A Plumbing Parable.

[LostAngeles]

Jesus wasn't a carpenter, he was a plumber.

I have no idea where I should be putting this post. It hits on the teaching of ID (Social Issues/Education), Creationsim (Religion), evolution (Science), and it's freaking funny (Humor).

Just remember,

Quote:

... Jesus died for plumbing...

[Chris Haynes]

At first I thought this was a website like those "Unity" tracts my stepmother used to send to me.

In explanation... the "Unity" church was a slightly less evangelical form of Christian Science. I actually read one of the leaflets where someone who was seriously injured just laid there and waited for "God" to help her instead of crawling over to the phone to call 911. It took a few years to convince my stepmother that I am NOT one who can "Let Go, Let God"... I had to tell her that if I did not use my wits and modern medicine that several of my immediate family would be worse off.

She keeps trying to tell me that "God" is the one who helped my son during his seizures... and, silly me, I keep telling her it was the doctors, Children's Hospital and phenobarbitol. Then she tells me that it was "God" who helped him during his bouts with croup... and, silly me, I contend it was the medical staff at Children's Hospital Emergency Department, the blow-by oxygen and epinephren.

I'm not quite sure if she understands that it was my sister and NOT "God" who got my dad to the ER when he was bleeding internally a few months ago. Oh, well.

Okay, back to the plumbing problem...

... if you follow the links, the website is a very clever humor piece by a biologist. One who I may have bumped him into while I was going to college (though after a time exploring the dusty stacks of the science library, and finding out what the financial cost/benefits ratio was of science versus engineering --- I hung out around the engineering buildings and not the Quadrangle nor the lower campus where the likes of the Prof. Myers would have been.)

It is very funny.

And kind of pertinent... since #2 son has decided for his 8th grade Independent Research Project is to tackle the issue of "Evolution versus Creationism". Oy vey!

I suspect part of this was prompted by one of his best friends declaring evolution to not exist because it does not occur anymore. This child goes to a private Lutheran school -- and invites my son to lots of events put on by his school, church and scout troop, even though my son is decidedly anti-religious.

Anyway, my son's teacher has told him to go ahead with the project... including telling him to research the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. I gave him the www.talkorigins.org link and will be dragging him to the local natural history museum's present exhibit on evolution, and perhaps to one of their lectures:
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/bshale/

Editted to add: Have you tried his site in "Pirate Mode"... here is a quote from it about his pluming bit: http://pharyngula.org/index/pirate/

Quote:

The first Skeptics’ Circle is online. There’s lots o’ good, interestin’ stuff in there, and a few new weblogs I’m goin’ t’ have t’ check out.

I’ve got an article in it, me plumbin’ parable, which I now have t’ take a moment t’ explain. I’ve received a fair amount o’ aggravatin’ e-mail about it, and know o’ one clueless weblog that makes this same mistake. The parable is about methodological naturalism, OK, and a bucket o’ chum? It’s about someone tryin’ t’ accomplish a physical task here in th’ material world usin’ well-tested methods and tools, while a mob o’ millin’, uninformed idiots try t’ interfere because he isn’t invokin’ th’ supernatural.

All ye guys who triumphantly informed me that “Faucets are designed!”? You’re officially dumbasses.

The lubber who wrote a long screed informin’ me o’ th’ same, informin’ me at th’ end that I should “leave th’ parable writin’ t’ th’ professionals”? Ahoy! You’re an amusin’ dumbass. Are there professional parablists? Does th’ gig pay well?