The Skeptic

Are you Experienced a Skeptic?

I recently assumed the role of Editor of The Skeptic magazine.

“Where can I subscribe?” You immediately ask!

“You can subscribe here!” I immediately reply, adding, “Look out for us in newsagencies, newstands and bookstores soon…”

I’ll further add that over the coming months we’ll have an updated magazine; a slick, sexily skeptical design, new columns, new features and new authors.

I’ve been a busy Skepbitch, so until I can get back to my regular routine of  scathing skeptical commentary, here’s a sneak peak of  the next Around the Traps, a local skeptical news column.

(N.b. The photo of the children peering into a van displaying a model of Noah’s Ark is particularly vile…)

Turn On, Tune In, Nod Off

Australia missed the bus to advertise a Sunday sleep-in, but unfortunately, we didn’t miss the Creation Bus.

Creation Ministries International sponsor this travelling band of Creationists who have performed outreach to 100,000 people over the past fifteen years. The Creation Bus drives nonsense non-science to regional, rural and outback communities, the areas that need education the most.

Missionary Peter Sparrow teaches Creationism and his own distorted and misinformed view of evolutionary theory. He Says, “Sadly, so many aboriginal folk have accepted the lie of human evolution, still believing today the idea that they are somehow less evolved or more primitive than the rest of the population. I have seen tears resulting from the realization that we really are all one race, descended from Adam and Eve, and thus all related and all equally made in the image of God our Creator.”

These missionaries should know better; Peter is a Science teacher with a degree in biology and his wife Cathy is a nurse.

The Creation Bus is known as “Myrtle the Turtle”, and boasts the number plate “DAYS 06”. The bus is painted in a psychedelic motif, “Each of the colours of the stripes represents a day in the Creation week.”

White: day 1, light.
Blue: day 2, water and sky.
Green: day 3, plants.
Yellow: day 4, sun, moon and stars.
Brown: day 5, living creatures.
Red: day 6, man (‘one blood’).

Magical Ministry Tour

There’s yet another Creationist bus ministering a lack of science to remote regions.

Creation Ministries International is also sponsoring the Ark Van Ministry Tour. Rod “The Ark Man” Walsh is a “long-time Noah’s Ark modeller and expert” who is currently on tour to “share the gospel” and expound his beliefs about the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark and the Flood.

This is a travelling exhibit of Ark models built “to scale” that conform to “the general biblical principles most creationists adhere to.”

The Ark Van visits schools and churches in rural Australia and overseas, as Walsh answers audience questions such as, “How big was the Ark and how did all the animals fit? Where did all the water come from? Where did all the water go? And how could the world have been populated in just 4,500 years since the Flood?”

Walsh’s mission is to “help people understand how real the Ark was.” With a background in insurance he obviously takes “Acts of God” too literally.