Difference between revisions of "Question evolution! campaign"

Revision as of 13:00, September 6, 2011

Dr. Carl Wieland is the Managing Director of Creation Ministries International

The Question evolution! campaign, launched by the biblical creation organization Creation Ministries International, is a "grass-roots movement to challenge the anti-Christian dogma of evolution".^[1] The focus of the Question evolution! campaign is on 15 questions that evolutionists cannot answer.^[2] The 15 Questions that evolutionists cannot answer can be found HERE.

The campaign will be primarily conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa.^[3] In May of 2011, Creation Ministries International and the Traditional Values Coalition decided to jointly initiate a Question evolution! campaign which encourages students and others to "question the evolutionary pseudoscience peddled to them", to wear anti-evolution clothing and to pass out Question evolution! tracts within their schools and community. The Traditional Values Coalition is a church lobbying organization that lobbies for over 43,000 American churches. The campaign features tracts, t-shirts, badges, mugs, etc. and students are being encouraged to participate in the campaign.^[4]

The 15 questions that evolutionists cannot satisfactorily answer

The 15 questions of the Question evolution! campaign, summarized, are:

1. How did life originate? How did life with hundreds of proteins originate just by chemistry without intelligent design?
2. How did the DNA code originate? The code is a sophisticated language system with letters and words where the meaning of the words is unrelated to the chemical properties of the letters—just as the information on this page is not a product of the chemical properties of the ink (or pixels on a screen). What other coding system has existed without intelligent design?
3. How could such errors (mutations) create 3 billion letters of DNA information to change a microbe into a microbiologist? How can scrambling existing DNA information create a new biochemical pathway or nano-machines?
4. Why is natural selection taught as ‘evolution’ as if it explains the origin of the diversity of life?
5. How did new biochemical pathways, which involve multiple enzymes working together in sequence, originate?
6. Living things look like they were designed, so how do evolutionists know that they were not designed? Why should science be restricted to naturalistic causes rather than logical causes?
7. How did multi-cellular life originate?
8. How did sex originate?
9. Why are the (expected) countless millions of transitional fossils missing?
10. How do ‘living fossils’ remain unchanged over supposed hundreds of millions of years?
11. How did blind chemistry create mind/intelligence, meaning, altruism and morality?
12. Why is evolutionary ‘just-so’ story-telling tolerated?
13. Where are the scientific breakthroughs due to evolution? Why do schools and universities teach evolution so dogmatically, stealing time from experimental biology that so benefits humankind?
14. Why is evolution, a theory about history, taught as if it is the same as this operational science?
15. Why is a fundamentally religious idea, a dogmatic belief system that fails to explain the evidence, taught in science classes? If “you can’t teach religion in science classes”, why is evolution taught?

The Question evolution! campaign tract with the expanded questions includes short arguments and/or quotes in support of biblical creation, plus offers links to articles on CMI's website which provide supporting evidence.^[5]

Question evolution! campaign and Texas

See also: Question evolution! campaign and Texas

Texas is a very influential state in the United States when it comes to biology textbooks.^[6] A supporter of Creation Ministries International with a large Christian YouTube audience has declared he is going to aggressively promote the Question evolution! campaign in Texas.^[7]

(graphic obtained from Wikimedia commons, username:Huebi , Title of picture:Map of USA with Texas highlighted, see: license agreement)

The popular Christian YouTube producer, Shockofgod, has vowed to promote the Question evolution! campaign aggressively in the state of Texas due to its large influence on textbooks throughout the United States.^[8] Shockofgod is an ex-atheist and his channel features many anti-atheism videos. His YouTube videos have cumulatively received millions of views since his YouTube channel's inception.

