Students gathered at the UCen and later the Arbor from 12:30 to 6 p.m. as preacher and founder of the Whitefield Fellowship Keith Darrell debated students on a number of topics such as evolution, the laws of nature and inductive reasoning.
Darrell, who preaches on college campuses daily with the goal of “proclaiming the glory of God,” condemned evolution, with a sign stating “evolution is a lie” while various students and Isla Vista residents stepped up to present counterarguments. Many students criticized him for his anti-scientific views and debate tactics, while others thanked him for being receptive of their arguments.
Paul Warden, a teaching assistant with the history department, said he initially attended Darrell’s discussion to observe a potentially informed debate, but instead wound up contributing after disagreeing with statements Darrell made about “Christians as a minority.”
“By himself he’s just a man shouting, but when he gets a crowd around him, he gets a forum,” Warden said. “That’s okay, except it got to the point where it became clear that he was arguing circularly … I felt that somebody needed to call attention to the fact that he’s … not conducting himself in a way that is academic or that inspires real discussion.”
First-year psychology major Luis Narvaez said he listened to the debate, because he was interested in hearing what Darrell had to say in light of his own religious views.
“I feel like he’s making a fool out of himself, which is also why I’m standing here,” Narvaez said. “You are talking to a bunch of college students and people are, like, evolutionary ecology majors and stuff. So it’s like you’re telling them that everything they are being taught here is a lie, so it’s, like, how are you going to defend yourself in that perspective?”
A second-year math and physics major, who preferred to not be identified, said that while he does not mind individuals like Darrell coming to campus to preach their religious views, he felt the need to challenge Darrell to make students aware of the flaws he saw in Darrell’s reasoning.
“I take serious issue with his denial of science and his sign that says evolution is a lie,” the student said. “I am a science major, and I work my ass off to understand these things. This guy comes up, and he obviously has very little understanding of the topic on which he’s pontificating, I take serious issue with that and I want to challenge him on that.”
Photos by John Clow / Daily Nexus
This story appeared as an online exclusive on Thursday, March 13, 2014.
Gotta wonder about the Nexus editors these days. They completely ignored Monday’s story about how a feminist professor allegedly criminally attacked a pro-life protester, stole/destroyed her poster, and tried to incite a group of her students to take the posters too. Instead, of important but very PIC free speech related stories, we have this PC puff piece about a preacher.
Shortly after your post the Nexus (in response?) Published a watered down version of what all the other media are reporting about the incident.
Hilarious. It’s nationwide news now on FOX and other conservative outlets but nary a story from the faux-liberal side of the lame stream media. Gotta wonder about these totalitarian goons on the left. Had this story been reversed, with some pro-lifer daring to attack a pompous feminist professor or to steal/destroy fascist feminist signs, we have had a serious national crisis worth hyperventilating hysterically for weeks about.
First of all, as to whether evolution is a lie, that would depend on what your definition of evolution is. Nobody questions speciation or change within a species or kind (dog kind, cat kind),the only thing being questioned is change beyond the species or kind level. Since both sides agree with change within the species level, should it even be defined as evolution? Now let’s define “species.” A different species of finch is still a finch, nobody questions that either. I know most evolutionists hate the terms micro and macro evolution, but those terms accurately define the debate. The second-year… Read more »
I completely agree Dr. Edgeworth! Not nearly enough people are bold enough to question what the evangelical, militant, heretical, liberal atheists are pushing. We came from monkeys!?!? Ha! Show me; show me the evidence. Show me the fossil record! They can’t. There are gaps. Oh then they fill those gaps in they say, but wait, then there are two gaps for every one gap they almost closed!!!! HAHAHA they can’t seem to get their act together. Speaking of fighting the man, I think not just biology is in need of a diversity of opinion. Ever hear about the perfectly scientific… Read more »
Smart move Liam. If you don’t have an intelligent answer for any of the three questions, just call him a name and say a bunch of stupid stuff. Brilliant!
