Wednesday, February 15, 2017

#1791: Tony Jelsma

Tony Jelsma is Professor of Biology at Dordt College, a Reformed Christian College that teaches creationism rather than evolution (the program is of course non-accredited). Jelsma himself is a hardcore creationist and signatory to the Discovery Institute’s petition A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism, but unlike most signatories, Jelsma has actually studied relevant topics. Of course, he didn’t understand the science part of it: “as I pursued the biological sciences I was aware that my views would be challenged, but I knew that evolution was wrong, God’s Word is true and I had confidence that any new findings I had would simply confirm my view.” Yes, it’s not only motivated reasoning in the extreme – Jelsma is positively proud of his ability to withstand evidence, facts and learning. And though he admits that the 6-day creation story of the Bible shouldn’t be interpreted literally, he “cannot reconcile human evolution with the Scriptural account of the creation and fall of man,” so he discards the science, which you are of course free to do but shouldn’t if you at the same time profess to teach science at an educational institution.


Diagnosis: A nice illustration of the mechanisms that make anti-science lunacy thrive. At least Dordt College is evidently not a place to get an education.

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