Growing volunteer effort in Texas

On June 20, 2011, Shockofgod said a team of volunteers was going to shortly start calling Texas churches and ask them to get involved in the Question evolution! campaign.^[9] On June 23, 2011, it was announced that the volunteer team would start contacting Texas churches on June 24, 2011.^[10] In addition, a volunteer wrote: "I am so excited. I am going to get the t-shirt, tracts, and walk around my city!"^[11] On July 3, 2011, it was reported that a Question evolution! campaign volunteer contacted about 65 churches in the state of Texas in one week. ^[12] On August 22, 2011, it was reported that 331 Texas churches have been contacted.^[13] In addition, with the beginning of the 2011/2012 school year, key creationist activists are going to be contacted concerning the campaign.^[14]

Texas: Influential state as far as United States biology textbooks

In 2010, the Utne Reader declared, concerning Texas's influence on national textbooks:

Texas is expected to purchase $1 billion in textbooks in 2012-13.^[16]

In addition, Shockofgod has challenged Texas YouTube atheists Matt Dillahunty and AronRa to answer the 15 questions for evolutionists which are featured in the Creation Ministries International's Question evolution! campaign.^[17]

Question evolution group posting about tools to multiply the campaign

See also: Question evolution! group posting about tools to multiply the campaign

On August 31, 2011 a Question evolution campaign posted:

For a listing of tools please see: Multiplying the Question evolution! campaign

Wide coverage planned relating to Christian web properties

On July 9, 2011, Question evolution! campaign supporters declared: ""We have decided to pull out all the stops to advance the Question evolution! campaign. Besides continuing to contact churches in the key biology textbook state of Texas; by the end of September 2011, the major Christian websites, blogs and YouTube channels will be contacted."^[19]

Press coverage to date

• Do you Question evolution? - Messianic Jewish Examiner, Mariano Grinbank

Question evolution! campaign and YouTube

See also: Question evolution! campaign and YouTube

On August 22, 2011, a team of Creation Ministries supporters announced they were going to spread the Question evolution! campaign via YouTube plus encouraged Christians and churches to launch pro-creation YouTube channels.^[20] In addition, the campaign supporters provided resources on how to grow a YouTube channel.^[21]

The popular YouTube channels Shockofgod, PPsimmons and Since33AD have endorsed the Question evolution campaign.

Currently, three of the more popular videos relating to the Question evolution! campaign are:

• QUESTION EVOLUTION! Worldwide Campaign! JOIN US! by the PPsimmons YouTube channel

• My challenge to evolutionists and atheists

• The Question Evolution Campaign - Come see!

On July 3, 2011, it was announced that an effort to advance Creation Ministries International's Question evolution! campaign in the United Kingdom is going to start within a week. ^[22] A team of grassroots volunteers indicated that it is important to advance the anti-evolution campaign in the UK since England is the birthplace of Darwinism.^[23] The Question evolution! campaign is a worldwide campaign.

Report about a South African university and the campaign

Creation Ministries International has reported that a South African university science lecturer declared that he is posting the 15 questions of the Question evolution! campaign on his office door which is right by the break room.^[24]

Question evolution! campaign and the United Kingdom

See also: Question evolution! campaign and the United Kingdom

Creation Ministries International has an arm of its organization in the United Kingdom called CMI-UK.^[25] On July 3, 2011, it was announced that an effort to advance Creation Ministries International's Question evolution! campaign in the United Kingdom is going to start within a week. ^[26] A team of grassroots volunteers indicated that it is important to advance this anti-evolution campaign in the UK since England is the birthplace of Darwinism.^[27] As indicated earlier, the Question evolution! campaign is a worldwide campaign.

Related anti-evolution efforts at the time of the question evolution campaign

In 2011 the results of a study were published indicating that most United States high school biology teachers are reluctant to endorse the theory of evolution in class. ^[28] At the time of the question evolution campaign, other creationists plus intelligent design proponents were engaged in legislative actions encouraging students to examine the evolutionary paradigm in a critical way. In 2011, eight anti-evolution bills were introduced into United States state legislatures encouraging students to employ critical thinking skills when examining the evolutionary paradigm. In 2009, there were seven states which required critical analysis skills to be employed when examining evolutionary material within schools.^[29]

See also

• Evolution
• Atheism
• Atheist Population

External links

• Question Evolution! by Creation Ministries International
• 15 Questions that evolutionist cannot answer
• Question Evolution! - YouTube video
• Question Evolution! Campaign webpage for Traditional Values Coalition

Notes