Hello, Mr. Edgeworth. My name is KC, and I’m the second-year math and physics major referred to in the article. I realize that you call yourself “Dr,” but because I as yet can find no record of you ever having received a PhD from any accredited university in any subject, I will, for the purposes of this response, refer to you as “Mr.” I don’t mean this condescendingly, of course- your insistence at being called “Dr” is perfectly understandable, as most people who have no substance to their arguments prefer to argue from authority rather than from merit. From your… Read more »
You are right KC, I have no earned degree, it is honorary. I use the title out of respect and gratitude for the men with earned PhDs who bestowed it upon me a number of years ago. You may call me “Mr.” or “Coach,” that would be fine. It actually reflects more on you than it does me. I never worked for an organization called “Creation Science Evangelism,” Creation Science Evangelism was the title given for what I do in churches and schools. So you wasted a lot of time on that one, as it does not apply to me.… Read more »
Hello again Coach, Just out of curiosity, I’d like to know where you got your honorary degree. Now to begin, you have essentially posted the same laundry list of items that creationists have been attempting to pass off for years in their attempt to vandalize scientific knowledge, and as I have dealt with this issue extensively for a number of years, I am quite familiar with this list and why it may as well be printed on toilet paper. Before we get to that list, however, let’s get back to why you don’t understand the scientific method. When I brought… Read more »
I suspect you want the names and place I was given an honorary degree from so you can attack their credibility in some way. If I was dealing with someone that had more character I might tell you. But judging from how you have conducted yourself so far, not a chance. You stated: “Science is not a matter of collecting data and interpreting in a way to support your presuppositions;” that is a pretty good summary of what evolutionists do. You stated: “you went on at length in describing the complexity of the human body and then, out of hand,… Read more »
Hello again, I find it somewhat ironic that you berate MY conduct when you have undeservedly adopted the title of “Dr,” presumably in an attempt to bolster your credibility. I have a deep and abiding respect for the people who actually earned their diplomas, and have an equal amount of malice and disrespect to the snake-oil salesmen who stand upon pedestals of academic superiority on which they alone have placed themselves. So if my tone seems overly belligerent, it is not because of your beliefs, but because of your commitment to a title that you did not earn. My suspicions… Read more »
Why didn’t you quote the whole verse KC? “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” We’re not talking about a chapter, just one verse. Goodbye Kc. Have a nice eternity.
Are you dim? I’d preceded that verse with a discussion on quote mining and why it’s unethical. Let me break it down for you, Coach: taking a portion of a quote while leaving out the rest in order to form a case that is diametrically opposed to the intent of the original quoter, as you’ve done several times throughout this exchange, is dishonest. I was illustrating this by using your own Bible as an example. Look up what “quote mining” means, as you evidently don’t understand what that is either.
Hey Stan, I agree with you in principle. I just want to clarify that I am under no illusion that anything that I can say will get through to Coach Edgeworth, as he has essentially dedicated his professional life to preaching his views to children in churches and home schools. He is way too far gone to be reached by anybody other than himself, and I hold out very little hope that he will ever manage to remove his head from the comfortable confines of its current resting place. That being said, I want to nonetheless challenge him on his… Read more »
Ran out of room for replies for that other post so I’ll respond in this one. I understood what you were trying to do KC by quoting that verse of scripture, and you made a good point. Quotes can be taken out of context. I need to be more careful with that. I just thought it a bit ironic you chose a verse that said the fool has said in his heart there is no God. I guess “fools” have their national holiday coming up on April 1st. You stated in another post that your purpose was not to convince… Read more »
I don’t understand the issue with this forum. Everyone is granted the same opportunity for comment, deleting or otherwise censoring “illegitimate” comments falsely weeds out some often widespread albeit ridiculous views. Lucid arguments stand on their own merit, especially those involved less with semantics and rely more on factual information. I learn some things, that’s the beauty of a forum anyone can read.
I was reading your previous comment questioning “restrictions,” and from what I can tell there are none here because I see a lot of gibberish on Nexus articles.And then I was questioning how any of this grants “legitimacy to their irrational stance,” though perhaps you mean engaging in conversation with them… my misinterpretation