I first noticed Kevin’s display at the Farmers’ Market in downtown Madison in the spring of 2009. Kevin was standing next to his display and attempting to start up conversations with passersby. He had literature in his hand he tried to give them, but few would take it and most would avert their eyes and hurry by.
I watched for a bit as a few people engaged him, but it was a few weekends later before I took a closer look at his display. The box is made of pieces of Styrofoam with pictures and text pasted to them. An informed student of creationism would recognize the statements in the little cartoons as well-known, long-refuted, common claims purporting a 6,000 year old earth and denying evolution. Kevin had also included claims by federal prison inmate Kent Hovind.
Kevin struck up a conversation and the first thing I asked him was what percentage of practicing geologists thought the earth was only 6,000 years old. “About forty percent,” he replied. I was surprised he wouldn’t know that evolution is overwhelming accepted in the scientific community. I asked Kevin to check into his claim for himself, but he never has. In fact, Kevin has never researched any of the topics we’ve discussed even though he is at the farmers’ market every weekend, puts considerable time and effort into his display, and won’t say how far he drives every Saturday to the square. Every weekend Kevin spends hours asking anyone who will allow him, “Where did the first cell come from?”, and yet when pressed admits he has not once read any of the literature regarding origin of life research.
Larry now accompanies Kevin to the square every weekend, and is far more vocal and aggressive in his advocacy of creationism. He engages people with enthusiasm on any topic related to evolution and believes himself extremely well-informed. However, his knowledge of the actual science goes no deeper than the claims on the box, and since all his information comes from sources like AiG and the ICR, he endlessly spouts misinformation and junk science.
On this site I’ll repost my previous encounters with Kevin and Larry, and the claims they’ve made that I’ve researched. This will be an ongoing, long-term document of regular public interactions with creationists, and fact-checking their claims.
Read my first post debunking their material.
Stay tuned for the fun!