PZ Myers

Paul Zachary Myers, better known as PZ Myers, is a liberal evolutionist activist in the creation-evolution controversy, contributing to The Panda's Thumb and Pharyngula blogs. Myers is also an associate professor of biology at the University of Minnesota Morris (UMM)

PZ Myers commented, while listening to Michael Behe lecture on Intelligent design, that "In science, we scream a lot." According to Evolution News, he opposes democratically-elected school boards deciding how evolution should be taught; feeling that it should instead be done by "Scientists with years of training in the subject, and qualified science teachers who understand the fundamentals of the theory."

PZ Myers and militant atheism

PZ Myers is an outspoken atheist who has openly advocated the elimination of religion, likening it to illiteracy. His language is extremely militant at times, and laced with expletives. In a diatribe in which he described those who believe in the Bible as "lunatics" and "bigots," Myers said:

I say, screw the polite words and careful rhetoric. It's time for scientists to break out the steel-toed boots and brass knuckles, and get out there and hammer on the lunatics and idiots.

PZ Myers frequently rants against religion, religious people, and religious institutions (e.g. churches) on his blog. Myers has called evangelical Christianity "a blight upon the earth," religious people "ignorant, deluded, wicked, foolish, or oppressed victims of obsolete mythologies," and considers every church to be a "parasitic institution that contributes nothing to the tax base and encourages further ignorance in the population."

Unsurprisingly, Myers' radical, hateful views on religion and religious people are whitewashed from the Wikipedia article about him by pro-evolution/anti-Creationism/anti-Intelligent Design editors who are his fans. The Wikipedia article on Conservapedia lists Myers as a critic of Conservapedia founder Andy Schlafly's attempts to secure Richard Lenski's raw data.

Refusal to debate at atheist global conference and brief radio debate

In 2010, Richard Dawkins was challenged to a debate by creation scientist Dr. Jonathan Sarfati of Creation Ministries International as prominent atheists were speaking at a 2010 global atheist convention in Australia. Richard Dawkins, PZ Myers and other prominent atheists refused to debate Dr. Safarti. Generally speaking, creation scientists tend to win the creation vs. evolution debates.

The website True Free Thinker declared concerning the refusal of Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers to debate Dr. Jonathan Safarti:

“

In keeping with his constant attention getting shenanigans and his equally constant absconding from debating apt challengers via a barrage of illogical and excuses, the moniker of cowardly clown fits Richard Dawkins more than ever (see Send in the Clowns – Richard Dawkins Obliges). Enter Jonathan Sarfati (PhD in chemistry),senior scientist at Creation Ministries International, who recently published the book “The Greatest Hoax on Earth? Refuting Dawkins on Evolution.” Interestingly, Jonathan Sarfati sought to publish the book by the time that the 2010 Global Atheist Convention—billed as “The Rise of Atheism”—of March 12-14 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center in Australia. The most intelligent, well informed and vociferous atheists in the world, including Richard Dawkins, Dan Barker, PZ Myers, et al, were challenged to debate while their worldwide choir was gathered in one place and yet, one by one they each found excuses to cower from debate even whilst proclaiming to their adherents the intellectual superiority of atheism.

”

In January 2008, Myers participated in a brief radio debate with Discovery Institute fellow Geoffrey Simmons on Minneapolis/St. Paul radio station KKMS.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Myers appeared in the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. In the film, Myers compared religion to knitting and said it should be nothing more than "something fun that people get together and do on the weekend and really doesn't affect their life as much as it has been so far." Up to and after the release of the film, PZ Myers viciously attacked the film and its makers many times and engaged in bizarre behavior. Two of the most notable incidents involved his failed attempt to gate-crash a showing of the film at the Mall of America and his crashing and disruption (including plugging himself) of a conference call held by Expelled's producers after calling in early (likely to eavesdrop) and overhearing and then dishonestly using the phone code that allowed two-way communication. Most bizarrely, in the latter incident, Myers interruption of the producers' call began with his referring to himself in the third person, probably in an attempt to conceal both his identity and the fact that he used a phone code he was not authorized to use.

Communion host

On July 8, 2008, PZ Myers posted an entry attacking Roman Catholic beliefs regards Communion. He was reacting to a news story, in which a student at the University of Central Florida described a physical confrontation over his failure to consume a communion wafer. After ridiculing some people as "petty, hateful, and stupid," and asserting that "nothing makes them stupider than religion," Myers requested that his readers steal consecrated Communion wafers for him, so that he could desecrate them on camera. This rant predictably resulted in a strongly negative response from Catholics and those who support freedom of religious expression ; Myers has since complained about the "hate mail" and "death threats" he has received, comparing the defense of Communion to a "witch hunt." To date, the University of Minnesota has not taken official action against Myers for his inflammatory remarks, other than to remove the link to his blog from his faculty page. PZ Myers followed through with his threat, desecrating a eucharist and tearing out pages of a copy of the Koran and a copy of Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion.

Meanwhile, Myers posted two vitriolic emails he had received and included the email addresses where they supposedly had come from. Predictably, his readers responded with their own threatening and harassing emails even though at the time it was not clear whether or not the email addresses had been spoofed One was allegedly from someone at 1-800-Flowers, though the husband of the user of the address subsequently owned up to sending the e-mail. The account owner was fired by the company. Myers commented on the firing, saying, "She apparently did something stupid, which I don't have sympathy for. I would just rather not see people getting fired over an e-mail message." Myers attempted to save face, claiming that the unsurprising behavior by his readers was not the intent behind his posting of the email addresses, and called for his readers to stop "dunning these people with email, threatening them back, signing them up for spam, or otherwise being a jerk." These pleas fell on deaf ears, while PZ Myers continued to avoid doing the obvious thing in simply removing the email addresses from his blog.

Creation Museum buffoonery

In August 2009, Myers led a group of over 300 atheist and agnostic students on a tour of the Creation Museum. During the visit, the 52-year-old Myers eagerly climbed onto a dinosaur model which was clearly identified as being for children to sit on for photographs. Myers donned a borrowed cowboy hat and was egged on by the cheers and laughter of the students.

Myers and Conservapedia

True to liberal values, Myers has banned all direct references and links to Conservapedia on his blog due to what he claims was "serious problems with spamming" involving Conservapedia members. Of course, no spamming (repeatedly posting the same message) actually occurred, making Myers' accusation a lie. Rather, his banning is an attempt to silence legitimate criticism which he is simply incapable of addressing.

External Links

• Pharyngula Non-family-friendly content warning.