# It's official - you have to be more ignorant than Pat Robertson to be a young-earth creationist **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 13, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388 "2014-05-13T23:36:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/1 "2014-05-13T23:36:57Z")
[http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-says-you-have-be-deaf-dumb-and-blind-believe-young-earth-creationism](http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-says-you-have-be-deaf-dumb-and-blind-believe-young-earth-creationism) > [@](#): > > “You have to be deaf, dumb and blind to think that this Earth that we live in only has 6,000 years of existence, it just doesn’t, I’m sorry.” > > “To deny the clear record that’s there before us makes us looks silly,” he said. “There’s no way that all this that you have here took place in 6,000 years, it just couldn’t have been done, couldn’t possibly have been done.” Progress, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/2 "2014-05-13T23:55:13Z")
His beliefs have evolved? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/3 "2014-05-14T00:13:52Z")
Clearly, Pat just isn’t a True Christian. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/4 "2014-05-14T00:40:43Z")
Let me guess: he thinks the planet is 10,000 years old, right? ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/5 "2014-05-14T04:22:17Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Let me guess: he thinks the planet is 10,000 years old, right? No, silly. It’s 12,000 years old. How else would there be fossilized human footprints right next to dinosaur bones? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/6 "2014-05-14T05:04:48Z")
Is this a change for Robertson? If so, he’s not necessarily firing on all cylinders anymore. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/7 "2014-05-14T07:22:18Z")
YEC estimate is about 6,000 to 10,000. I would guess that Pat believes in an more accurate number, but doesn’t believe life evolved. I’d think yes, microevolution, no, macroevolution. I’m not sure where he’d go with Adam and Eve or Noah though. Answers in Genesis is the big YEC group. It’s funny when they duel with OEC Old Earth Ministries, formerly Answers in Creation. It’s easier to side with the latter in that fight, but then that starts to feel wrong. But their heads aren’t nearly as far in the sand. I thi ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/8 "2014-05-14T07:45:41Z")
> [@](#): > > it just couldn’t have been done Um, what definition of “omnipotence” are we working with here? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/9 "2014-05-14T08:23:24Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Is this a change for Robertson? If so, he’s not necessarily firing on all cylinders anymore. No, he said something like this two years ago. Then again after the Bill Nye debate. He’s also in favor of legalizing pot. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/10 "2014-05-14T09:28:35Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Um, what definition of “omnipotence” are we working with here? :rolleyes: Whatever one happens to work at the moment. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/11 "2014-05-14T09:57:43Z")
Pat Robertson looks like he might not be younger then 6,000 years. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/12 "2014-05-14T10:02:38Z")
Young Earth [del]Cretinism[/del] Creationism as we know it is a fairly young dogma; it’s always existed among Christians, but Church Fathers as far back as Origen and Augustine were _not_ YECs and classical YEC beliefs declined throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries. It wasn’t until the birth of modern Fundamentalist Evangelicals in the 20th Century that it was revived in the modern, explicitly anti-liberal anti-humanist form we know and laugh at today. Older, more staid traditionalist Christian sects aren’t as focused on fighting that battle, so they don’t feel the need to be YECs. So my point is, Pat Robertson might well not believe in Young Earth Creationism because he’s just too old. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/13 "2014-05-14T13:03:11Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Um, what definition of “omnipotence” are we working with here? :rolleyes: Perhaps Robertson is giving his god the benefit of the doubt of not being such a giant asshole as to make the Earth look, by every conceivable measurement, 4.5 billion years old just to fuck with us. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/14 "2014-05-14T13:18:27Z")
> [@](#): > > So my point is, Pat Robertson might well not believe in Young Earth Creationism because he’s just too old. irony! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/15 "2014-05-14T13:24:38Z")
Man, when Pat Robertson can look down on you… ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/16 "2014-05-14T13:51:23Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Perhaps Robertson is giving his god the benefit of the doubt of not being such a giant asshole as to make the Earth look, by every conceivable measurement, 4.5 billion years old just to fuck with us. Hey, I’d buy that. I just found the wording funny, is all. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/17 "2014-05-14T23:44:35Z")
> [@emcee2k](#): > > No, he said something like this two years ago. Then again after the Bill Nye debate. > > He’s also in favor of legalizing pot. but… I’m in favor of legalizing pot! I have to go rethink my stance now. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/18 "2014-05-15T10:02:28Z")
I’ve watched Pat since the 1970’s. His belief in an Ancient Universe/Earth is not new. THIS is new! “After that, there was a point of time that there was a particular human being that God touched — and that was the human that started the race that we are now part of.” That is consistent with Theistic Evolution or at least a Pre-Adamic Humanity. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/19 "2014-05-15T10:15:07Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > That is consistent with Theistic Evolution No, it isn’t. How? ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388/20 "2014-05-15T11:28:27Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > No, it isn’t. How? Going just by what **Friar Ted** posted — I haven’t listened to the video — that seems like the very definition of theistic evolution. To wit: the thesis that something like evolution through natural selection occurred but was to some degree divinely directed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-you-have-to-be-more-ignorant-than-pat-robertson-to-be-a-young-earth-creationist/688388.md?page=2)