Friday, September 11, 2015

#1459: Donn Chapman


Donn Chapman is pastor of Cornerstone Ministries in Murraysville, PA, and really just one of many rabid religious extremists doing his best to quench the influence of truth, reason, science and civilization on society. His only claim to notability, really, was his actions in relation to a 2013 bill considered by the Pennsylvania legislature that would “protect the academic freedom” to question evolution – in line with the strategic recommendations of hardcore fundamentalist anti-science organizations such as the Discovery Institute. Of course, these organizations vigorously deny that the bills have any religious agenda, so enter people like Donn Chapman to spill the beans for them: Chapman hosted a six-part series, Origins, in which he portrayed the teaching of evolution as a triumph of secularists and “neo-Darwinists” who want “to drive God from the marketplace and […] keep us from being able to give God the glory for what he’s done.” Said Chapman: “We are the spiritual children of the founders of this nation,” Chapman said. “This has been stolen from us. We need to take it back and give it back to God.” The debate over teaching evolution versus creationism is not about science, claimed Chapman, but about a clash of worldviews, and the core issue is “them [secularists] getting our kids and saying, ‘You feed them, you take them to church on Sunday, but if they’re going to be intelligent, if they are going to get into a good school, they are going to learn to think like us. Heil, Hitler.’ That’s what it’s about.” Oh, yes. Freedom in America has been “suppressed”, according to Chapman, because evolution is taught in public schools, and “anyone who even suggests discussion is exterminated … academically.” The bill didn’t pass.

Diagnosis: Liar for Jesus who takes militant pride in his ignorance. Fortunately for the rest of us his raging flailings seem to tend to harm the anti-science movement more than help it.

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