Ph.Ds are like tattoos, they are designed to be permanent. But Ph.Ds, like tattoos, are sometimes a really bad idea and should be removed no matter how painful the process.
The reasons for seeking tattoo removal are obvious, but why would a Ph.D need to be removed? How about if the owner of a Ph.D has demonstrably shown themselves to be a dumb as a bag of hammers? That seems like a good reason to me.
Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D. is someone that I believe that meets the hammer criteria for Ph.D removal. His continued use of these letters is an affront to all non-hammer-dumb Ph.Ds everywhere and I have the proof.
Michael Zimmerman, Ph.D. writes an embarrassing post over at the Huffington Post. Zimmerman writes a piece entitles “Rick Santorum: Heed the Teachings of Your Church.”
Follow the logic. Senator Rick Santorum wrote a column last year in which he likened the global warming ideology to that which manifests itself with evolution. He also wrote a column in which he said that Catholics must heed Catholic teaching, a crazy concept.
In an embarrassing “A HA!” moment akin to Geraldo and Al Capone’s vault, Zimmerman proudly declares Santorum to be a hypocrite. After citing a few comments by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Pope Benedict’s comment that evolution is ‘more than a hypothesis’ Zimmerman leaps to the laughably absurd conclusion that evolution is thus a formal teaching of the Catholic Church. And since a Catholic must heed the teachings of the Church, RICK SANTORUM IS A HYPOCRITE!
Like I said, dumb as a bag of hammers. First it should be noted that Senator Santorum never denied evloution as Zimmerman Ph.D would have you believe. He simply stated that there are problems with the theory as many understand it and he noted,correctly, that to point this out is often considered heresy by radical Darwinists. This, he noted, is similar behavior we see with global warming adherents. Accept the theory on faith and filter the evidence as needed.
That said, how can someone with a Ph.D after their name be so dumb as to extrapolate a few non-binding comments by low Vatican officials and the Pope that indicate openness to aspects of the theory (while still outright rejecting others by the way) as the official teaching of the Church in favor of evolution? One must be either completely disingenuous or very very dumb.
Catholics are free to believe in aspects of evolutionary theory and they are also free to reject it. By no ridiculous stretch of the imagination is evolution a teaching of the Church. Zimmerman concludes his absurd Gotcha! with this….
All I can say is, Mr. Santorum, your rejection of the church’s teaching on evolution falls into a different category. It’s a deliberate and obstinate act of the will; a conscious decision that you’ve reaffirmed on many occasions.
Shame on you.
Ph.Dumb.
March 9, 2010 at 4:22 am
You criticism is valid in that his end quote makes it sound like the teaching belongs to the Church…. but seriously, only crazy evangelicals(and Santorum) deny and distort the science behind evolution. Catholics should not be disagreeing with it from a theological point of view because its comparing apples to oranges. If you want to disagree with it from a scientific point of view ok…. but perhaps that should be left to scientists. The problem is how people apply the science theologically, which gets ridiculous. Science is not something where everybody gets a vote. You have to be educated in it first.
March 9, 2010 at 12:00 pm
I have a PhD in a "hard science" field and I can assure you that I have met more than my share of utterly dumb PhD holders that make you wonder how on earth they even managed to get into graduate school. Unfortunately, logic and reasoning skills are not requisites in most PhD programs.
March 9, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Wait…doesn't the U.S. Catechism explicitly say that belief in evolution is NOT required?
March 9, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I'm reminded of the old joke about PhD: stands for "Piled high and Deep."
March 9, 2010 at 7:55 pm
although give Zimmerman his due: it was indeed Pope John Paul II (and not Pope Benedict XVI) who said that evolution was 'more than a hypothesis'.
March 10, 2010 at 12:23 am
A little on the side but, the HuffPost has a Facebook page with 18,000+ fans. If you become a "fan" you can post on their wall and reach their liberal base with our take on things. More at http://divine-ripples.blogspot.com/2010/03/go-therefore-into-liberal-web-sites-and.html (excuse the plug)