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Ross

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I helped create Newgrounds. Then I left. Then I came back. Then I left again. It's like that movie "Runaway Bride", but with fewer movie stars and more computer programming.

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Entry #26

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Ross

"If you want to believe that you and your family came from apes, that's fine."

Posted by Ross Dec. 25, 2007 @ 3:49 AM EST

One of the big stories recently in the land of American politics has been Republican Mike Huckabee and his dramatic leap in popularity in the 2008 presidential primary polls. His rapid ascension from marginal candidate to front-runner has been largely attributed to the other candidates' lack of appeal to evangelicals - one of the GOP's core constituencies.

On first consideration, I can see why Republican voters like this guy. He's folksy and down-to-earth, he tells jokes, he plays guitar in his band, he was fat but got skinny (the American dream, circa 2007), and his relatively moderate views on immigration stand in contrast to the xenophobic views put forth by some of the other Republican candidates.

Huckabee is also an ordained Southern Baptist minister, and here's where my biggest problem with him lies - he doesn't believe in evolution. Not only does he reject evolution, but he also believes that students should be exposed to creationism (the idea that the universe did not evolve, but was created by an "intelligent designer").

This should set off loud warning bells in the head of anyone who believes in rational thought and appreciates the majesty and accomplishments of science. Evolution is not a theory, as some religious people would claim; it's scientific fact. It's not immediately verifiable in the way you can drop a rock and observe gravity, but it's universally accepted and has led to breakthroughs in a wide range of fields. Creationism, on the other hand, is a pseudoscience with no basis in fact.

Huckabee says that his opinions on evolution have little impact on his ability to be president, but I disagree. Our president will be our emissary to the world - what kind of message would it send if the USA, home of so much innovation and technological achievement in the past 200 years, elected a president who simply tosses out one of the ideas at the core of all that science? What does it say about Huckabee's capacity for critical thinking when he so willingly sides with the Bible over science? If he wants to be a man of faith, that's fine, but our president needs to operate on facts, not faith.

It blows me away when people treat belief in evolution as a matter of personal opinion. Do you also make up your individual mind about whether or not you believe in the combustion engine? How about microwave ovens? Or maybe cell phone technology? Science has brought us all of these things and far more, and we accept them unconditionally - yet people treat the topic of evolution as a "yes or no" question. Sorry, but it's not a question - evolution is real, whether it jives with your religious beliefs or not, and electing a president who doesn't understand that would make us officially the dumbest electorate on Earth.

(Not to mention that we're currently mired in a bloody mistake of a war thanks to an administration that went with truthiness over facts. Isn't it time we elected a leader who's not allergic to logic?)

huck.bb.jpg

Updated: 12/26/07 10:47 AM Log in to comment! | Share this!

The People Have Spoken

25 Comments

Dec. 25, 2007 | 7:35 AM Cornmander says:

I know what you mean, theres this kid in my class, And hes pretty annoying, it doesnt bother me that hes religious, its just that hes totally ignorant to anyone elses opinion. And during science class while we were studying evolution he blurted out, "Why do we have to learn this bullcrap? It's not like its true."
If you said you were atheist or agnostic or something, he would constantly repeat, "your going to hell!"

But thats besides the point kinda.

Merry Chrismas.


Dec. 25, 2007 | 1:04 PM Jeff-Studios says:

Ross would make a great president.


Dec. 26, 2007 | 1:40 AM BFK says:

What else do you expect from a guy with a last name like "Huckabee"?


Dec. 26, 2007 | 5:33 AM KupaMan says:

I hate it when religion interferes with politics. Even if you don't believe in evolution, it shouldn't mean that your politics correlate to everyone thinking the same way you do.


Dec. 26, 2007 | 11:16 AM JohnnyUtah says:

I especially loved that little story about his kids slitting a dogs throat and stoning it to death. moral values hard at work there..

anyways, I think this ass will be an easy kill. I'm more concerned about (Mr. 911, the terrorists hate our FREEDOM!) Giuliani getting into office.

Dec. 26, 2007 | 11:36 PM Ross responds:

Yeah, Giuliani's a weasel, dining out six years later on the fact that he was mayor of the city that got attacked on 9/11. His strategy to win the primary - ignore the early states, focus on the big states that come later in the primary season - is controversial and, in my opinion, destined for failure. I don't think he has a real chance of getting the nomination - he's too liberal for the Bible-beaters of America.

