I was pleasantly surprised by this piece. It's so banal to make fun of young earth creationists. When people like Bill Maher start on that path, I turn the channel. But this piece had something more interesting, which is it's attempt to understand why these people exist, despite all evidence of them being factually incorrect. I found this quote very enlightening: "if Genesis is mythology, then you can justify any behavior you want."

The Catholics (and not just the hierarchy, but the common people themselves) were some of the biggest supporters of fascism in Europe before, during, and even after WWII. Maybe devout religion is a cry for a moral authority in the face of a more and more relativistic world. I remember reading about how the fundamentalists are producing math textbooks that eschew Goedel, because his theories imply that even mathematics can offer no absolutes. So what's the way to reach people who need a dictator in their lives? How to educate those who prefer not to be? Is it even worth trying? Perhaps if we leave them alone, their shrinking political clout will eventually just fade into nothing. Part of me thinks that when Bill Nye debates Ham in public that all he's doing is legitimizing Ham's position, and anyway we're all in on the joke, but it's just not that funny anymore.