Jerry Bergman

{{bronze}}{{crenav|1}}{{cquote|Evolution and racism are the same thing.|||Jerry Bergman<ref>Bergman, J. “Evolution and the Development of Nazi Race Policy”, Bible-Science Newsletter, 1988</ref>}}

'''Gerald R. "Jerry" Bergman''', a [[Young earth creationism|young-earth creationist]] affiliated with the [[Institute for Creation Research]], appears on [[Creation Ministries International]]'s [[Lists of creationist scientists|list of scientists alive today who accept the biblical account of creation]]. He has a doctorate in human biology (1992) from Columbia Pacific University, a [[diploma mill| non-accredited correspondence-school]] that the Marin County Superior Court ordered to cease operations in California in 1999.<ref name=cpu>Stephen Barrett, [https://quackwatch.org/consumer-education/News/cpu/ Court Orders Columbia Pacific University to Cease Operating Illegally in California]. [[Quackwatch]], 5 November 2013.</ref> Bergman is a prolific writer with, according to [[Answers in Genesis]], over 600 articles (none in peer-refereed scientific journals, of course,<ref>Rivista Di Biologia, discussed [http://scienceblogs.com/strangerfruit/2007/02/07/revisiting-rivista/ here], is a [[pseudojournal]] and does not count.</ref>
but quite a few for [[Answers Research Journal]]) and 20 books to his name.

As of 2013 Bergman worked in the Biological Sciences department of Northwest State Community College in Ohio.<ref>
[http://northweststate.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/FacultyStaff_HR_org_chart.pdf Faculty Staff organization chart]. northweststate.edu, June 2013.</ref>

Bergman is known to be rather skilled at public debates, where he can [[Gish gallop]] at will and opponents don't have the time or opportunity to debunk all of his claims, misrepresentations, and fundamental misunderstandings.

==Scientific qualifications==
*B.S. Major Areas of Study in Education, Psychology, Biology, Wayne State University, Detroit.
*M.Ed. Psychology and Counseling, Wayne State University, Detroit.
*Ph.D. Evaluation and Research with Minor in Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit.
*M.A. Social Psychology, Bowling Green State University.
*M.S.B.S. Biomedical Science, Medical College of Ohio.
*Masters of Public Health, Northwest Ohio Consortium for Public Health (Medical College of Ohio, Bowling Green State University, University of Toledo).<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20021127032632/http://www.icr.org/creationscientists/bergman.html Jerry R. Bergman, Ph.D. Evaluation and Research]. Archived from icr.org, 27 November 2002.</ref>
*PhD. Human Biology, [[Columbia Pacific University]]<ref>[https://silkworm.wordpress.com/2006/08/14/bergmans-cv-and-publications/ Bergman’s CV and publications]. silkworm.wordpress.com, 14 August 2006.</ref><ref name=cpu />

==A history of Orwellian debate tactics and quote mining==
{{main|1=Orwellian|3=Quote mining}}
One of Bergman’s favorite tactics is to [[Argumentum ad dictionarium|redefine words]]. For instance, Bergman claims that he has scientifically proven that there is no such thing as [[vestigial structure|vestigial organs]], therefore [[evolution]] is false. He accomplished this by redefining “vestigial” to mean “having no function at all”; thus, all he had to do was to demonstrate that alleged vestigial organs did or potentially did anything whatsoever.<ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/17/that-bergman-myers-debate/ Blogpost from November 2009]</ref> Of course, this is not the definition of “vestigial”. That did not prevent Bergman from writing a book about it (with George Howe).

Bergman has predictably enough argued that evolution leads to Hitler.<ref>[http://kittywhumpus.blogspot.no/2009/11/thats-your-argument-more-thoughts-on.html Blogpost, November 2009]</ref> In fact, one of his primary debate tactics is character-assassination of [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]<ref>[http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/03/03/bergman-still-crazy/ Blogpost from March, 2011] ; the claims are detailed in his book [[ ‎The Dark Side of Charles Darwin: A Critical Analysis of an Icon of Science]].</ref>. According to Bergman, “Charles Darwin’s major goal in developing his theory was religious, he wanted to “murder” god (his words).” The passage in which Darwin talked about “murder” is this:
{{quotebox| At last gleams of light have come, & I am almost convinced (quite contrary to opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable.}}
It doesn’t quite appear to say what Bergman thinks it says.

Other things Bergman attributes to Darwin are:
*He was active in “converting” all he could to his theory of origins.
*Darwin [[Plagiarism|plagiarized]] most of his major ideas.
*Darwin was a [[racist]] of the worst kind and believed the lower races (the blacks) would go extinct.
*Darwin was [[Racialism#Darwin and Racialism|opposed to helping the sick]], but realized this idea would not go over well.
*Darwin felt a wife was better than a dog (really!).
*He was severely mentally and physically ill, likely an agoraphobic.
*As a young man he was sadistic and loved to kill animals with anything he had: guns, sticks, even hammers!
His evidence for these claims is based on, shall we say, unconventional interpretations of passages from Darwin; and in addition, even if these claims were true, it is hard to see [[Poisoning the well|how they would undermine]] the scientific theory of evolution.