Updated: Dec. 29, 2007, 11:42 AM

Dec. 26, 2007 | 12:50 PM TheRyoku says:

The world should be how Isaac Newton wanted it to be. Isaac was not so famous because he found gravity, je was famous for tying everything he knew to the bible. He was one of the greatest bible scholars of his time, and ahead of his time.

My Point specifically is, why should we argue on such a simple thing, as evolution? Why not tie the two together? As far as I know, Darwin never said we came from anything, or any specific animal. He never invented the theories of ancient ancestors; We did. Darwin's principle of evolution simply states that an organism changes over time. Now, as a Christian, today's scientific views definitely are aimed to conflict with religion, to make more people believe the science. They have facts to back it up sure, but are they real facts? How do we as the general American population know if the data has been edited or not? We don't. So, technically, you can't say it's based on facts either, because only they know if it's true or not.

Think about this, did we really land on the moon? Sure, they had the TV Video clip, but tons of things were wrong with it to say it was true. I mean, I've seen the clip, and no dust flies into the air when it lands, and there's no dust or particles on the legs of the craft, so, was it really the moon?

It's the same concept, so, Ross, I wouldn't say yours is based on fact either :)

Sorry for the rant, just voicing my opinion.

Dec. 26, 2007 | 11:27 PM Ross responds:

First off, thanks for the response, though I've no idea how Isaac Newton's religious beliefs and moon landing conspiracy theories relate to my post.

However, your post veers into loony-bin territory when you talk about how "today's scientific views definitely are aimed to conflict with religion, to make more people believe the science." Science isn't about belief - it just is. That's the point I was making when I contrasted the way people "choose" to believe in evolution, versus the way they unthinkingly use technology (created by science) every day. If you think there's some kind of grand anti-religion, pro-science conspiracy out there, then you don't understand what science is, or you've read too many books by David Limbaugh.

And as for "they have facts to back it up, but are they real facts" - this is a ridiculous statement. If you feel there's no such thing as an objective fact, then you should stay out of any argument involving science, which is based on logic.

You're free to believe whatever you want; and if you want to put faith in some scheme of interpreting the Bible loosely, so maybe "Adam & Eve / creating the world in seven days / etc" still leaves room for evolution, dinosaurs, ice ages, and everything else, then fine. But once you claim that evolution is false - that's when I call "bullshit". There are many jobs in America for people who are willfully ignorant of science - but President of the United States is not one of them.

Updated: Dec. 26, 2007, 11:31 PM

Dec. 26, 2007 | 2:50 PM TomFulp says:

You forgot to mention how the Hucks Army website stole our logo.

http://www.hucksarmy.com/

Dec. 26, 2007 | 11:56 PM Ross responds:

Stealing logos makes baby Jesus cry!


Dec. 26, 2007 | 9:46 PM fetusdoctor says:

I wouldn't worry about ol' Huck. The Republicans are on a downturn anyways, and their constant bickering in the debates will prevent them from having any true front runner.

I find him kind of humorous in the way that he and Romney have words with each other about whose religion is truer.

Great post though, and quite a humorous find from Mr. Thomas Fulp.

Also, I hear there's rumor's on the internets that Huck did a commercial with Chuck Norris. I guess Huck must have thought he would appeal to the youth by using the star of an outdated internet joke.

Dec. 26, 2007 | 11:55 PM Ross responds:

In fairness to Huckabee, the Chuck Norris ad was semi-funny, and a way for him to highlight one of his big advantages over most of the other Republican candidates - his charisma. He's frequently appeared on "The Colbert Report" and does have a good sense of humor, despite his backwards views.

And is a Huckabee primary victory really so impossible? America loves southern governors (Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton), and all the other GOP candidates seem to have some fatal flaw. And he's the slam-dunk choice for Bible-beaters everywhere, which is a larger voting bloc than you might think.


Dec. 27, 2007 | 6:45 PM subzero90 says:

Well I belive in good, and I'm of the catholic faith, but I repect other peoples opinions, even though you are ALL gonna got to hell. Lol, but if you wanna belive we cam from onkeys ok.

Dec. 28, 2007 | 12:13 PM Ross responds:

I love when people refer to evolution as "coming from monkeys". My girlfriend in college had an uber-religious roommate who once said (paraphrasing), "We don't look anything like monkeys, so I just don't see how we came from them." Evolution is about tiny amounts of incremental change over looooong periods of time, not some kind of mutant monkey that suddenly gave birth to a human. It seems like people often don't (or can't) understand evolution, so they just write it off. Sad.

Anyway, see you in hell! I'll bring the BBQ.


