Oh, the stuff that one can dredge up on the Internet. This time it’s a matter of a couple of rather obscure Biblical archeologists. Richard Fales is listed as professor of Archaeology, Greek, and Apologetics at the California Pacific School of Theology. The California Pacific School of Theology is an unaccredited diploma mill (and possibly defunct at present), but their school catalog at least used to list Fales as a “genuine archaeologist” with post-graduate degrees from the Baptist Bible Seminary and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Both deny ever having had a Richard Fales as a graduate or student, respectively. Not that it necessarily makes much of a difference given the field, but still.
Willie Dye seems to outdo him, however, and lists multiple Ph.Ds in his CV from various – shall we say – “dubious” sources. Dye is also president at the same, uh, institution … oh wait, he’s academic staff at that school (the president is one Bill Forges, who has his PhD from … California Pacific School of Theology, and who is afraid of demons); Dye is president of the Pacific National University– which may or may not be indiscernible from the other institution in anything but name.
They’re otherwise pretty obscure, but Fales did at least contribute a section to Ray Comfort’s hilariously desperate Scientific Facts in the Bible: 100 Reasons to Believe the Bible is Supernatural in Origin arguing – through misrepresentations, inaccuracies and making things up – that the New Testament is heavily corroborated by independent sources. He was also featured – as “Dr. Richard Fales” – in the 1983 film “The God Makers”, but there really is no reason to go searching for that one, methinks.
As a student of Fales, Willie Dye is pretty obscure as well, but we have at least found him ranting about the alleged conspiracy by scientists to cover up the Truth of the Bible. He also delves into “the origins of life issues” and examines evidence that proves that “design requires a Designer”, and he is apparently in possession of “eye-opening physical proof” that the race of ancient giants known in the Old Testament as the Nephilim actually existed as well as a “startling discovery about dinosaurs that challenges the scientific community!” We don’t know the precise nature of the discovery, but we can’t help but notice that he has been “working on vertebrae paleontology and ichnology in Glenrose, Texas, at the Paluxy River Bed.” Oh, yes, the Paluxy River Bed.
Diagnosis: Yes, there are grown-ups who really don’t have the cognitive skills necessary to grasp the distinction between truth and falsehood, or between deception and honesty. It actually seems like these people believe they are helping. Which is … pretty sad.