Conservapedia and the Physics Debate That Wasn’t
Even for a site known for eccentric takes, Conservapedia’s handling of general relativity stands out. In a recent exchange, founder Andy Schlafly insisted the theory is both wrong and useless, dismissing over a century of evidence. When editor Kate Sorenson attempted to correct the article’s technical inaccuracies, she was apparently banned for the effort—a move that says more about the process than the physics.
“One way to evaluate religions, or quasi-religions, is to look at the fruit it bears. What has it helped achieved? In the case of relativity, it has produced nothing. Nil. Zippo. After nearly 100 years and a ton of money.”
That claim might surprise anyone carrying a modern smartphone. GPS systems depend on relativistic time corrections to function accurately, a practical application that has existed for decades. The irony appears lost on Schlafly, who closed his argument with advice to read the Bible “in between some equations.”
