Could we keep things in perspective? Please???

Enough already. Enough!

If I hear one more "So and so are like the Nazis" I'm gonna ....... engage in my own hyperbole.

Seriously, do you know how stupid, and uniformed you sound when you say healthcare, or gun control laws are like the Nazis? You sound ignorant. To be fair I will tell you what are acceptable things to say are "like the Nazis.:

1) The Nazis

That's the list. All of it. The whole enchilada. The kit and kaboodle. Unless your store windows are being broken, and your business shuttered because of your faith, or descendants you can't compare current affairs to the Nazis. Unless you have to produce identification papers to ride the goddamned bus, what's happening isn't remotely close to what happened under the Nazis in the 1930s and 40s. Unless there's a suspicious new camp erected near your town by the railroad, and you don't recall there being much activity related to hiring people to work there - what's happening isn't anywhere near what happened in eastern Germany, and Poland in the 1940s. Nobody. Let me repeat, nobody, no group, no party is like the Nazis. Not even remotely so.

So stop. Stop it. Stop being historically illiterate, and ignorant.

While we're at it let's address another bit of historical hyperbole that has become in vogue lately when it comes to debate, ahem "debate." Comparisons to Stalin and Mao. Again, to be fair, there are acceptable comparisons to Stalin and Mao,

1) Stalin
2) Mao

I know, it's a list that's twice as long. Still, it's short enough to quickly commit to memory. When the political parties in your country take political opponents, put them on trains to work camps you can say they're just like Stalin or Mao. When their writings are made illegal, burned, and printers penalized for producing them, you can compare them to Stalin and Mao. Till then you need to find a more apt comparison. Political bullies are not in short supply, and they come in varieties across the political spectrum.

Please, apply some sense of perspective.

Creationism - not science

Much was made this week of the debate between Bill Nye (of "The Science Guy" fame), and Ken Ham who runs the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

I did not watch the debate, but I did follow the reactions to it online. It did not seem to change anybody's mind. Those on either side of this ideological fence appeared to stay on their respective sides, and each side advanced the notion that "their guy" carried the day. Whatever.

I don't know if these questions are typical of the "Creationism as science" movements, but I do feel confident saying most of them are philosophical in nature. And therein lies the point. Creationism is not science because "God did it" is, regardless of your personal faith, an unobservable, untestable, and experimentally unrepeatable hypothesis. That is the one thing that is common is all varieties of sciences.

As to the questions posed by creationists in the link above, I found some pretty cool questions in reply. I also have my own to some. This would be needlessly long I did all 22.

1) “Bill Nye, are you influencing the minds of children in a positive way?”
Learning to use the scientific method helped us cure disease, fly, go to the moon. Teaching that is astoundingly positive.

2) “Are you scared of a Divine Creator?”
If I were an atheist I would say "No. There's nothing to be afraid of." If I were a Christian I would say "No. God has unconditional love for me."

3) “Is it completely illogical that the Earth was created mature? i.e. trees created with rings … Adam created as an adult ....”
It's not illogical at all. It does have a low degree of probability. Probability is a pretty important part of scientific method. Statistical analysis of experimental data helps us predict outcomes in future experiments, or real world application. It's philosophically logical that the universe was created as it is now yesterday by a divinity with endless power, and all memories we have were planted there by said divinity. It is also highly unlikely. 

5) “How do you explain a sunset if their [sic] is no God?” 
Really? The Earth orbits the Sun, and therefore the Sun is in a fixed position relative to Earth. Earth rotates on its axis. When the part of Earth you are on approaches the position where the Sun will become no longer visible - sunset.

8) “Where do you derive objective meaning in life?”
Meaning in life is completely subjective. This is a decidedly un-scientific question. Meaning? Try art, literature, music, science. Meaning is everywhere, and different to each of us. 

20) “How can you look at the world and not believe someone created/thought of it? It’s amazing!!!” 
It is amazing. Understanding things outside of religious dogma doesn't make them less amazing. I find the fact that the molecules in my body are more empty space than actual matter, and that those molecules are made of the same sub-atomic matter as stars, is utterly amazing.

22) “If we came from monkeys then why are there still monkeys?”
Evolutionary theory holds that humans and other apes evolved from a common ancestor, not that humans evolved from monkeys.

As to the origins of man, you are free to believe what you choose. You may even cull that from religious dogma and call it truth. What you can't do is call it science, and insist it belongs in school science curriculum.