You're Still A High School Dropout Doug

In this installment, we're going to look at the way Doug represents himself falsely to his audience as educationally credentialed in order to bolster his credibility on science topics. Additionally we're going to touch on sources with fake doctorates that he relies on. While we're on the topic, we'll address a couple other famous (infamous) SDA “scientists” who also fabricated their credentials and evidence.

I want to be clear that this installment is not about any need to have credentials to be knowledgeable or credible, but rather the seeming need for Doug and others in the YEC (Young Earth Creation) presentation crowd to exaggerate, inflate, mislead, or outright lie about their educational accomplishments.

As always, for context here is the link to the video I will be discussing in this installment.

Click for original video direct from Batchelor's website

Here is the very short (10 seconds) clip that I would like to start with. In it you will hear Doug refer in passing to a “Dr. Kent Hovind” as a source for the claims he is about to make. Now we will get into those crazy and fake science claims in the next installment, but for now I'm only going to address the “Dr.” claim as it applies to one Kent Hovind.

Kent Hovind used to travel about the country giving YEC talks to the public. He relishes the label “Dr Kent Hovind” (his home phone was even listed that way in the book) and introduces himself at his speeches as being a science teacher.

Kent still travels around the country giving YEC talks, but now much less publicly and only as he is transferred from secure facility to secure facility as Federal Prisoner #135733. He's been in prison for the last 8 years or so (and still is as of 2015) serving a 10 year sentence for tax fraud related to his creationist 'ministry'.

In his anti-evolution zeal, Hovind's claims are numerous and laughable or sometimes just plain sad. He wrote in one of his many books for instance that the Cherokee Indian “trail of tears” episode (a shameful day in US history), was caused by the Darwinian Theory of Evolution – apparently unaware of the fact that the event preceded the publishing of the theory by decades. Like Doug and his suicide routine, if Hovind considers it bad – its root is deep in the acceptance of evolution, facts be damned. All of that aside, let's look at the Batchelor reference to Kent as a “Doctor”.

In truth, Hovind's only higher education degrees have each come from non-accredited “diploma mill' institutions. These 'mills' are establishments where one can pay a small fee, do a minimum of work (or none) and receive a certificate. The credits and degrees one gets from these mills are not worth the paper they are printed on except to mislead. No accredited institution accepts them and for all intents and purposes they are meaningless to employers. For legal reasons, the Patriot Bible University website includes a full page of caveats (hidden under layers of links) regarding the value, or lack thereof of its certificates.

In 1988 and 1991 respectively, Kent received a Masters and Doctorate in Christian Education from the Patriot Bible University. Let's take a closer look at this bastion of Christian education.

Patriot Bible University is Colorado based, family owned and run by the Knight family. It has no faculty and no campus. It has been located variously in the Hilltop Baptist Church, the family home in a residential neighborhood and now a small building with a more industrial feel (though still used as the family home). The denominationally independent Hilltop Baptist Church is also owned, run and pastored by the Knight family and until recently included a church based grade school – now shuttered due to the sexual abuse convictions of three of the family – including the big dog (more on that later).

At Patriot Bible University, you can currently pony up 99 bucks to enroll and get started from the comfort of your own couch (or prison cot) – and Kent has done just that now three times! He did it again from prison for a 2013 Doctorate of Ministry “degree”.

For just a moment though, let's look at the sort of folks who own and run the Patriot Bible University. Wayne Knight, patriarch, president of the University and pastor of the Hilltop Baptist Church entered a guilty plea in 2012 as an accessory to sexual assault of a child at the church grade school. Two other family members were also convicted and sentenced to up to 10 years to life of sex offender status. Great group this bunch.

Kent makes some of the most outrageous claims when it comes to science (though sometimes I feel that Batchelor is trying to “out Hovind” Hovind), and with Kent's reputation among scientists as a huckster, people have for years tried to obtain his doctoral thesis just for fun. Normally at accredited institutions, a student's thesis is kept in the school library and is available for anyone to view – not at the Patriot Bible Institute as they conveniently consider the thesis the property of the student.