Dec. 27, 2007 | 9:58 PM machacker2000 says:

Yeah. I am a Christian, but I believe in evolution. I believe that, hey, if God did it, he did it. It doesn't matter how.


Dec. 27, 2007 | 11:41 PM Swordstick76 says:

I have to say, i totally agee. completely. I just don't think that he'll get past Iowa and the first few. he wont be elected to the GOP. I mean it is kinda hard to take a man who doesn't believe in evolution seriously. btw, who do you support in the race?

Dec. 28, 2007 | 12:17 PM Ross responds:

If I was an Iowan, I'd vote for Obama on January 2nd.

Updated: Dec. 28, 2007, 12:18 PM

Dec. 28, 2007 | 1:37 AM UberBarista says:

I first heard about this guy after briefly watching the beginning of an interview he was doing on CNN from Biloxi MS a few months ago. (which is what caught my attention... home :(..) When the anchor asked him about his stance on evolution I just couldn't stop laughing, because you could see it in his eyes, how deeply he believes that's wrong regardless of how it seemed like he was reading from a TelePrompTer.


Dec. 28, 2007 | 11:01 AM neon-dude says:

Organised Religion is bullcrap. I can understand someone being agnostic (thinking there is a God, but not believing in any particular religion) that's up to them, but believing something that was written thousands of years ago by someone to brainwash people into doing as they're told is wrong.


Dec. 28, 2007 | 2:15 PM Elemental-Sword says:

Deism FTW


Dec. 29, 2007 | 4:04 PM SoulMaster71 says:

I fully agree. Huckabee stinks. In fact, I dislike his opinions so much that if it were to come down to him versus Hillary Clinton in the general election, I'd vote for Hillary, and then move to Canada. We've had enough of opinion-based policy, and another evangelical wack job like Huckabee would just screw this country up even more. Obama in '08, and if not him, if the race must go to a Republican, then Giuliani.


Dec. 31, 2007 | 2:38 AM DarkHabit says:

Little off your topic, but i bet alot of people are gona vote for Hilary just to see a woman president, I want to see a good president, not just a woman president, im not saying shes a bad choice (I dont know anything about politics) But people shouldnt vote based on sex.


Jan. 3, 2008 | 6:38 PM SkeletonKing says:

"I love when people refer to evolution as "coming from monkeys". My girlfriend in college had an uber-religious roommate who once said (paraphrasing), "We don't look anything like monkeys, so I just don't see how we came from them." Evolution is about tiny amounts of incremental change over looooong periods of time, not some kind of mutant monkey that suddenly gave birth to a human. It seems like people often don't (or can't) understand evolution, so they just write it off. Sad."

EXACTLY my thoughts.

I've attempted to rationally debate on the issue with various religious constituents and every single time the debate is dropped once [i]facts[/i] peg them into a corner which they can't get out of without invoking the tride and true "you're wrong, god made everything, enjoy hell" card. I honestly don't see how we as a species can advance much further if such archaic ideas anchor us securely to the past.


Jan. 3, 2008 | 6:57 PM Sargotha-05 says:

Ah yes, the old topic of "God Vs Evolution". I personally have more belief in Evolution and yet I can't help but to find no other answer for how the "Big Bang", the birth of our universe other than "God". Despite what most people out there believe, I think it is possible to have this "God" make Evolution happen. His way of deciding what is to be and what is to pass/become extinct. Sort of like him initially thinking that the dinosaurs were his greatest work and then he found inspiration from the first ape-like or monkey-like creature that appeared. Thus the extinction of the great lizards and the beginning of homo sapien and today.

Jan. 4, 2008 | 11:19 AM Ross responds:

That's all fun to think of, but there's no proof whatsoever for it - whereas science does have a lot to say about why the dinosaurs died out and how our species came to be.

And yeah, assuming the "Big Bang" is correct, what kicked off the Big Bang? Who knows. We're still far from answering questions about our cosmic origins, and maybe we never will. If you need to invent the idea of an omnipotent creator to fill that information hole, then go for it. Personally, I'd rather admit to not knowing something than creating an arbitrary answer out of thin air.


Jan. 4, 2008 | 4:07 AM ilandman11 says:

hmmm strange im christan and im pretty much open to science i mean think abouut it the bibke was written by who ? man not god we know god exists well religeous ppl belive in him we cant speak for everyone eles but he dint make the biblke which means we dont know how much of it can be tru so we should be open to new things an datheists dont go to hell it matters if theyre good or not it even says that in the bible ......... that guy in your science class is just like ignorant


Jan. 4, 2008 | 9:23 AM The-Swain says:

I believe Evolution is still referred to as a theory, though I would probably mark Creationism off as more of a suspicion than anything resembling a theory.

