Why did Irelands science minister agree to launch an anti-evolution book?
The decision, since reversed, by Ireland’s minister for science, Conor Lenihan, to speak at the launch of a book that condemns evolution as a hoax is a damning and depressing indictment of Irish politics. But not, perhaps, for quite the reason readers might expect. John J May, the author of The Origin of Specious Nonsense, believes that evolution “cripples sanity, promotes myth and obscures reality”. Anyone who teaches evolutionary theory, he says, is “either ignorant or deliberately suppressing the known scientific facts”. Most of May’s arguments are so preposterous as to defy serious scrutiny. In a YouTube video posted to his site, he says: “They say we used to live up in trees. Well folks, climb a tree and live there for a week, and see how you feel. They also say we came out of the sea. Eh? If you lie in your bath for nine hours your skin is so wrinkled it’s not [sic] hardly recognisable. Yet a baby can be in a womb nine months in liquid without drowning, and when it’s born it’s no
