[leewong]

"Kent Hovind (or, to use his correct academic title, Mr. Kent Hovind) is an Independent Baptist young Earth creationist and convicted felon from Pensacola, Florida. He promoted young Earth creationism and dominionist views in lectures and videos sold through his Creation Science Evangelism organization, and started Dinosaur Adventure Land, a small amusement park in his backyard.

In November 2006, he was convicted on a variety of tax-related charges, and received a 10-year sentence. Hovind is scheduled for release in summer 2015 [1] but faces further criminal charges before then. [2] Following his imprisonment, his son Eric Hovind took control of the businesses and renamed them.

Hovind refers to himself as "Dr. Kent Hovind" or as "Dr. Dino" to provide a veneer of respectability to those who have not examined his education or background.[3] He also claims to have "taught high school math and science" for fifteen years.[4] These are less impressive than they sound: he obtained his doctorates by mail-order and never taught at a school requiring accredited credentials.

As of 2013, Hovind claims four doctorates, in education, theology and biblical ministry with an honorary degree in divinity.[5]

His first Ph.D., obtained before his vacation in club fed:

is from Patriot Bible University, a degree mill.[6][7][8][9][10] Patriot sells doctorates for approximately $2,000.[11][12]
is in "Christian education." Hovind ignores the "Christian" part, instead describing it merely as in "education."
is not recognized by any legitimate university, professional association, or governmental agency. Patriot Bible University only offers "programs which are religious in nature" and their "degrees or diplomas have no state recognition."[13]
is officially unavailable to the public. Real doctoral dissertations are readily available through libraries or online. On December 9, 2009, Hovind's dissertation was uploaded to WikiLeaks[14] and that copy mirrors the substandard quality - with spelling and grammar mistakes typical of a high school student - previously described by the few who had read it.[15]
was reviewed by only one person, Wayne Knight[16], the president of Patriot[17][18]. In contrast, the standard practice for PhD dissertations is four or five doctoral committee members.

His 2013 Doctorate of Biblical Ministry (D.Min) is also from Patriot. His dissertation was made for sale as an e-book, entitled What on Earth is about to Happen... for Heaven's Sake?: A Dissertation on End Times According to the Bible, and claims Jesus will return in 2028.[19]

Hovind neglects to mention which institutions awarded the theological doctorate and honorary divinity doctorate, probably because - like the Patriot doctorates - they are also the educational equivalent of an online ordination by the Universal Life Church.[20]

Hovind listed himself as "Dr." in the Pensacola phone book, which is unusual even for someone with a real M.D or Ph.D. His blog, however, warns supporters that any mail addressed to "Dr. Kent Hovind" at the prison where he resides will be returned by the prison's mailroom staff.[21]

When Hovind says he "taught high school math and science," he really means he taught children at three private Christian schools run out of churches (one of which he founded)[22]. At no point did Hovind earn any recognized credentials that would allow him to teach at public school or any school that requires accreditation.

Despite having no scientific credentials or even an accredited degree, he presents himself as someone who understands the science of evolution better than people with advanced science degrees who research in labs and publish peer-reviewed papers. During his presentations, he sounds like an auctioneer or a used car salesman when he is attempting to make a point by getting his audience to buy a video or book from him. Many of his slideshows read like a top 10 list of commonly seen (and refuted) "evidences" for creationism that contain little to no actual data or proof. These arguments are interjected with unfunny "jokes" and anecdotes, which are topped off with a healthy serving of mined quotes. And like any good creationist, he is not above and in fact seems to enjoy spreading the false claim that Darwin caused the Holocaust.

Many of Hovind's claims can be easily refuted by merely reading Hovind's alleged references or doing basic math. For example, in Thunderf00t's Why Do People Laugh at Creationists? series, Hovind is quoted saying:
“”One drop of water will cover the world if you spread it real thin.
—Kent Hovind[23]

Hovind's error is off by a factor of one trillion. The surface area of the Earth is about 500,000,000 km2 (or 5x1012 m2, which is 5x1032 angstroms squared) and the size of a water molecule ("the smallest identifiable unit into which a pure substance can be divided[24]") is about 10 angstroms.[25] To find out how much water you would need to coat the world in a monolayer of water you divide the surface of the world by the water molecule; the result is you would need a minimum of 150,000 tons of water. Comparing the 150,000 tons of water you would need to Hovind's statement that one drop of water (about 0.00002 kg) could cover the world is off by 1,000,000,000,000.

Besides his poor math skills, Hovind doesn't fare much better in biology or being honest about what scientific papers say. Hovind seeks to "debunk" carbon dating by citing scientific literature, but what he actually does is mine quotes, take material out of context and invent alleged quotes out of whole cloth. In Seminar 7: Questions and Answers, he speaks about a scientific paper and displays this alleged quote on a slide:
“”One part of Dima [a baby frozen mammoth] was 40,000, another part was 26,000 and the ‘wood immediately around the carcass’ was 9-10,000.
—Slide used and discussed by Kent Hovind[26]

In less than ten seconds, Hovind presents the quote and reference as evidence radiometric dating doesn't work and skips to his next slide. In checking the claim, the quote does not exist and article cited does not even refer to the correct species, date or even continent.[27] Sadly many creationists take Hovind at his word and simply recycle his claims without checking the references.[28]

Yet, there are some creationists who do investigate Hovind's claims and have concluded that Hovind's statements do not stand up to scrutiny. For example, a Creation Ministries International article by Carl Wieland, Ken Ham and Jonathan Sarfati reported: "Kent Hovind’s document repeatedly misrepresents or misunderstands not only our article, but the issues themselves."