In response to many requests, Hovind claimed that his thesis was long lost but a few years back someone managed to snag a copy (later authenticated by Hovind). It can be found on the internet easily now and it's quite a mess. One only need know that of the 16 chapters laid out by Hovind in the thesis, only 4 actually exist. Apparently at Patriot Bible University, 25% of a thesis will get you a Doctorate. Additionally, the document is written at a grade school level of spelling, grammar and punctuation. The document shows that it was reviewed and approved by the child molester accessory himself – Wayne Knight.

So we have a guy who has no real Doctorate or Masters or B.A. going around constantly bragging about his Doctorate, Masters and B.A. and this is the sort of guy that Doug chooses to source science claims from. As we'll see later in the installment, Batchelor makes his own practice of a similar sort. Nice work Dougie.

Now let's talk dishonesty and falsifications of an entirely different magnitude for a spell.

Ron Wyatt, an SDA nurse from the Adventist hospital in Madison Tennessee became either the most astonishingly fortunate amateur archaeologist in the history of the universe or was a massive fraud (issue settled actually, in favor of fraud). Beside claiming to have served in the Korean war (false), he claimed at various times to have graduated from the University of Michigan with honors in pre-med (false) and that he had completed all the requirements for both M.A. and PhD degrees in antiquities (also false). But let's not get bogged down in the fine print – let's get to the real claims.

Later in life, going by the moniker “The Indiana Jones of the SDA church” he put together the most impressive list of archeological finds on the face of the earth – discovering and authenticating every single biblical treasure of note.

Following is a partial list of Ron's supposed "discoveries":

1. Bones of giant pre-flood people
2. Noah's Ark
3. Stone sea anchors (drogues) used by Noah to steer the vessel into the wind
4. Noah's sacrifice area at the site
5. A pictograph of eight people leaving a large wave of water with a boat perched above it
6. Trainloads of petrified pre-flood wood that had no tree rings on the site (original creation trees)
7. Corroded metal fittings, found in rows, delineating the "ribs of the ship," as indicated by metal detectors and especially a "molecular frequency generator"
8. Petrified timbers from the Ark that were used as memorials in an Armenian graveyard
9. The post-flood home of Noah
10. Stones on this house containing inscriptions that recorded details about the Deluge
11. Noah's grave
12. The grave of Noah's wife containing a fortunes worth of her gold and jewelry
13. Stones on this house containing inscriptions that recorded details about the Deluge
14. The location of Sodom and Gomorrah and the other Cities of the Plain: Zoar, Zeboim and Admah
15. Sulfur/brimstone balls from the ashen remains of Sodom and Gomorrah.
16. The remains of Joseph's grain distribution bins used during the 7 year famine.
17. The Tower of Babel site in southern Turkey
18. Moses' stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments, held together with golden hinges
19. The 12 altars built by Moses in Exodus 24
20. The actual rock Moses struck to release water at Kadesh
21. The site of Korah's earthquake where the ground swallowed up Korah and his followers
22. The tomb of the Patriarchs, the cave of Machpelah
23. The site of the Israelites' crossing of the Red Sea (located in the Gulf of Aqaba)
24. Gold covered chariot wheels and other relics of the army of Pharaoh at the bottom of the Red Sea
25. Horse and human skeletons from Pharaoh's drowned army
26. A stone monument near the site erected by Solomon, inscribed with the ancient Hebrew script
27. The site of the biblical Mt. Sinai (in Saudi Arabia at Jabal al Lawz)
28. A chamber at the end of a maze of tunnels under Jerusalem with artifacts from Solomon's Temple
29. The Menorah, the Table of Shewbread, and the Golden Altar of Incense from the ancient Temple
30. The Ark of the Covenant
31. The true site of Christ's crucifixion and the stone socket in which the cross was placed
32. Christ's blood, dripped onto the Mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant beneath the Crucifixion site.
33. DNA analysis of the blood proving that it was still alive and that Christ was born of a virgin
34. Verified the tomb of Christ was the actual tomb
35. Claimed Jesus' tomb was sealed with a Roman iron spike, still visible
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36. Oh, and finally the one thing that he actually did discover? – acknowledged Philistine burial pots in the ancient city of Ashkelon. (Found by accidentally stubbing his toe on one while wading as told now by his sons.)

