Wyrdsmyth

This weekend, I attended a religious ceremony where the preacher declared at one point that "teaching the theory of evolution is evil" because it goes against the Word of God. This was in a mainstream Christian church, in Pennsylvania. I would have walked out right then (to publicly show my disagreement) if it weren't for the fact that I was there for a family event. That was the only reason I even attended church that morning, and I have serious misgivings about even that, after hearing the sermon.

I'd like to say a few words to all of you creationists and evolutionists on this forum. First of all, the preacher prefaced his statement by saying, "I don't want offend anybody, but..." so let me adopt the same preface. I don't intend to offend anybody. But I'd like to say, if you want to get through to me, you can't preach that evolution is "evil," you're going to have to do more work than that; you're going to have demonstrate why the theory of evolution is incorrect. Next, the reason I respect science more than religion, from the ground up, is that science has a built in error-correcting mechanism: it doesn't claim to have absolute knowledge, and so it calls its claims 'theories' instead of 'doctrines of truth.' Science invites attempts at falsification or better theories, it does not denounce such attempts as evil or attempt to stamp them out with rhetoric.

I'm annoyed and concerned about this enshrinement of ignorance that is going on in our culture. Are we out to look for the truth, or do we just want to declare the truth? Do we have to make evidence fit into the narrow views our ancestors had, or are we free to make new theories and conjectures? Are we to assume that all evolutionary biologists, astrophysicists and geologists over the past few centuries have been possessed by Satan and his horde of demons, or not?

Bubba

One of the huge problems with Christianity and evolution is that very few Christians have ever read anything from an evolutionary viewpoint or considered the evidence for evolution firsthand.

I would have a lot more respect for creationists if they spent a few good Saturdays in the library reading up on stuff.

Bubba

Albion

It's sad if this is going on in a church that isn't catering to biblical literalist congregation. It's also sad that it's happening in a church where there was a family event going on and there were likely to be visitors. I think more people have been put off Christianity by narrow-minded Christian extremists than by any temptation from wicked atheists and their tool evolution. These people should step back and take a long, hard look at themselves.

If this country goes much further into superstition and intolerance, it'll have a real problem getting scientists. Fewer and fewer American kids want to do science as it is, and I don't think foreign scientists will be falling over themselves to come and work in a country where decisions on scientific matters are made by biblical-literalist Christians rather than by people who know what science is about.

Camaban

*can see two things happening as a result of this

1. America will become the new Afghanistan (after a while)
2. Australia and all the other countries who've had their scientists lured away by higher pay in the US will be pretty bloody pleased to be able to lure them back*

Stephen T-B

Hello Wyrdsmyth:
Despite repeated invitations to deny the charge that they believe Darwin to have been a tool of Satan, and his theory to be a fruit of Satanic inspiration,. none of the Creationists who visit this forum saw fit to do so.
I thought it highly significant because of its implications - if true (and your experience suggests it is) - for the future of scientific inquiry should the Creationist lobby get a real grip on the political process. Were that to happen, it is quite clear that human curiosity would be subject to rigorous constraints lest it should lead down paths which might, at some distant time, challenge the Biblical enshrinement of ignorance.
I think it also puts into context the disputes which occur here between the Creationists and the rationalists: the rationalists think they are engaging in discussions about matters of fact; the Creationists, see themselves as engaging the agents of Satan.

scumble

The thing is, science relies on curiosity, and challenging unfounded assertions of truth. Without this, the USA would not be what it is today. Its power and wealth is derived from particularly non-christian principles.

sandi

To Wyrdsmyth,
I am deeply sorry to hear that a preacher said that evolution is evil. I am a believer in Jesus Christ,but I don't think of evolution as evil. I view it as just another belief in our world.
But I will say this,I read alot on you guys wanting scientific proof, well, all I can say is go to your search and type in Dr. Kent Hovind or Carl Baugh. They will have all the proof you need.
If you are so open minded then you will enjoy these web sites. Also, if you have already read their stuff, then why couldn't they be right?
Thanks!

MortalWombat

OK, I did that, and I got <a href="http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/dave_matson/young-earth/index.shtml" target="_blank">this</a> for Kent Hovind and <a href="http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/paluxy/whatbau.html" target="_blank">this</a> for Carl Baugh. Thanks for the suggestion, Sandi.

Philosoft

I'm in a saucy mood, so I'll sub for Wyrdsmyth briefly...

Right sporting of you to allow us that.

<strong> Old hat, those fellows. Type those names on this site's search engine and see what you find.

<strong> A wicked sense of humor and deep irony is also required.

<strong> Because they're wrong.

Mageth

Welcome, Sandi.

We're very familiar with Hovind and Baugh around here. Note that if you search for Hovind and Baugh and add the word "refutation" you'll get many hits.

Here's one article from the SecWeb library that refutes Hovind's YEC arguments:

<a href="http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/dave_matson/young-earth/index.shtml" target="_blank">Dave Matson's refutation of Hovind's YEC arguments.</a>