A great illustration of an urban legend I’ve heard in various forms since, oh, sometime in high school. This is one of those things meant to show the power of the noble Christian David over the godless academy Goliath. I’ve heard it set in a philosophy classroom, in an evolutionist’s class room, in a chemistry classroom, at Harvard, Yale, Berkeley. I had it told to me in church youth group. I had it told to me by friends, and by professors who had heard the story set at their PhD granting institution.
(Sobering thought: perhaps this Wandering Atheist Professor is an adjunct…)
I think the course is clear.
Next semester, I’m getting some chalk….
24 comments
July 27, 2009 at 2:05 pm
ari
That cartoon is awesome. “Let’s go kill something!” Heh.
July 27, 2009 at 2:18 pm
dana
I like it when my lectures have a take-home lesson.
July 27, 2009 at 2:20 pm
andrew
Even a dropped chalk is correct once every few decades.
July 27, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Vance
And what’s that I see in the Snopes link? “Why does it taste salty” is a myth? But back in high school I heard it from somebody whose friend heard it at UCSB!
July 27, 2009 at 2:50 pm
bitchphd
Anything that happens in “an evolutionist’s” classroom is obviously a fiction.
July 27, 2009 at 3:19 pm
oudemia
What if my classroom only has markers and a whiteboard? Does that totally extra much mean Jesus died for my sins?
July 27, 2009 at 3:21 pm
ari
Jesus died because my people killed him. Holy hell, oudemia, at least get your blood libels straight if you’re going to be teaching the children.
July 27, 2009 at 3:25 pm
oudemia
Sorry, Ari, I don’t want any trouble. My kidney is your kidney!
July 27, 2009 at 3:46 pm
ari
My kidney is your kidney!
Took me a second. And then, very funny.
July 27, 2009 at 5:02 pm
dana
What if my classroom only has markers and a whiteboard?
Well, there was this one time, where this professor in a room of 300 students said “If there is a God, then He will surely be able to make this marker permanent and not dry erase” and he drew on the board and went to erase it to prove God to be a lie and then HE COULDN’T ERASE THE LINE and he ran out of the room sobbing.
July 27, 2009 at 5:17 pm
andrew
After about 30 minutes, one of the remaining students asked the student who had taken over the front of the lecture hall whether God could create a marker so permanent that even He could not erase it.
July 27, 2009 at 5:58 pm
aschup
Does this mean that Powerpoint is conclusively the devil’s work?
July 27, 2009 at 6:12 pm
kevin
The real question is whether or not God could make a mark on the dry erase board that was so strong that not even He could erase it.
July 27, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Dr J
I heard that if one of the students in that class killed himself, his roommate got straight As for the semester.
July 27, 2009 at 6:20 pm
snarkout
I think it’s pretty conclusively demonstrated in the Summa Theologica that God is aware of acetone, Kevin.
July 27, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Vance
kevin, God could write a blog comment so strong that dana herself could not pwn it.
July 28, 2009 at 5:35 am
rea
Goodness, ari–you’re a citizen of Rome? :)
July 28, 2009 at 5:44 am
aflandshage
The way they tell it on snopes, I find I pretty fascinating that a story so incredibly boring could become an urban legend, being told and retold for decades, that to my mind, is the real proof of the power of faith.
July 28, 2009 at 6:06 am
Mauigirl
Love these urban legends. I also remember a whole bunch from Girl Scout camp – like the one about the guy with the hook for a hand that escaped from the local mental hospital….etc.
July 28, 2009 at 8:14 am
Barry
aflandshage, remember that the target audience is right-wing fundamentalists/evangelicals, and that the sweet part is an uppity atheist intellectual getting stomped by one of their own, full of Faith.
July 28, 2009 at 9:15 am
Neddy Merrill
I want to teach in the Snopes world, where the job is a thousand times more interesting.
July 28, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Doctor Science
Silly aschup — Powerpoint has been scientifically proven to be *Stalinist*.
July 28, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Colin
If the moment arises, it’s always interesting to ask your students about the warnings they’ve gotten from friends and family about about professorial efforts to shake their faith.
July 28, 2009 at 2:17 pm
tiiz
So…wait… you are getting chalk? You’re going for a 20 yr streak?