As was made incredibly clear at the trial after which Kent Hovind was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for tax fraud, Kent sincerely believes everything he says. I don't believe he lies in the sense of intentionally saying things he knows aren't true, but he has the ability to convince himself, really deeply convince himself, of the truth of anything he happens to believe. This is true of his belief that he has violated no law of the United States and has been unjustly imprisoned, and it is true of his belief that the world is only 6000 years old and, more specifically, that carbon dating doesn't work.
Time spent examining Hovind's views on scientific matters is not time well spent in my opinion because they are so spectacularly uninformed. I think the time would be better spent ignoring what Hovind says and just presenting the correct science. But many sincere Christians grasp onto his explanations because they see them as their only hope that science doesn't really contradict Christian beliefs about creation, the flood and so forth. For that reason it is important to respectfully but accurately, with no misrepresentation or error uncorrected, address what he says.
--Percy
™ Version 4.2