I love the double standard though. Many of the loudest and most public religious folk claim they won't accept Evolution unless it can be proved beyond any doubt (read: proved by their standards), while Creationism remains infallibly true unless it can be disproved beyond any doubt (read: disproved by their standards). Like, seriously...if you can completely prove that Creationism is false but you somehow forget to dot your i's, then you're wrong and Creationism continues to be true.

Ugh, it's too early for this.

Jan. 4, 2008 | 11:14 AM Ross responds:

See, that's part of the issue - no one understands how science works, and part of it is a terminology problem. Just because science calls something a "theory" doesn't mean that it's up for debate - it's science's way of keeping the door open in case future evidence requires modification. There's a theory of gravity, too - does that mean when you drop an object, you're not sure if it'll go down or not? Not at all - the theory did require some changes when Einstein's relativity came along, but that didn't invalidate gravity. Evolution is the same way - it's accepted by science as essentially fact. The only place it's not is in churches and by people who don't realize that "theory" doesn't mean "still up in the air".

And Creationism can't be disproved, nor can it be proved - which makes it a position of faith, not science.

Updated: Jan. 5, 2008, 3:51 PM

Jan. 4, 2008 | 11:16 PM HeavenDuff says:

For a second, after reading your title I thought that you we're of those religious freaks.

I know lots of people still believe in God, but why do they always have to believe in a God created by some guys who have written books?
I mean, could you at least stop reading a book like the Coran or the Bible? these books are pure sci-fi books... wtf?

And why do I always get laughed at cause I'm an agnostic? please guys !!

Thanks for the point Ross


Jan. 5, 2008 | 12:28 PM Doomsday-One says:

Hey, there are still people who think that the Earth is flat and gravity is a lie... At least they aren't running...

Since I'm a blissfully ignorant child from the U.K., I'll just leave it to handle itself, but God help us if he gets elected (sorry, bad pun)...

On a tangent, my Jehovah's Witness physics teacher taught us everything, with no God talk. Even the Big Bang Theory. Other Jehovah's Witnesses don't like this, and when they are told, their reactions are usually harsh, but pretty funny.

In the words of Louis Agassiz, 'Every scientific truth goes through three stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible. Next they say it had been discovered before. Lastly they say they always believed in it.'

Jan. 5, 2008 | 3:52 PM Ross responds:

That's a great quote, which I hadn't heard before. Thanks!


Jan. 13, 2008 | 10:40 PM ripoffhitman says:

I'm sure he will get more votes because of it. I mean the USA has such a high christian population, liking someone who is christian wouldn't sound bad to them. And people can not be religous and still not belive in eveloution. There are so many missing links it's hard to see it as possible. I am agnostic but I don't belive in christians version of a god. I think it started scientifically, life on earth, but that doens't mean there can only be one thing that started it. I don't know, maybe there is, it just doens't sound right ot me.

Jan. 22, 2008 | 2:20 PM Ross responds:

150 years of science that's led to so many breakthroughs in so many fields, but people toss it out because "it just doesn't sound right to me". Uh-huh.

Just because you can't understand something doesn't mean it's not true.


Jan. 24, 2008 | 5:05 AM Me-Mighty-Leper says:

Wow. Stereotyping...

I thought all Americans were like that...

If God does exist, he's a real sadistic asshole. Why create a world with living things on it, and create billions of imaginative and dramatic ways for them to die?? A world with God overlooking us sounds too much like an evil version of the Sims.

You talk to most Christians and they'll say 'We must try and be pure, so we can sit next to God'. Why procrastinate?? Why make the Earth if our purpose is to be with him??

Me Mighty Leper


Feb. 7, 2008 | 3:18 AM FadePuff says:

He is already clarified his beliefs as follows: he believes that evolution did occur, but that somewhere at some unspecified point there was also a creative component from a higher force. What he rejects is the notion that evolution occured as a natural, closed process. Therefore, it is misleading to state he rejects evolution without including the fact that he acknowledges it did occur.

Mar. 9, 2008 | 10:09 PM Ross responds:

So in other words, while science is great and all, he doesn't think they really got this one right, thus his injecting God into the process? That's not much better than "I don't believe in evolution" - in fact, it sounds like creationism, which is laughably bogus.

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