Congressman draws fire for calling
evolution, Big Bang ‘lies from the pit of hell’
Dan Gilgoff ("CNN," October 10, 2012)
Washington, USA – A U.S. congressman is attracting
attention and criticism for an online video that shows him
blasting evolution and the Big Bang theory as “lies from the
pit of hell” in a recent speech at a church event in his
home state of Georgia.
“All that stuff I was taught about evolution, embryology,
the Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit
of hell,” U.S Rep. Paul Broun said in an address last month
at a banquet organized by Liberty Baptist Church in
Hartwell, Georgia. “And it’s lies to try to keep me and all
the folks who were taught that from understanding that they
need a savior.”
Broun, a medical doctor by training, serves on the House
Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
Speaking at Liberty Baptist Church’s Sportsman’s Banquet on
September 27, he said that “a lot of scientific data that
I’ve found out as a scientist that actually show that this
is really a young Earth.”
“I don’t believe that the Earth’s but about 9,000 years
old,” Broun said in the speech, which Liberty Baptist Church
posted on its website via YouTube. “I believe it was created
in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says."
Scientists say that the Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years
old and that the universe dates back 13.7 billion years.
In his speech to the church group, Broun called the Bible
the “the manufacturer’s handbook. … It teaches us how to run
all of public policy and everything in our society.”
“That’s the reason, as your congressman, I hold the holy
Bible as being the major directions to me of how I vote in
Washington, D.C., and I’ll continue to do that,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the congressman, Meredith Griffanti, said
that Broun was not available for comment on Wednesday and
that the video showed him “speaking off the record to a
large church group about his personal beliefs regarding
religious issues.”
The congressman’s remarks about science have drawn
attention online, with critics taking aim at his role on the
science committee.
Bill Nye, the popular science personality, told the
Huffington Post in an e-mail that "Since the economic future
of the United States depends on our tradition of
technological innovation, Representative Broun's views are
not in the national interest."
"For example, the Earth is simply not 9,000 years old,"
said Nye, a mechanical engineer and television personality
best known for his program "Bill Nye the Science Guy." Broun
"is, by any measure, unqualified to make decisions about
science, space, and technology."
Talking Points Memo reported on the church video over the
weekend after being tipped off by the Bridge Project, a
progressive group that tracks conservative activity.
Most creationists believe in the account of the origins of
the world as told in the Book of Genesis, the first book of
the Bible.
CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest
stories
In the creation account, God creates Adam and Eve, the
world and everything in it in six days.
For Christians who read the Genesis account literally, or
authoritatively as they would say, the six days in the
account are literal 24-hour periods and leave no room for
evolution. Young Earth creationists use this construct and
biblical genealogies to determine the age of the Earth and
typically come up with 6,000 to 10,000 years.
The Gallup Poll has been tracking Americans' views on
creation and evolution for 30 years. In June, it released
its latest findings, which showed that 46% of Americans
believed in creationism, 32% believed in evolution guided by
God, and 15% believed in atheistic evolution.
