On Thursday, some religious group from off campus visits our main campus building and sets up a table promoting their religion and other goodies. Well, just like last time when I saw them, they had their evolution/creationism display set up.
It was a little different this time, but had the same general look to it. It had "Evolution?" on one side of the bulletin board, and the other had "Creationism?" with the word "or" in the middle of the two. Underneath each word was a picture. Under the evolution side, they had a tree with several monkeys swinging from it while other primates were eating bananas. On the other side was a picture of Jesus, smiling while holding a bible. The display was set up so that you could lift the pictures up and read what was under the cards.
The last time I didn't bother lifting the cards up to read what was underneath because I assumed I knew what was under them. But this time, I was curious about what they have on them, plus my dinner wasn't ready yet, so I decided to take a peek after one of the ladies said "hello" to me.
Under the evolution picture was basically what I thought it would say. Here's what it read under the monkey picture:
Continue reading
Evolution is a lie perpetrated by the non-believers of our good Lord. You did not descend from a monkey. To see where you came from, look under other picture.Are you so sure about that? Here's what it said underneath the Jesus picture:
You, like all other humans, were created when our good Lord created the universe 6,000 years. To learn more about this and evolution myths, ask us about how you can serve Jesus.I tried really hard not to burst out laughing. Being an atheist, I just found it funny and it showed in my body language.
As I was reading, the two women sitting behind the table looking at me, probably waiting for a reaction from me. I turned toward them and shook my head no. They assumed that I was shaking my head about agreeing with their display, but the two of them were a little shocked when I told them that the creationism message was a lie. They proceeded to rattle off every argument they could think of in the next 10 seconds about how evolution was wrong/biologists were in denial, etc.
After hearing the crap spewing out of them, I simply told them that I was "100% confident in evolution and no amount of crap would change my thoughts". Like most religious people, they kept pressing for me to repent my sins and be saved by the lord. The look on their face was priceless when I told them "there was no god". After that, I decided to hit the road and grab my dinner.
They were still talking to me about converting to Christianity as I walked away, but I ignored their pleas. I grabbed my food, sat down and chowed down.
Fast forward to twenty minutes later. After finishing my food off, I felt the desire to walk past their table one last time. As I expected, when they saw me, they stared at me with the 'evil eye'. I flashed them a fake grin and left the building.
Lessons and impressions I got from the religion table that day:
1. They need me to convert to religion, I don't need them to convert to believing evolution. If they get no more people to join their group, their religion would eventually die. On the other hand, when dealing with evolution, every single person could stop believing in it but the fact would remain that evolution would still be true. Scientific principles do not disappear if no one believes in them (the earth was not the center of the universe, no matter how much people believed it was back then).
2. They measure their successes on how many people they can fool on the evolution/creationism situation. They didn't get me, so they lost. I feel good about that one.
3. They depend on these tables to try and bring you in. Simply asking to accept Christianity doesn't cut it these days. They know they are losing, so they have to resort to the table displays and bulletin boards.
I'm sure in a couple of weeks, the group will set up another display, with stacks of pamphlets and other small items, trying to bring others into their religion. I can't wait to encounter them again...
Visit "Wolverine Tom".
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