PZ Myers is funny

Last night I went to PZ Myers lecture at the Laser Dome at the Seattle Pacific Science Center. PZ Myers is an Associate Professor of Biology and writes a blog in which he mostly ridicules people of faith. In the lecture he referred to such people as liars and as dangerous. He is worried that a large percentage of people in the US believe in creationism and that even a significant percentage of educators also do. PZ is a soft spoken person but says things that are amazingly rude. You could say he is funny in a kind of Rush Limbaugh sort of way.

In the lecture it was very apparent that he is concerned with promoting science and spreading the truth as (he sees it). His perspective is that religion is dangerous and science is a tool for combating it. In the lecture he discussed tactics for spreading the truth and even recommended books that could help his followers to argue against intelligent design and creationism. Strangely it reminded me of evangelism classes I used to take when I was a Christian. The funniest part is when he instructed his followers not to use “probably” and “may have” when talking or writing about science. Was he asking his followers to lie for the sake of the “truth” or what? I am now wondering how seriously I should take the few blog entries he does have on science.

I think I was only one of two people at the lecture that admitted to being a creationist. I was hoping that one of the people there would engage me in debate after the lecture but no one talked to me. However, if you want to practice your debate skills with me over coffee or lunch please drop me a line. It’s not that I want to convince you of my point of view – I just want to have some fun.