Kent Hovind

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Kent Hovind (2006)

Kent Hovind (born January 15, 1953 in Pensacola , Florida ) is an American representative of Christian fundamentalist young earth creationism .

Life

Hovind's conversion came on February 9, 1969. He graduated from East Peoria High School in 1971 and received a bachelor's degree in " Religious Education " from the unaccredited Midwestern Baptist College in 1974 . Hovind is married with three children and five grandchildren.

From 1975 to 1988 he worked as a pastor and teacher in private Baptist schools. In 1989 he started Creation Science Evangelism .

With the Internet boom , Hovind created his website www.drdino.com and began offering videos, books, and replicas of fossils . At the beginning of his activity his videos were not provided with a copy protection. The success of his work led to his popularity and many public lectures, sometimes with hundreds to thousands of viewers. According to himself, he lectured in hundreds of churches, schools and other places every year. His son Eric started holding similar events some time ago.

On November 2, 2006, Hovind was found guilty of 58 tax evasion and social security failure by a federal court in Pensacola, Florida, and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was released from custody in July 2015. On October 21, 2014, Hovind was tried before a grand jury in a federal court in Pensacola, Florida, on charges of double attempted postal fraud. Hovind pleaded not guilty. The trial was originally scheduled to take place on December 1, 2014, but has been rescheduled to February 9, 2015. Hovind is now free again.

Kent and his wife Jo divorced in 2016.

Challenge to the theory of evolution

Kent Hovind offers a large sum of money for proving that evolution is a verifiable fact:

“I'm offering $ 250,000 to anyone who can provide empirical evidence for evolution . My offer is intended to demonstrate that the evolutionary hypothesis is no better than a religious belief. "

However, his arguments are not shared by all creationists . The organization Answers in Genesis holds a part of his argument for obsolete and finally his 250,000 - $ - challenge for counterproductive. In a clarification to his challenge, he mentioned that the empirical evidence of evolution "without a reasonable doubt" ( without any reasonable doubt must be done).

Kent Hovind explains what evolution means:

When I use the word "evolution" I am not referring to the minor changes that are found within the various genera ( microevolution ). I am referring to the general theory of evolution which believes that the following five major events took place without divine intervention:
1. Time , space and matter came into being by themselves.
2. Planets and stars formed from space dust.
3. Matter created life by itself.
4. Early life forms learned to reproduce themselves .
5. Major changes occurred between the various forms of life (i.e. fish turned into amphibians , amphibians turned into reptiles , and reptiles turned into birds or mammals ).

So Hovind understands the theory of evolution in a much broader sense than is generally accepted, because in general it only describes the theory founded by Charles Darwin : The change in life forms as the effect of mutation and selection . Tacit inclusion of the formation of space, planets and life therefore quickly leads to misunderstandings about the scope of the claims for which Hovind is demanding proof.

Above all, the demand for evidence that a god could not have intervened in these processes and that the processes mentioned are the only possible ones, make it impossible to fulfill what is required.

John Pieret , a critic of Hovind, assumes that Hovind will keep his $ 250,000 - even his demand for proof falls back on a very superficial understanding of the methodology of scientific research , because scientific theories can be falsified , but not proven in principle (see induction problem ). His offer should therefore be understood more as a PR gag.

The reward Hovinds for a proof of the theory of evolution was parodied by the blog Boing Boing - for the proof that "Jesus is not the son of the flying spaghetti monster ", a million dollars was offered.

PhD degree

Kent Hovind wrote his PhD thesis in Christian Education, The Effects of Teaching Evolution on the Students in our Public School System, at Correspondence University Patriot Bible University, the study for this took four weeks. The work has not been published properly because it can not be viewed or ordered through university libraries . This contradicts the norm, because research work should be accessible to other scientists and students. Hovind did not comply with repeated requests from critics to submit his work. Its proponents argue that the work, which is said to have been expanded to 250 pages, will be further revised before it finally appears in book form. This fundamentally contradicts the academic tradition, which forbids subsequent changes to accepted academic papers.

The chemist Karen Bartelt received Hovind's original 101-page paper from his then university . Their verdict was that Hovind's dissertation by no means deserves the name “doctoral thesis” - because almost all the criteria that are placed on scientific works are not met: instead of writing about the relationship between the theory of evolution and school, he completes his work with long-refuted criticism of the accepted theory (e.g. William Paley ); and he even draws parallels between Darwinism and Nazi ideology , " Evolution theory [...] it's a foundation for humanism, racism, Nazism, communism and a new world order." ”( Kent Hovind : Preview Video: Public School Presentation - Part 5, The Dangers of Evolution [spoken between the flashes of a waving Nazi flag and rolling tanks.]) The wording and spelling are not even college graduate level. The most important point of criticism is that the work did not create any new knowledge at all. The assumption is that the Patriot Bible University is a mailbox university ( English diploma mill ).

Dinosaur Adventure Land

Between 2001 and 2009, Hovind ran an amusement park called Dinosaur Adventure Land in Pensacola, Florida. The park suggested to visitors that humans and dinosaurs lived together in the years 4000–0 BC. The park had to be closed until further notice in 2009 due to Hovind's tax violation. In 2018 he opened a dinosaur park in the US state of Alabama.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Indictment, Oct. 21, 2014, United States v. Hovind , case no. 3: 14-cr-00091-MCR, US District Court for the Northern District of Florida (Pensacola Div.).
  2. ↑ Kevin Robinson: 'Dr. Dino 'facing new legal woes . Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  3. ↑ United States v. Hovind , case no. 3: 14-cr-00091-MCR, US District Court for the Northern District of Florida (Pensacola Div.).
  4. ↑ Kevin Robinson: Trial for 'Dr. Dino 'moved to January . Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  5. ↑ forbes.com
  6. ^ Jo D. Hovind v. Kent E. Hovind ; Case Number 2016 DR 001238 . Escambia County Florida Clerk of the Circuit Court. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  7. ↑ noanswersingenesis.org.au
  8. ↑ csicop.org
personal data
SURNAME Hovind, Kent
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American creationist
DATE OF BIRTH January 15, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Pensacola , Florida