DENVER – A well-known evolutionary professor stated in a recent interview that those who do not accept evolution are “fundamentally irrational” with “a kind of slightly crazy mindset,” and claimed that a Christian apologist’s evolution-challenging film is “a great example” of “Biblical porn.”
Craig Stanford is a professor of anthropology and biological sciences at the University of Southern California. Known for his outspoken evolutionary and atheistic beliefs, Stanford appeared on The No God Cast Podcast—a weekly program that, according to the show’s website, provides “a platform” from which atheists can “share their stories and speak their minds.” Though the podcast’s weekly audience is rather small, comments Stanford made on the September 20th episode have generated controversy.
During the program, Stanford criticized Evolution vs. God—a new documentary created by Ray Comfort that challenges evolutionary thought. In the interview, Stanford said it is best to ignore evangelical Christians like Comfort.
“The best approach to people like him and the evangelical community that might be making films like this, in general, is to just ignore them because they’re obviously preaching to the converted; they are not winning over any hearts and minds of anybody else who is not evangelical,” Stanford argued. “It’s a bit of a silly approach that they have that’s all about trying to validate their increasingly marginalized beliefs.”
Stanford went on to ridicule people who do not accept Darwinian evolution.
“If you’re not going to accept evolution,” he said, “I guess that’s your civil right, but that means you’re working on a fundamentally irrational and a kind of slightly crazy mindset.”
As previously reported, Comfort’s Evolution vs. God film generated enormous interest, even from individuals like Ken Ham and Richard Dawkins. Before the film’s mid-summer release, Comfort told Christian News Network that Evolution vs. God is effective because it shows how evolutionists struggle to provide evidence for their theory.
“Most Christian videos on the subject of evolution normally look at what evolution says and then have a creationist expert dismantle it,” Comfort explained. “That’s very effective. But what Evolution vs. God does that is unique is that we didn’t interview anyone who believed in Intelligent Design. Every person interviewed believes in evolution…and they are the ones who show that evolution is a fairy tale for grownups.”
Stanford was one of the evolutionists interviewed in Evolution vs. God. In The No God Cast Podcast, he admitted that Comfort “seems like a bright guy,” but then said even intelligent people “can close off … knowledge in certain compartments.” Stanford also remarked that people who reject evolution (like Comfort) are “intellectually dishonest,” and accused Comfort of asking misleading questions and using dishonest editing techniques in making Evolution vs. God.
“I know this will offend some people in the evangelical community who may be listening,” Stanford noted, “but [Evolution vs. God] to me is a great example of what I would call ‘Biblical porn.’ It’s a whole set of images and words that are really intended mainly to titillate and excite evangelicals. There’s actually no actual inquiry in that video into science versus creationism.”
In a September 20th post on Twitter, Stanford reiterated his statements:
“[I]n the No God podcast tonight,” he wrote, “by ‘Bible Porn’ I mean that videos promoting evangelical views with images and words are truly just like porn.”
The next day, Stanford tweeted: “I did not say there was no deceitful editing in Comfort’s video. I said his deceit was in cutting off my answers short of the full facts.”
However, Comfort countered Stanford on Twitter, saying that there truly is no evidence for Darwinian evolution.
“Why didn’t you give your ‘full facts’ on the interview?” Comfort asked. “You’d have debunked my movie in seconds. Fess up. You don’t have any.”
Since its release, Evolution vs. God has received nearly 900,000 views and has generated almost 90,000 comments on YouTube.
Michael Bresciani, a Christian author and columnist, wrote in a recent review of Evolution vs. God that the film “is one of the most power packed blows to the evolutionary model produced in this decade.” Bresciani submitted that “the indoctrinated and dyed in the wool evolutionists, in large part, resorted to degrading and nasty remarks often aimed at Ray Comfort.”
“Arguments against Comfort’s conclusions were almost non-existent because Comfort questioned only those who are Darwinists,” Bresciani continued. “They did not fare well, although they remained dignified they were unable to give a defense of something they had swallowed hook, line and sinker, with no serious thought to the other side of the argument.”
“[Evolution vs. God] is an excellent tool to open the minds of youth,” Bresciani concluded, “…and should be on the shelf of every pastor who cares about his church members and their need to know how to answer the widely accepted, but spurious and tattered theory of evolution.”
Photo: University of Southern California
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