact check.

But, there is a group of people who just get irrationally mad that some famous person is saying something they disagree with. I happen to be liberal, but I'm like [shrug] when I see someone like Tim Allen or Clint Eastwood spouting their conservative talking points. They sound like idiots, so I move along. But, for these irrational groups, seeing the face that has become a symbol and punching bag for despised ideas, it's a good trigger for a meme. The message is "Get ready to hate guys because look at this person you hate for no good reason!"

The second mechanism is an argument that because scientists in the past also happened to be religious and probably believed the Genesis account then religion itself is not anti-science. It's a good thing they didn't choose to discuss Galileo in their meme, as I think he might have something to say about religion being pro-science! I mean, it only took the Catholic church 350 years to forgive him...

So, yes, we know Isaac Newton was religious and wrote on religion and he was a great scientist. However, he was not a great scientist because of his religion but in spite of it. Many scientists may have actually started out wanting to prove the Biblical creation, but what knowledge they did derive came from examining the physical world and creating predictions and tests in the physical world. None said, hey, here's this scientific idea, let's look at what Leviticus has to say...  I would love for some religious person to explain to me the Biblical influence on the Principia because my understanding is that Newton studied mathematics for a long time to develop his theories, not Genesis.

Religion in the past fought the idea that the earth revolved around the sun and religion today is fighting scientific ideas like evolution and climate change. Religious people who believe scientific accounts do so despite what religion generally teaches and they do it without regard for their religious book. In fact, usually, religious people have to rationalize their religion, compartmentalizing those beliefs to fit into our modern world. You just gotta have faith!

Given that today is eclipse day, Newton seems like an appropriate closing for meme madness.

Enjoy the darkening, practice safe eclipse viewing, and have a great week!