Derek Rodgers expelled from the theme park of ignorance
09Aug. 09
Meet Derek Rodgers, good friend of YAS and guest panelist on episodes eleven & twelve of our official podcast, The Pseudo Scientists. Rodgers today martyred himself into skeptic knighthood after getting kicked out of Ken Ham’s Creation “Museum” as part of the SSA excursion with PZ Myers.
From what I can gather, it seems he was singled out and harassed by security guards twice during the visit. Firstly, he was asked to turn his T-shirt inside out, due to its ‘offensive’ message that read There’s Probably No God. Now Stop Worrying and Enjoy Your Life (misquoted here by ABC). The calm-headed Rodgers reluctantly obliged, went to the bathroom and turned his T-shirt inside out. But this scoop certainly does not end here.
On his way out, a family from Virginia overheard Rodgers utter to a fellow skeptic that he wasn’t going to purchase anything from the gift shop, as he ‘didn’t want to give them anymore money’, seeing that he already felt bad having purchased food from the “Museum”. Apparently this ruined the families vacation, and Derek was then cornered by creationist loon Mark Looy, told off, and asked to leave (he was of course, already leaving). As PZ Myers explained, “I think Derek was simply their chosen sacrificial lamb, used as an excuse to vent their failed expectations for a ferocious confrontation.”
For your enjoyment, we’re totally getting an exclusive run down of the day from Derek Rodgers himself, which will be available in the next episode of The Pseudo Scientists! Haven’t subscribed on iTunes yet? Do it.
Here is a sneak peek captured on a mobile phone by healthyaddict following Derek’s expulsion:
Now, as many of you know, I am not a Twitter person, but apparently something like #CreoZerg will provide you with an array of comments and photos from atheists who attended the PZ field trip. For instance:
Tags: creation museum, Derek Rodgers, Ken Ham, Mark Looy, PZ Myers, Secular Student Alliance
August 9th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Exellent! Just Excellent!
August 9th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Everything in moderation, my friend.
August 9th, 2009 at 11:09 am
This is from Mr Loo(n)y’s report:
I am happy to report that we had many people around the country praying for us and the SSA group (they had read your blog, Ken — or had been following the prof’s blog). Inside, our staff met for prayer at 8:30 am, and then throughout the day, we had staff gathering in the board room at certain hours to pray for our visitors.
…teehee. The odd image of uni(n)formed guards praying for the salvation of the t-shirted and well-behaved hordes behind the doors of the bored room makes me chortle.
August 9th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
[…] be pretty fair and balanced, I couldn’t help noticing that there was an error. You may have heard the story of Derek Rodgers (namedrop: I knew him personally before he became famous!) who got […]
August 9th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Epic win:
[Guy talking to Derek]: “Well, it’s not like you flipped the bird to the guy out the front with the sign that said “god is real”…”
PZ: Well, you could do that now…
from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4ThvM9BKZU …
August 9th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Makes me wonder what would of happened if you had of caused trouble… They would have turned the dogs loose…???
August 10th, 2009 at 1:43 am
http://fletch.sgds.com/CMTruth.jpg
[admin: image of FSM behind Looy and Derek]
August 10th, 2009 at 2:05 am
I would happily be expelled from this hole of ignorance!
August 10th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
[…] also this post for a little bit more background on the […]