Mediancat

I sit next to a fairly atypical YEC, at least if the experiences here give me any base to judge.

He firmly believes the Earth was created eight thousand years or so back and that evolution is completely unscientific. He's also a born-again. We quickly came to a tacit agreement not to discuss evolution.

On the other hand, he agreed with the ruling on the Texas sodomy law, thinks drug laws should be loosened, and liked Clinton a whole lot more than Bush (though he reluctantly supported the war in Iraq).


Rob aka Mediancat

Alan G

Think hes on a highe enough level to answer my enquiry?

I'll post any reply......don't hold your breath.

Garfunk

I have given up trying to debate the subject of evolution with the YEC's [my wife included]. These people are so bent on there belief... no, they are so gullible that they believe everything handed to them without even questioning it. I have come to the conclusion that they accept there belief because it gives them some comfort & hope within someone else, just like how a child looksup to a parent. If they know that there is hope this "thing" then maybe one day this "thing" called God will relieve them from there ???? & give hope to ????. My point is that its easy to look to someone else to make your life better that for you to try and make things better for yourself. They sit & pray everyday for [better life, love, money, health etc...] & they will do this for the rest of there life, instead of going out there & use the brain that we have to make something of them self. Goes back to child & parent comparison [child knows that if he is good Mom will reward him/her, if he is in trouble Mom will be there to protect him/her]
I was brought up a Catholic & when I got older I became wise to this whole creation issue. It's sad to see some many are blinded by this doctrine that I have come to the conclusion that the biggest sham/trick played on mankind is "Christianity".
How can a man "the POPE" be worship" by so many! [again "child & parent"]
Because of my wife & for peace within the home I allow my daughter to attend church with her Mother, because once she gets older she will realize the truth just like I did, & she is already questioning certain things, but I will let her make her own choice on the topic.

Thanx for letting me voice how I fell & what I beleve.

openeyes

From pz:Are we really already at this point!! I thought there was to be some sort of citizen input. I can't believe I could be living in a state that doesn't teach evolution as a standard. :banghead:

pz

There is supposed to be some citizen input. You can apply to the Dept. of Education to be on the standards committee, if you've got the time and interest. They specifically want people from diverse backgrounds, but you'll have to do it fast, since applications close tomorrow. It will require some investment of time -- one estimate I saw was about 40-50 hours over the course of a month.

I've already applied. I'm not confident. Yecke has a reputation for stacking the deck.

from the Star Tribune:
-----
Yecke personally supports vouchers, which allows taxpayer dollars to go for private school tuition. And she believes in creationism, but declared last week that she didn't want the theory to be part of new science standards.

In fact, she said she doesn't plan to advance the hot-button education issues unless her boss, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, wants to. So far, he hasn't.

As in any incoming administration, Yecke has tended to hire people of similar ideology, leaving some educators fearful that the agency will veer far to the right. Morgan Brown, for example, a long-time voucher supporter, heads Yecke's new office of school choice and innovation. Jim Bartholomew, who advocated for voucher-type reforms and for more privatization of school services while at the Minnesota Business Partnership, is her chief lobbyist.

"She is surrounded with like-minded people," said Robert Schmidt, executive director of the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals. "There is a very disturbing lack of diversity of thought at the state department at the present time."
-----

We should all worry. Yecke thinks she can avoid controversy by leaving evolution out of the standards, but I hope that if she tries we can get enough roars of outrage from the intelligent people in this state that she'll regret it.

Thor Q. Mada

Believe it or not, I have never met a YEC. Maybe I am not moving in the right circles. If they exist in Europe, the must laughable minority, who keep their voices down , because surely they would be laughed away, even in xian circles.
Quite frankly, most Europeans are even unaware this dispute still has a life.
Their existence is astonishing and incomprehensible against so much evidence of the contrary.

VonEvilstein

Damn, I feel for you! Fortunately, most of this wonderful country we live in is not like that at all.

Rational BAC

Just wondering--

As far as I can tell this thread only concerns Young Earth Creationists and their foolishness in trying to make everything fit what is written in Genesis.

And that none of you are against the idea that the theory of evolution can be questioned legitimately. It is a theory after all, and deserves to be constantly questioned. Right? The YEC deserve at least some credit for their constant vigilance to keep evolution valid.

I am a Christian who believes that Genesis is a bunch of bullcrap.

I also see that there are many holes in evolution that have not yet been adequately explained. Maybe they will be explained someday and the holes and inconsistencies in evolution will no longer be a problem.

The only problem I see on this thread is that so many seem to take a very obstinate position on this. "Us against them" sort of thing. And not very scientific in that sense.

If I am wrong about this I apologize in advance. None of you have any "fixed ideas" I hope.

Still evolution is the best thing we got going as far as a rational explanation for the past. There is no way that "Creationism"---in the Biblical sense should be taught in any public school. There is no way that evolution should be banned from being taught.

pz

No. They do not serve any such function. The crap they serve up is so remote from the truth, so discredited, and so damn wrong that it is only a distraction from the real work in evolutionary biology.

Next time you take your car in to the mechanic for work, tell him that you are going to also bring in your brain-damaged second cousin, the one who is a compulsive chatterer and who thinks engines actually contain monkeys strapped to bicycle pedals, to keep an eye on him and make sure his work is valid. That's what claiming YECs serve some function in evolutionary biology is like.

Xixax

*lol*

May I please have permission to repeat this?