Ron and his bunch made quite a living selling books, VHS tapes and the like, I know – my family members still have some and they are still on sale on his website to this day. But one thing he could never seem to do was produce anything remotely like evidence. Really? Really. Not one whiff. There was always an amazing story of intrigue regarding how the Lord didn't want the Ark of the Covenant exposed and people died trying (Ron's tale had him going into the tunnel and recovering the bodies of six because the Israelis were afraid to) or angels had visited and taken the evidence or government conspiracies or this… or that… or … What there never was was anything tangible to demonstrate a darn thing – just lots of videos of busy work and promises.

I could go on forever with the laugh riot that is Ron Wyatt, but I'll just post a short clip (under 2 minutes) from one of his many grandiose videos – this one explaining how he found the blood of Jesus on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant and how it was tested and confirmed to be still alive and chromosome proof of the virgin birth (of course no one ever saw this artifact, nor any blood, nor test results). The original video starts with Ron saying how no one should take his word for it and how he likes to show everyone everything, but ends 2 hours later with absolutely nothing being shown. Just another day in the life of a huckster.

Ron was eventually brought down in most circles by a pair of SDA brothers who wrote a book exposing Ron for what he was, but to this day there is a small band of Ron cultists (and a big band of the ignorant – including preachers like Doug) who still believe nonsense he came up with. If you doubt this, just Google his name. To read the SDA Standish brothers book that brought him down, get “Holy Relics or Revelation – Recent Astounding Archaeological Claims Evaluation”, and see links at the end of this installment.

Now for a bit let's talk Clifford Burdick and the story will sound an awful lot like the story of Hovind. Burdick, now deceased, was an SDA geologist at the forefront of the YEC movement in the middle of the last century. There is hardly a creationist 'Bad Science Theater' story from that era that does not have Cliffy's fingerprints all over it. Pollen in the rocks of the Grand Canyon? - Burdick's bad science folly (contaminated samples taken from only a few inches underground). Heard of the human/dinosaur “Burdick tracks” in the Paluxy River bed in Texas? Carved (yes, carved and eventually admitted fake by even SDA peers). Human skeletons in New Mexico Cretaceous rocks? No Cliff, just no - give it up. On and on he went, tireless in his pursuit of an unprecedented bad science collection – even to the point that Walter Lammerts, his boss at the Creation Research Society (CRS) became frustrated and angry at his lack of integrity. (more on Lammerts' own research dishonesty in a later installment).

But the important story for this installment involves Burdick's claim to a doctorate. Burdick had tried and failed not once but twice to pass his oral exams for his geology thesis and thus was without the letters he so craved. YEC legend likes to claim that the scientifically minded faculty at the University had it in for a Bible believer, but it has been found in Burdicks own words just how poorly he performed on the exam. “Neither exam was difficult”, he explained. “I would have passed either one 98 times out of a hundred. I happened to hit the two unlucky times, that's all.”

To make a long story short: Burdick, desperate for PhD recognition paid a paltry sum to the University of Physical Science and viola – doctorate in hand. Lammerts - still his boss, was suspicious and went on the research warpath and quickly discovered that the University in question was nothing more than a registered trademark and located a mimeographed bulletin from the institution which read “The University is not an educational institution, but a society of individuals of common interest for the advancement of physical science. There is no campus, professors or tuition fee."

So, did Burdick ever stop using the “Dr.” label? Of course not. Even Lammerts allowed Cliff to continue its use on CRS articles, all be it only after insisting on inserting “honorary” in front of it – the tacked on moniker being just another in the series of Burdick's and Lammerts' lies.

And that “honorary” title brings us back full circle to Doug Batchelor.

