'Christians Against Dinosaurs' Group Fails To Force Arizona T. Rex Into Extinction
The fiberglass replica lives outside of a Tucson McDonald's.
There is a giant fiberglass Tyrannosaurus Rex outside of a Tucson, Arizona, McDonald's franchise, at the corner of Tanque Verde and Grant, and it will remain there for the foreseeable future, despite the complaints of a group calling themselves "Christians Against Dinosaurs."
The group, which primarily exists on Facebook, started a campaign to get the franchise owners to take the dinosaur down, on account of how they believe statues of dinosaurs are a violation of their Christian beliefs. The owners, who were alerted to the campaign by customers who saw the Facebook post, have made it clear that the T. rex, which does not seem to have a name, is not going anywhere.
Christians Against Dinosaurs is primarily a Facebook-based group that rails against "Big Paleo" and "dinolies," as well as anything dinosaur-related geared to children, such as costumes and statues outside of fast food joints. It's full of anti-dinosaur memes and also "proof" that dinosaurs never could have existed.
There is something of a Poe's Law situation going on. It is honestly very difficult to tell if the "Christians Against Dinosaurs" group is just satire or if it's for real. It is not that much more batshit than the theories one might find on the ridiculous conservative Christian creationist website "Answers in Genesis":
Dinosaurs were created by God on Day 6 of creation, approximately 6,000 years ago, and were originally vegetarian. During the global Flood, many were buried and fossilized but two of each kind survived on Noah's Ark. They eventually died out, due to human activity, climate changes, or other factors.
Or creationist homeschool mommy Megan Fox's legendary tour of Chicago's Field Museum:
Megan Fox audits the Field Museum's "Evolving Earth" exhibit www.youtube.com
It's also not that far off from this extremely sincere "Space is Fake" song from Flat Earth Man that I have had stuck in my head all week (which you will be pleased to know does not show up in regular search results anymore).
Space is Fake! - Flat Earth Man Exposes Space Fraud! youtu.be
For their part, the Christians Against Dinosaurs gang insists they are for real.
CAD poster Josh Brown [who wrote the initial post] insists he isn't joking around. Reached through his Facebook page Tuesday night, he said he lives and works in Tucson, and he doesn't see anything funny about "lying to our children."
"It seems to me that every dinosaur story and display or dinosaur themed event is furthering the myth that the Earth is much older than the Bible says it is," Brown said via Facebook Messenger. "Yes, the dinosaur should go unless they're willing to compromise with a plaque of some kind stating that it's a fictional character."
As does their Facebook FAQ:
* Q: This must be a joke page right? Is this satire?
A: No it isn't. The CADmins and the ones that genuinely follow this group all believe dinosaurs never existed. If that's too hard to understand for you maybe this group isn't the right group for you.
* Q: Do you guys actually believe the earth is only 6000 years old?
A: Most of us do not believe this. We aren't YECs [ young-earth creationists -- Ed.]. If you don't know what a YEC is than maybe this group isn't the right group for you [ Wonkette knows what it is, but yet still questions whether this is the group for us --Ed. ]
* Q: We have so much evidence dinosaurs are real, why don't you show me some Jesus bones?
A: No you don't. You'd know that if you looked into it. And Jesus died upon the cross, was buried and resurrected. On Ascension Day he went to heaven. So there are no Jesus bones to show you. If you refuse to accept this than [ sic ] maybe this group isn't the right group for you.
They also have a website — though it does not appear to have been updated since 2016 — and a YouTube channel.
Dinosaur Hoax: Fossils youtu.be
Honestly, I want to say it's satire, or atheists LARPing as Christians as a troll, but at this point I really cannot be too sure. A 2015 Daily Dot investigation of the group was similarly unable to draw a bead on whether it was real or not. However, two of the members featured in that article, including the girl in this video, do not appear to be right-wing fundamentalist Christians anymore.
But, you never know. Real or not, the T. rex is staying right where it is.
[ Tucson.com ]
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But you don't want to start any blasphemous rumours...
No dinosaurs there, unfortunately.
They contain well-preserved - if tarry - remains of critters who were walking around when the first humans showed up in the Americas. Saber-tooth cats, giant ground sloths, dire wolves, etc.