July is an important month for Americans. It celebrates the date on which that nation’s Founding Fathers had the prescience to ensure that, on the day 236 years later that the discovery of the Higgs Boson was announced (more or less), there would be the necessary pretext for extravagant fireworks displays across the continent.
Like many creationists, the ICR felt the need to hitch up to that Bandwagon of Wisdom and try to claim that their founding fathers believed what they do now, as if it were Franklin’s fault he lived all those decades before Darwin. That, then, was the primary message of this months Acts & Facts, the Institute for Creation Research’s monthly satirical newsletter. A pdf of this edition is avaliable on their website at this link, while links to the articles were available here until a few hours ago but are also given below.
The articles were, in brief:
- Our Country’s Heritage of Faith and Creationism: Jayme Durant reveals that her daughter interned at the White House an unspecified number of years ago. She claims that the US “has a rich heritage of leaders who were committed to following Christ,” and that this extends to creationism aswell.
- America’s Founding Fathers and Creationism: A Henry Morris article is recycled from July of 1997, claiming that “many of the founding fathers of our country were strict creationists and that this fact was reflected in the Declaration of Independence itself.” The Sensuous Curmudgeon did a post at the time on this article, pointing out that the first, at least, of Morris’ quotes from the founders is a fraud. The rest is equally suspect.
- Research at ICR: An Overview: Jason Lisle summarises the ICR’s plans in the ‘R’ department, in an article that I’ve already been over.
- Events: All of these are now passed, and there doesn’t seem to have been anything major among them. Nearly half of the events apparently took place at Glenview Baptist Church in Fort Worth. The rest of that page advertises their services running creation seminars, weekends, and conferences.
- Of Grackles and Gratitude: James J. S. Johnson seems to think that you “could have been” a pigeon. He also tries to rebut claims that the Christian God is “not personal.”
- A Universe from Nothing?: Jake Hebert mucks up, conceding that the laws of physics as we know them need not have applied at the beginning of the universe, but still refuses to admit the possibility of the titular situation.
- Following this is a two-page advertisement for the Your Origins Matter website, which hasn’t been particularly busy in the interim.
- An Extraterrestrial Cause for the Flood?: John D. Morris tries to explain meteorite craters, tying them into the Flood. I maintain that this was unwise.
- Big or Small–Rodents Have Always Been Rodents: Frank Sherwin argues, it would seem, for a single rodent “kind,” claiming that despite significant variation within this grouping all rodents are nevertheless rodents.
- Do Habitats Create Creatures?: Brian Thomas rearranges some of the sentences in a DpSU covered here.
- How Science Class Will Impact Your Child This Year: Rhonda Forlow wants you to tell your child’s teachers straight out that you’re nuts. No messing around!
- Letters to the Editor: Predictably gushing.
- Testimonies of Thanksgiving: Henry Morris IV wants money – again – and is revealing people’s correspondence with the ICR one-by-one until they give in (something like that, anyway).
- Dr. Larry Vardiman Retires from ICR: Exactly what it says on the tin. Covered briefly here.
Aside from that we have a bunch of ads for various books, as usual. Bring on August!
Eye on the ICR 