US Congressman: evolution is a lie 'straight from the pit of Hell'

Last week on the blog, we invited you to put forward your nominations for our 2012 Bad Faith Award, which is presented to the individual deemed to have made the year's outstanding contribution to unreason. We've had plenty of suggestions so far (and please keep them coming), but there's nothing to stop us from throwing in a few of our own.

So, meet Paul Broun. He represents the people of Georgia's 10th district in the US Congress. He's a member of the House of Representatives' Committee on Science and Technology. He's a medical doctor. And he thinks that evolution and the big bang theory are "lies straight from the pit of Hell":

"God's word is true. I've come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the big bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell. It's lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior.

"You see, there are a lot of scientific data that I've found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I don't believe that the earth's but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That's what the Bible says."

Broun was speaking at a Sportsman's Banquet at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell, Georgia – here's the video clip, which was uploaded by the liberal Bridge Project.