Broun: Evolution, embryology are 'lies'

ATHENS, Ga., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., says he was expressing "his personal beliefs" when he said evolution is a lie "straight from the pit of hell."

Broun -- a physician and the chairman of a House subcommittee on science, space and technology -- said in a speech Sept. 27 in Hartwell Ga., the Bible "teaches us how to run all of public policy and everything in society."

"And that's the reason as your congressman I hold the Holy Bible as being the major directions to me of how I vote in Washington, D.C., and I'll continue to do that."

"Dr. Broun was speaking off the record to a large church group about his personal beliefs regarding religious issues," Broun spokeswoman Meredith Griffanti said in an email to the (Athens, Ga.) Banner-Herald.

"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," Broun said in a speech at the Liberty Baptist Church Sportsman's Banquet. "And 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."

An excerpt of Broun's speech was posted on YouTube and the church subsequently posted the entire 47-minute speech on its YouTube page, the Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald reported Saturday.

Broun won a special election in 2007 to fill a House seat left vacant by the death of Rep. Charlie Norwood.