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Richard William Nelson
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Richard William Nelson is an American Christian young Earth creationist writer and internet troll.
Biography[edit]
Nelson studied at the University of California, Irvine and earned a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in biology. Later, from the University of Southern California (USC) he graduated with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree majoring in pharmacology. He is a Christian creationist and is the author of the anti-evolution book Darwin, Then and Now, The Most Amazing Story in the History of Science (2009).[1]
Creationism[edit]
Nelson is a Christian creationist who subcribes to a literal reading of Genesis, yet has pretended on some internet websites, similarly to other creationists such as Shaun Johnston and Hugh Dower, to be neutral on the creation-evolution "debate" in hopes of selling more copies of his book. However, Nelson has been very dishonest as he has admitted in his articles to being a Christian creationist and has lectured at Christian churches propounding that evolution is in opposition to the Bible. Anyone who views his website can see he rejects any scientific evidence for evolution. Nelson uses all the familiar creationist arguments such as citing Piltdown man to discredit evolution and claiming there are no transitional fossils. According to Nelson "evolution is a dogma" and he rejects it because of the Bible.[2]
His book Darwin, Then and Now, The Most Amazing Story in the History of Science invokes a conspiracy theory similar to Jerry Bergman's, that the "Darwinists" have set out to remove God from science. Nelson claims evolution is a hoax and there is no scientific evidence for it. He believes that the Genesis account of the Bible is factual history and criticises scientists for opposing it.[3]
Quote mining[edit]
Nelson confuses "Darwinism" with evolution and it is clear he does this deliberately. In his book, and on his website, he has quote mined thousands of scientists, moved words around, and lied about what many of these scientists actually said to make out evolution is falling apart.
Trolling[edit]
Nelson has been banned on many forums for trolling. He has also made fake user names and accounts and pretended to be a female on one forum in an attempt to give his book extra support; it was later revealed this user was himself.