Honorary degrees are sometimes bestowed by accredited institutions as a way to recognize someone's contributions to a general or specific field. The usual requirements of matriculation, study and exams are waived and the honor merely bestowed. It is often given to celebrities and/or speakers invited to give graduation speeches (see Doug Batchelor). The typical treatment of such honors in the academic, science and business community is that it be listed under “Awards” on your bio and not under “Education”, that the title be only used in conjunction with activities related to the awarding institution and that the honoree not adopt the title for usage in the broader community as it would there be misleading.

Doug - a high school dropout, has been gifted not one, but two honorary high school diplomas from SDA academies, an honorary undergraduate degree from the SDA Union College, and an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Southwestern Adventist University.  See his Bio at left.

(Full disclosure. I'm a high school dropout. Heck I'm not even a high school dropout – I never went to high school to drop out. I'm a grade school dropout.  Actually, my parents took me out of SDA church school after 2nd grade to provide me with what they considered more appropriate schooling (which is to say 'very little' and all home bible school curriculum based). A person's knowledge is not based on the letters behind their name as I have come to know. To repeat from my opening paragraphs - what I am exposing and objecting to in this installment is the use of fake/false/misrepresented education credentials to boost or enhance one's arguments. In other words, my critique in this installment is not one regarding knowledge or lack of knowledge, but one of honesty and transparency)

Now as we've been seeing, Doug says a lot of things that simply aren't true – he can't check his own math nor does he understand the meaning and usage of simple scientific terms, but to his credit he doesn't generally wave letters around his name a lot. He doesn't call himself “Dr.” (not that I've found at least) and I had to dig pretty deep to even find a bio with a listing of his honorary degrees, so credit where credit is due. Yes, he has the awards listed under “Education” on the bio I did find, but since he clearly is no Hovind or Burdick with the flashing around of letters I'm going to give him a freebie on that one.

In fact, Doug wouldn't even be in this installment if not for what he says in the following video clip (15 seconds)

Script from the above video clip:

“Matter of fact keep in mind, some people think that you're ignorant if you believe in creation. I was a high school dropout, believing in evolution. The more educated I became - I have a Doctorate now - I believe in creation. So actually the reverse it true.”

And here we finally come to the crux of this installment – the misleading and dishonest use of credentials to boost one's credibility with the audience. This would include honorary education credentials, bought rather than earned credentials and totally fabricated credentials. That would be respectively: Batchelor, Hovind and Burdick, and lastly Wyatt.

First off Doug, you're attempting to bolster your science cred by bragging about your Doctor of Divinity award. It's not like you were gifted an honorary degree in biology or geology based on your lifetime contributions to those particular fields of science – perhaps then your education claim would make at least a modicum of foundational sense.

Second, you didn't earn your doctorate through the means most people expect when they hear that title, so saying “I have a Doctorate now” without appropriately adding the “honorary” is dishonest and misleading - especially in the context used.

As we've seen and will continue to see in future installments, Doug is far from an educated man when it comes to math and science and his attempt to use his gifted education credentials from a totally unrelated field as a hook for audience credibility shows how little he cares about honesty, integrity and accuracy.  Like Hovind, Wyatt, Burdick, Ham, Lammerts, Gish, Baugh, Morris, Price and other member of the merry band of creationist pranksters, Batchelor will say whatever he thinks it takes to save souls from the evils of science.

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Hovind documentation links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Hovind
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/United_States_of_America_v_Kent_Hovind_and_Jo_Hovind
http://www.noanswersingenesis.org.au/bartelt_dissertation_on_hovind_thesis.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Bible_University
http://www.patriotuniversity.com/PatriotUniversity.com.html
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/arrested-pastor-takes-plea-deal-in-child-abuse-case

Trail of tears reference from Hovind's book "Unmasking the False religion of evolution", chapter 4
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Ron Wyatt documentation links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Wyatt
https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1511-ron-wyatt-the-indiana-jones-of-the-sda-church
http://www.tentmaker.org/WAR/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uACACeh5Xwk

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Burdick documentation links:
http://ncse.com/cej/2/4/paluxy-man-creationist-piltdown
http://www.noahsarksearch.com/The_Explorers_Of_Ararat_1945-1974_Clifford_Burdick.pdf
R. Numbers: "The Creationists"