The secret creationist diary of Richard Carter (not yet FCD), age 6

I have just been going through some of my (very) old school exercise books, recently retrieved from my Dad's loft. Back in 1971–72, young British children were routinely indoctrinated in creationist nonsense in state schools:

Noah's Ark — State-sponsored religious indoctrination: a picture of Noah's Ark drawn by me (age 6) in my primary school exercise book on Wednesday 20th October, 1971.

A prayer — State-sponsored religious indoctrination at work: A prayer written by me (age 6) in my primary school exercise book on Tuesday 8th February, 1972.

It's frankly amazing that I turned out as balanced as I did.

As far as I can tell, nothing much has changed in the last 40 years.

Writer and photographer Richard Carter, FCD is the founder of the Friends of Charles Darwin. He lives in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.Website • Facebook • Twitter • Newsletter • Books

Buy my book: On the Moor: Science, History and Nature on a Country Walk
“…wonderful. Science and history and geography and evolution and culture all tangled up in musings while walking about the moors around Hebden Bridge.”—PZ Myers
Amazon: UK | .COM | etc.

On the Moor

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Hello, Azerbaijan!
I am delighted to announce that the Friends of Charles Darwin have their first member from Azerbaijan.
A cat among the pigeons
Could Charles Darwin really have been a moggy murderer?
Maureen Brian, FCD (12 June 1942 – 31 July 2018)
I was sad to learn via Facebook that Maureen Brian died earlier today.
The problem writing a book about Charles Darwin
…there are so damn many of the things already, how do you make your book different?
Re. Joyce
How the Friends of Charles Darwin motto was pre-empted by James Joyce.

14-May-1856: Darwin starts writing his ‘big species book’
On 14 May 1856, Charles Darwin recorded in his journal that, on the advice of his friend Charles Lyell, after almost 20 years exploring the subject, he had finally begun writing a ‘sketch’ of his ideas on species.
If humans evolved from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys?
This is a question frequently posed by creationists—and quite often by perfectly rational people…
13-Jan-1833: The day HMS Beagle nearly sank
Charles Darwin’s closest brush with death during the Beagle voyage came on Sunday 13th January 1833, near that most infamous of nautical perils, Cape Horn.
The great Darwin fossil hunt
In which a friend beyond measure arranges a behind-the-scenes visit to the Natural History Museum to see fossils collected by Charles Darwin during the Beagle voyage.
Spandrel sight-seeing
In which I visit the spandrels of San Marco in Venice.