==Bergman’s special take on irreducible complexity==
According to Bergman, everything is [[irreducible complexity|irreducibly complex]], perhaps with the exception of sub-atomic particles. For instance, a carbon atom has a specific number of protons, neutrons, and electrons, and if you change those, it is no longer a carbon atom. He claims that this fits [[Michael Behe]]’s definition completely.<ref>[http://www.tccsa.tc/articles/irreducible_complexity_ed.pdf In his own words], if you must.</ref> Behe’s definition is:
{{quotebox|By irreducibly complex I mean a single system composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning. An irreducibly complex system cannot be produced directly (that is, by continuously improving the initial function, which continues to work by the same mechanism) by slight, successive modifications of a precursor system, because any precursor to an irreducibly complex system that is missing a part is by definition nonfunctional. An irreducibly complex biological system, if there is such a thing, would be a powerful challenge to Darwinian evolution.}}
Thus, according to Bergman:
{{quotebox|The only way to refute the concept of irreducible complexity is to demonstrate that all objects can be reduced to a fundamental particle and still function properly. If a radio, a functional eye or ear, can be achieved, for example, by a single quark (the particle scientists now believe is irreducible)–or all, of the functions of an intelligent human, including the ability to reproduce with other humans, can be produced by a single quark, they are not irreducibly complex.}}
So there; irreducible complexity is irrefutable. Notice, however, that when Bergman claims that everything is irreducibly complex according to Behe’s definition, he actually refutes Behe’s argument that you need intelligent agents to create irreducibly complex systems, since actual natural process (on the sun, for instance) are producing carbon atoms at this very moment. In other words, granting Bergman’s use of irreducible complexity makes it impotent as an argument for anything supernatural. Also notice that Bergman ignores the existence of isotopes (atoms of the same element that have different numbers of neutrons) and ions (atoms of the same element that have different numbers of electrons).

==Persecution==
{{main|Persecution complex}}
He considers himself one of the victims of persecution by "Darwinists", after he was denied tenure and dismissed from Bowling Green State University in 1978 “solely because of my beliefs and publications in the area of creationism”. He attempted, unsuccessfully, to take the university to court over religious discrimination. (It should be added that, in a signed letter published in [[David Duke]]'s National Association of White People newsletter, he stated that “[[Reverse discrimination|reverse racial discrimination]] was clearly part of the decision,” so even according to himself it cannot have been solely because of his religious beliefs.<ref>[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/bergman-and-racism.html talkorigins article] by Jim Lippard and Tom McIver</ref>) According to the courts, however, Bergman was terminated because of ethics, namely that he claimed to have credentials in psychology when, in fact, he “had no psychological credentials.”<ref> [http://jehovah.to/gen/freedom/bergman.htm The ruling]</ref>

==Selected publications==
* ‎''[[The Dark Side of Charles Darwin: A Critical Analysis of an Icon of Science]] ''
*''Slaughter of the Dissidents''. It’s entirely about how evil Darwinists are in a conspiracy to ruin the careers of Intelligent Design creationists careers because of the inherent [http://evolutionwiki.org/wiki/Scientists_are_pressured_not_to_challenge_established_dogma pressure to conform among scientists]. Seems to have been one of the novels that inspired the movie [[Expelled]]
*“Are Jerry Bergman and Henry Morris Racists? An Example of the Irresponsible ‘Research’ of Darwinists (The Cases of Jim Lippard, Lenny Flank, and Tom McIver)”. An attempted, but unsuccessful,<ref>[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/bergman-and-racism.html talkorigins response to Bergman]</ref> rebuttal of an article on [http://www.talkorigins.org/ TalkOrigins].
*[[Answers Research Journal volume 2#A Brief History of Intolerance in Modern Cosmology|"A Brief History of Intolerance in Modern Cosmology"]], [[Answers Research Journal volume 2|''Answers Research Journal'', volume '''2''']], January 2009
*[[Answers Research Journal volume 2#Fraud and Forgery in Paleoanthropology|"Fraud and Forgery in Paleoanthropology"]], ''Answers Research Journal'', volume '''2''', December 2009
*[[Answers Research Journal volume 3#Why Orthodox Darwinism Demands Atheism|"Why Orthodox Darwinism Demands Atheism"]], [[Answers Research Journal volume 3|''Answers Research Journal'', volume '''3''']], July 2010
*[[Answers_Research_Journal_volume_3#Is_the_Sodium_Chloride_Level_in_the_Oceans_Evidence_for_Abiogenesis.3F|"Is the Sodium Chloride Level in the Oceans Evidence for Abiogenesis?"]], ''Answers Research Journal'', volume '''3''', September 2010
*[[Answers_Research_Journal_volume_3#Inherit_the_Wind:_A_Lesson_in_Distorting_History|"Inherit the Wind: A Lesson in Distorting History"]], Answers Research Journal, volume '''3''', September 2010
*[[Answers_Research_Journal_volume_4#The_Human_Retina_Shows_Evidence_of_Good_Design|"The Human Retina Shows Evidence of Good Design"]], [[Answers Research Journal volume 4|''Answers Research Journal'', volume '''4''']], June 2011
*[[Answers Research Journal volume 5#An Evaluation of the Myth That “Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution”|"An Evaluation of the Myth That “Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution”"]], [[Answers Research Journal volume 5|''Answers Research Journal'', volume '''5''']], February 2012

==External links==
*[http://creation.com/jerry-r-bergman-biology-in-six-days In Six Days], [[CMI]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYtlM0u5CwM Bergman’s debate] with [[PZ Myers]]
*[http://www.bay-of-fundie.com/archives/410/how-the-fallen-have-fallen-jerry-bergman-stoops-to-kevin-wirth Bay of Fundie on Jerry Bergman and academic freedom]

==References==
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Categories: California, Institute for Creation Research, Living people, Ohio