What kind of world?

Gary Ablett was probably not well known outside of Australia but today that all changed, although I am not convinced he would be thoroughly pleased with the reputation he has rightly earned.

“Today, our newspapers, televisions and computer screens are full of shocking and horrible crimes, detailing a very serious decline in morals and values in our community.” – Gary Ablett

Up until today Mr. Ablett was known for not being too bad at chasing inflated balls of animal skin round a patch of grass, being a drug addict, suffering from depression, beating people who have the unfortunate privilege of sitting next to his wife, giving a 19 year old girls heroin in his hotel room (she later died), and being assaulted by a man who later jumped from a Melbourne high rise apartment block the day before he was due in court to defend himself.  Convenient.

Gary sounds like the perfect character to seek religious, social, and moral advice from, which is exactly what the Herald Sun did.  So where does Gary gain his impeccable behaviour? The Bible of course!

“We are a nation that was originally founded upon the word of God and established on the authority of biblical truth.” – Gary Ablett

No Gary, you’re completely wrong. Regardless of what the individuals who wrote our Constitution actually believed, what they enshrined in Australia’s foundational document ensures no religion shall be established or prohibited. This is at variation to many Christian faiths which honestly believe those without the faith are destined for an eternity in Hell.

“The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion…” – Australian Constitution, Section 116

This clause was explicitly placed there to separate church and state within our great country, and exclude matters of theology and metaphysics influencing public policy.  Mr. Ablett seems to think differently:

“However, over recent years we have shifted further and further away from the inclusion of anything godly in our planning, decision-making and policy-setting …” – Gary Ablett

Perhaps Mr. Ablett thinks we should be consulting the Bible on how much to charge for our slaves, or how much we can beat them? Perhaps rapist should be forced to marry their victims after the appropriate fee has been paid to the father, or we should ban all seafood, mixed fibre clothing, and stone those who work on the Sabbath or commit adultery? These are all “godly decisions” and “fabulous public policy” according to the Bible.

Also, despite obviously not going to the Global Atheist Conference, Gary feels perfectly qualified to state that:

“Richard Dawkins, a renowned atheist, gave a message entitled, ‘From goo to you through the zoo’.”

No he didn’t, but I would not for a second believe facts to get in Gary’s way. He’s on a mission from God, you see.

His piece (which has been revealed as being largely stolen from another) proudly shouts his ignorance of evolutionary theory with such gems as “we descended from apes” (we are apes), Charles Darwin had “no hard data” (to spite highly scrutinising animal breeding, comparative anatomy, and the fossil record), and the fossil record does not support evolution (even though they clearly change over time), all while openly confessing “to being no scientist”.  Got that right.  Try reading more than one book, mate.

“Let’s take another example. Evolution teaches that matter plus energy (light or heat) plus time equals biogenesis, the cause of new life.” – Gary Ablett

It’s no wonder Mr. Ablett think’s evolution bunk as he believes it states peanut butter will spontaneously spring new life. Sorry to tell you Gary, but the hypothesis of spontaneous generation was falsified over 100 years ago. Way to keep up with modern science and knowledge.

Mr. Ablett goes on to wonder at the universe and conclude God.  Unfortunately, he has slipped into the all too common trap of observing the natural world’s incredibly complex, subtle intricacies, and beautiful workings cannot have arisen “by chance”.  Such wonders can understandably lead people to conclude that a grand designer was responsible, so we should all believe in virgin births, flying zombies, and crackers can magically turn into Jesus flesh. Or something.

Not withstanding, even if the complexity of the universe is adequately explained by a designer, then one must be intellectually honest enough to apply the exact same logic to the creator. Complexity is not solved by adding even more complexity.  God is the ultimate Boeing 747.

“Darwinism cannot explain the origin of life because it cannot explain the origin of information.” – Gary Ablett

No Gary. “Darwinism” (whatever that is) does not even attempt to explain the origins of life, just as the theory of gravity does not explain where it came from. You mind has been so poisoned by the one answer you do have (god done did it) that you think all answers apply to everything.  Just what kind of world does Gary live in?

Perhaps Mr. Ablett should stick to chasing balls around and leave the thinking to those better equipped?

References

Herald Sun article

If Gary Ablett is the product of intelligent design, I’ll be a monkeys uncle.