Bad Creationism: The Argument From X-Men


There’s a movie (science fiction)
And it holds a contradiction
To the theory (that’s a “hunch”) of evolution
See, the mutants (they’re the heroes)
Should, by rights, be less-than-zeroes
Since mutation (as I see it) is pollution!

Every living thing is fading—
Not evolving, but degrading—
Evolution would have figured out a plan!
Just a chuckle! Just a chortle!
We’d evolve to be immortal!
So it couldn’t be the path to mortal Man!

So, in my interpretation
This new film supports creation
Cos mutation, as I see it, makes things worse
So this cinematic feature
Is no evolution-teacher
Cos it just ends up supporting the reverse!

Just when I thought there were no new creationist arguments, along comes the argument from X-Men. Alas, yes, this is old vinegar in new bottles, and starts out in familiar fashion:

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is just that, a theory (i.e., an unproved assumption or conjecture). It’s definitely not based on facts and can hardly be construed as real science.

It was a misguided effort by a curious mind that has been kept relevant mostly by those who wish to believe that there is no God so they can go on living in sin and thereby evade all accountability to their Maker. After all, if they are descended from animals, they can go on acting like them.

But this one manages to take the flawed argument from entropy, and deduce from the fact that we all do not have Wolverine’s mutant healing power, evolution must be wrong. Seriously:

Every living organism – including humans – is in a constant state of degradation or deterioration not evolution. From the moment something comes to be, it already is dying and will eventually die.

The entire living organic system is in a constant fight for survival. Unfortunately, there is nothing in its intrinsic composition powerful enough that would enable it to suppress the inevitable and fateful pull toward its own dissolution or death.

Otherwise, it would divert all of its energy into overcoming said fate by ‘evolving’ out of it, exactly like X-Men’s Wolverine manages to do. Why? Because the survival instinct is the most dominant one. Said evolving characteristic – if it were possible – would in turn be uniformly present in all of creation and entropy would be nothing but a bad memory.

There is much more bad “science” there–some of it has to be seen to be believed (especially a series of pictures!). I wrote a comment, but so far it has not been approved. Hey, only 2 comments, and 2 replies, are there at all (but as of this writing, it has been shared on twitter 131 times!), so comments might not be a big deal for them. Anyway, I’ll reproduce it here:

You misrepresent the theory of evolution from your very first sentence, and continue to misrepresent it throughout your piece. Have you actually ever read any books on evolutionary biology?

My pastor used to encourage me to find the best evidence available, and to challenge my faith whenever necessary; he firmly believed the bible would withstand any challenges–as God’s word, how could it disagree with God’s work (the earth)? Denying the scientific evidence behind the theory of evolution (and please, look up the scientific definition of “theory”; your first sentence uses the wrong definition, a mistake I would not expect from a grade-school essay) would be, to my pastor, accusing God of dishonesty.

Likewise, your discussion of entropy employs a definition wholly inappropriate for a discussion of evolution. Using a dictionary definition (again, a grade school move) rather than a scientific source allows you to make your argument, but at the cost of lying to your readers.

The X-Men movies are not supposed to support or refute evolution. They are movies based on comic books. They are not supposed to be supported by peer-reviewed evidence (like the libraries full of stuff that actually supports the theory of evolution), nor are they supposed to be the word of God (which tells you not to bear false witness).

Full disclosure–my pastor is one of the people I respect most in my life, but his encouragement to constantly tests my beliefs is what began a path that ultimately led, decades ago, to my atheism.

Comments

  1. says

    Tried to comment there – denied! I emailed the webmaster who agreed, provisionally, to print my argument if I kept hate of creationist stupidity out of it.

  2. fusilier says

    Mentioned this on pharyngula:

    15 or so years ago on CARM, Helen Fryman (now married to Barry Setterfield of _c_decay infamy) linkied to one of the X-men movie websites in support of “mutations are degeneration.”

    Nothing new under the sun.

    fusilier
    James 2:24

  3. Chris Tygesen says

    Yeah, the taunting challenge “prove me wrong, I dare ya!” coupled with total moderation of the comments, where the opposing views are supposed to appear, makes me think that people like the Biblicism Institute aren’t actually doing shit like this to challenge unbelievers, but to police their own.

  4. says

    re: It was a misguided effort by a curious mind that has been kept relevant mostly by those who wish to believe that there is no God so they can go on living in sin and thereby evade all accountability to their Maker.

    Actually I don’t believe in God so there is accountability. Fatwah, Holy War, inquisitions, get away with it because they think there is a tabula rasa deity who will clear away their violence. I don’t believe in a clean slate when someone goes around terrorizing others. My life is much harder not believing in God, because I know at the end of the day the only person who is responsible for my actions is me.

    standing myself up
    why didn’t I comprehend
    no one sees but me

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