Politics and conspiracies
Hovind has made controversial remarks regarding conspiracies, science, creation, equal rights, religion and government over the years. Hovind's creationist presentations have asserted that the reason creationism based on the Genesis creation narrative is not taught in public schools was tied to "an international conspiracy" of "'The New World Order' (NWO) consisting of Ted Turner and his wife Jane Fonda, the British Royal Family, the State of Israel, the ACLU, and a smattering of former and present US government officials, business leaders, and social activists (particularly those advocating population control) — shades of the Trilateral Commission." In May 1999, he claimed "the implementation of the NWO's world-domination plan was May 5, 2000."Hovind has several conspiracy theories about the U.S. government. He believes that the cyanide-releasing compound Laetrile is a "cancer cure" and argues that the US government is conspiring to suppress a cure for cancer. On his radio program, he has said that the U.S. government was behind the 9/11 attacks killing nearly 3000 people and that a "lot of folks were told not to come to work." He also believes the Oklahoma City bombing was carried out by the government. "Did you know the Federal Government blew up their own building to blame it on the militias and to get rid of some people that weren't cooperating with the system?" Regarding UFOs, Hovind recommends books by conspiracy theorists who believe "some UFO’s are U.S. Government experiments with electrogravitic propulsion as opposed to jet propulsion, while others are Satanic apparitions." Additionally, Hovind believes that the Federal Reserve, the Council on Foreign Relations, the United Nations, and various other groups are actively planning to create a one world government and that the 1993 World Trade Center attack was staged by the US Government in order to pass "anti-terrorism" legislation that restricts civil liberties. He says, "I love my country, but fear my government. And you should too." He also believes there is no such thing as the separation of church and state, and opposes public schools.
Hovind has also alleged that there is a conspiracy surrounding taxes, the New World Order, and communism, while he promotes tax protesting. Hovind wrote "Although it is tempting for me to go off on a tangent from my creation ministry and spend much time warning people of the communist origin (Karl Marx thought it up in 1848 and pro communists Colonel E. House, Roosevelt, Rockefeller and Sen. Nelson Aldrich implemented it in 1913.) and unconstitutional nature (it violates the 4th, 5th, 13th and 14th amendments) of the current tax system, I will resist that temptation and leave it to others to fight that battle." Hovind further alleged "I sincerely believe that I am not a person required to file a Federal Income Tax Return. This belief is a result of extensive research that I have done." On obeying tax laws, he argued "Some will say the Bible teaches us to obey the authority over us. I agree and I do. The IRS is not the authority over me any more than the government of Japan is." Hovind further offered information and resources for people to avoid paying taxes by claiming to not be residents of the United States.
As part of his "one world government" conspiracy theory, Hovind also believes that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), HIV, West Nile virus, Gulf war syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Wegener's disease, Parkinson's disease, Crohn's colitis, Type I diabetes, and collagen-vascular diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and Alzheimer's were all engineered by "the money masters and governments of the world" for the purpose of global economic domination. Hovind believes "Satan has been using the great pyramid as his symbol for the New World Order." He believes government secretly plotting to implant an "electronic ID" microchip in the body of every US citizen, which is the Mark of the Beast. The aim, he believes, is to put "a chip into each of the major muscles and network them together so that a paralyzed person would be able to get some movement from their muscles" so that there "is going to be a system where you cannot buy or sell without the mark in the hands or in the forehead." Yet, the mechanisms and history of such a project do not withstand scientific and historical scrutiny.
Regarding barcodes and the security strip on money, Hovind stated they are tied to a government plot in which barcodes and the "magnetic tape through the center of the paper" money "is of the same type that is on the back of your credit card" for tracking money and people. Thus, the government "want[s] to be able to track the money and find out where it goes."
Hovind has also stated an opposition to representative democracy, saying: "If Evolution is true, there is no Creator, so laws come from man's opinion. That is called a democracy, which is a terrible form of government. Democracies always degenerate into dictatorships. In America, it is sad to say, has become a democracy." Hovind also stated: "democracy is evil and contrary to God's law" and "democracy is a horrible form of government."
Science
He believes all findings of science will eventually be found to agree with Scripture – which he says is ''a priori'' known to be true. He claims that scientists also have an ''a priori'' assumption, namely that God does not exist (or at least not one that performed special creation).Hovind maintains that biology textbooks are lying and that he considers evolution to be a religion supported by false evidence that is used to brainwash youth. Hovind claims he is not trying to eliminate evolution from schools. He has claimed that everything is a religion, including mathematics. Hovind disregards all fossil evidence, saying that "no fossils can count as evidence for evolution," because "all we know about that animal is that it died," and we do not know that it "had any kids, much less different kids.". Also for different races, Hovind believes the best explanation for when races as well as "all families, countries, nations, and tongues were created or developed from" the Tower of Babel Bible story (Genesis 10:20).
During a debate with Farrell Till, Hovind made the following statement about Donald Johanson: "[He] found the leg bones of Lucy a mile and a half away from the head bones. The leg bones were 200 feet deeper in a deeper layer of strata. I would like to know how fast the train was going that hit that chimpanzee." According to Donald Johanson, this is false, and although Hovind has been informed of this, he continues to make the statement.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article Kent Hovind, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
