Man rides dinosaur - "Unbelievable Fun"

I own this cool shirt about Young Earth Creationism. I think it is fantastic for the volumes it speaks to those who know what they are looking at.

To anyone with a basic science literacy it is fun and rather silly, but I contend that Christians should wear this shirt with pride.

Faith is supposedly a virtue (a position on which I take the opposite stance). Dinosaurs existed and it is pretty hard to dispute this fact.  But creationists who believe the Earth (and universe!) to be only 6000 years old ignore the mounds of scientific evidence showing just how old dinosaurs are. It must take a lot faith to overlook the fossil record.  And when other evidence for an Earth much older than this is available, the levels of faith required to deny it climb higher still.

Having faith to flagrantly ignore scientific evidence bestows astounding amounts of virtue towards the creation myth believer. Some wear it as a badge of honor.

To me, this shirt says that through faith in Jesus Christ you can believe that the Earth is only 6000 years old, despite the existence of dinosaurs. Jesus defeats science.

Of course dinosaur fossils are just one aspect this faith is defeating.  Let's not ignore:

• Other fossils;
• Continental drift;
• Glacial layering;
• Stalactites;
• Evolution;
• Stars, galaxies, the cosmos;
• Tree ring chronology (up to 11,000 years in some places);
• Radioactive isotopes;
• Asteroid craters;
• Coral reefs (for both reef development and slowing Earth rotation evidence);
• Erosion;
• Diamonds, oil, petrified wood.

There are many more scientifically proven examples of why the Earth is much greater than 6000 years old and I encourage everyone to read up about them.

Sadly, the most important things being defeated here are truth, knowledge and rational thought. The same trio defeated many time over in religious texts.

Each of the items in the above list are true whether you believe them or not.

I stated that I do not believe faith to be virtuous.  Faith is blinding. Faith encourages ignorance. Having faith means that you can look a dinosaur squarely in the eye socket and say it either doesn't exist or man once roamed the Earth with it. The stronger the evidence, the greater the faith required to deny it and the greater the "virtue" bestowed on that person. From a rational standpoint you could say that greater faith breeds greater ignorance.

It has been my experience that belief in God is not a decision arrived at based on facts, knowledge or rational thought. It is an emotional decision. And emotions are very good at clouding rational thought.

Faith is belief despite evidence, not belief as a result of evidence.

Regardless, as an Atheist, I love the shirt. And I hope that Christians do too.  We can both wear it and share a little smile when we pass in the street.