Okay, so Ken Ham isn't a very reliable source of information. He's about as kooky as you can get when it comes to science and religion. The only things he has going for him is that he's Australian and he's not in jail.
Ken Ham is worried about the evil atheists and the influence they might have on Christian youth. Over at Answers in Genesis he's published a warning against The New Atheists. Can you guess who they might be? I thought so ....
Ham has an interesting take on the issue. He says,
It prompts me to ask: “Why are atheists now getting so much publicity and gaining ground? What’s happened in the culture to allow this?” As we’ve been saying for years, there’s been a change in this culture—at a foundation level. Generations have been indoctrinated by the secular education system and media to build their thinking on human reason, not the Word of God. And at the base of this is the creation/evolution issue.Who knew? Rationalism is winning over superstition? Is it time to break out the champagne?
Evolutionary indoctrination has produced generations (even in the church) who doubt the Bible. Barna Research discovered that of teenagers today who call themselves born-again Christians, only 9% believe there is such a thing as absolute truth. These young people are ripe for “secular evangelists” like Dawkins and Harris.
But that's not all. There are serious consequences. If the evil atheists win the hearts and minds of our children then dreadful things could happen. But surely this will never happen ... surely rationalism will never win? Ken Ham isn't so sure,
Some people might say to me, “But there’s no way Americans will go for atheism. Most people believe in God, even if they don’t take the Bible seriously as AiG does.” Think back to the 1950s. What if someone back then said to you, “Beware, the homosexual movement is on the march—if we don’t do something, ‘gay’ marriages will be legalized across the country.” Almost all of us at that time would have said that there’s no way Americans would ever accept this. Most people believe that marriage is one man for one woman, so, no, this will never happen in America.But as you know, it has happened—and continues to happen!
Ohmygod. Not only is rationalism making inroads but tolerance as well. Religion is surely doomed. What will Ken Ham do? Stay tuned—I'm sure he has a plan to restore superstition and bigotry.
16 comments :
Since when is Ken Ham not a Biblical literalist? I can't imagine any other reason to be a Young Earth Creationist except to defend the Bible as the inerrant Word of God.
He doesn't believe in the Bible but he has carefully weighed the evidence on both sides and come to the conclusion that the world is only 6,000 years old?
Oh yeah, and the part about atheism winning? A standard christian whine meant to bolster believers into action and feed their persecution complex (and raise money). They are only happy when they are "under attack" from people like us who are obviously being controlled by Satan.
Gotta love his liberal sprinkling of media sound-bites -- not even cited -- throughout. Nothing like a few choice phrases to whip up the paranoia. And of course, it's ALL the fault of "evolutionary indoctrination".
I hope things really are going as well for us as Ham says they are ;-).
(And in case anyone about the "First Parish Church" he complains about -- a Google search shows them to be, as you might expect, Unitarian).
I find myself thinking of a certain old joke... about a Jew reading Der Stuermer...
Ham: "Generations have been indoctrinated ... to build their thinking on human reason...."
At least he's being upfront for once about what he's fighting against.
I agree with Brian that Ham is a literalist. He thinks that the Bible should be interpreted as literally as possible, except in cases where it obviously can't be (i.e. is clearly wrong). For example, he thinks the Creation Week days were regular 24 hour days. Because the Bible says so.
My mistake. Ken Ham is a Young Earth Creationist. I was confusing him with Hugh Ross.
Hugh Ross would also say he takes Genesis literally. He would say that Ken Ham and the YECs are simply wrong to interpret yom as "day"--that it should be interpreted as "age", at which point literality is preserved as the day-age view.
This is in contrast to other views on Genesis from those who also affirm biblical inerrancy but not literality, such as the framework hypothesis.
brian:
Oh yeah, and the part about atheism winning? A standard christian whine
Sez who? Many of us know that atheism cannot possibly win and don't fear it in the least.
"Why are atheists now getting so much publicity and gaining ground? What’s happened in the culture to allow this?"
I suspect this has less to do with rationalism and more to do with U.S. reaction who its perceived enemies were. When The Enemy(TM) was the "godless communist," the U.S. added "under God" to its Pledge of Allegiance, and the motto "In God We Trust" spread from its coinage onto the paper money as well.
Now 9/11 has happened. Who's The Enemy(TM) now? Terrorists who, on the face of things, are motivated by religion. In addition to this, the more local religious nuts rub salt into the wound by saying that God took away his protection and let the terrorists attack because the people of the U.S. had turned away from him. The Enemy(TM) is now religious, so a natural reaction is to go the opposite direction.
David,
The point I was making is that many christians have a persecution complex. They believe that they are always in a spiritual war, under constant attack by Satan. They don't fear it, they thrive on it.
There always has to be an enemy that seems to be winning, but with a little more effort (prayer, tithing, witnessing) the enemy will be defeated and the armies of Christ will be victorious. It helps to keep the troops motivated and contributing generously.
Um, Brian: I think you don't realize that David is exactly one of the kind of Christians you're talking about. Go check his Blogger profile, or his comments on the Lynch thread.
Another one to warm your cockles (whatever the heck those are) is this article (via Red State Rabble) about how James Dobson's posse is a'feared that "the 'Body of Christ' [has] been infected with the virus of relativism, a wasting disease."
Dobson, unlike Ham, is never one to rest on his laurels and is "taking a two-day multimedia Bible boot camp on the road, selling 'truth' for [a mere] $179 a seat." Will the generosity never stop?
I tried to find where Ken Ham is calling atheists evil...Seems like some people don't know how to read.
The atheist religion is just a believe or religion like any other. Funny how atheists easily become so defensive...What I would really like to know is where the facts are, instead of just saying Ken Ham is a loser and wrong? C'mon , as a Biochemist you should be able to PROVE him wrong with facts, right? You can't win me over to your atheist religion without showing me some facts why atheism is the right stuff.
"Nothing comes from nothing!"
I tried to find where Ken Ham is calling atheists evil...Seems like some people don't know how to read.
The atheist religion is just a believe or religion like any other. Funny how atheists easily become so defensive...What I would really like to know is where the facts are, instead of just saying Ken Ham is a loser and wrong? C'mon, as a Prof. of Biochemistry you should be able to PROVE him wrong with facts, right? You can't win anyone over to your atheist religion without showing some facts why atheism is the right stuff.
"Nothing comes from nothing!", as a scientist once said!
I tried to find where Ken Ham is calling atheists evil...Seems like some people don't know how to read.
The atheist religion is just a believe or religion like any other. Funny how atheists easily become so defensive...What I would really like to know is where the facts are, instead of just saying Ken Ham is a loser and wrong? C'mon, as a Prof. of Biochemistry you should be able to PROVE him wrong with facts, right? You can't win anyone over to your atheist religion without showing some facts why atheism is the right stuff.
"Nothing comes from nothing!", as a scientist once said!
Did you know that there is no such thing as atheism? Here is why:
An atheist claims that there is no God. In order to make that claim, however,that person would have to be all-knowing. For someone to be all-knowing would mean that he is god, which means god must exist.
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