I'm sometimes accused of a bias against creationism and other forms of stupidity. So, in the interests of diversity and political correctness, I present one of the better examples of creationist logic.This is from The 4th Day Alliance. Don't ever say that I haven't been fair to creationists. This is an accurate, unedited, copy of what's on their website (click on 'Start a Local Chapter"). I'm not making this up. I'm not quote mining.
We are in the midst of a major culture war and we need your help! As you know, one of the foundations upon which great negative change has taken place in our world is the false belief in evolution (naturalism).
While most people are familiar with Charles Darwin’s theory, few realize that an even greater fight is being waged in the area of astronomy. This is because evolution, as it pertains to astronomy, doesn’t just deal with the origin of life, but with the origin of EVERYTHING! If belief in evolution is defeated in the area of cosmology and astronomy, then other forms of evolutionary belief don’t have a leg to stand on. This is why evolutionary astronomers are some of the most dogmatic philosophers in existence today. Their ENTIRE WORLDVIEW rests on the foundation of evolutionary cosmology and astronomy. This is why evolutionists oftentimes feel most threatened by Creation Astronomy and wage the most virulent attacks against Creation Astronomers.
We are requesting your help to combat this problem on a grassroots level. Please consider this opportunity prayerfully.
There are literally hundreds of astronomy clubs around the country, but to our knowledge there is only ONE that is unapologetically Christian and that believes in the absolute truth of the Bible – the 4th Day Alliance. Astronomy clubs are responsible for teaching and introducing the public to astronomy. Unfortunately, 99.99% of the time they are teaching the myth of “billions of years” and false theories like the Big Bang.
10 comments :
Okay, even though I'm Christian and have an inkling of where they're coming from (not that I share the same view), I have to say that THAT is pretty darned amusing. :)
If the Creator had to speak it, who was he speaking to? Who actually carried out the creation of the planets on the 4th Day?
Their ENTIRE WORLDVIEW rests on the foundation of evolutionary cosmology and astronomy.
Just what the hell does that mean?
"Donate to UNICEF sir?"
"No, I'm an evolutionary astronomer and so I don't support anything with time frames less than ten thousand years."
At least one group, the Ottawa Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), is unapologetically proscience
http://ottawa-rasc.ca/science/index.html
WKM
That RASC Ottawa statement was provoked by a certain local crackpot who was a member, and who had been maybe getting more tolerance than he deserved. Some background here:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/05/rah_rah_rasc.php
If the Creator had to speak it, who was he speaking to?
His computer, of course. The universe is a simulation, and God is a programmer. How would one describe that to primitives who have not the slightest concept of computers, virtual worlds, or typing on a keyboard? Probably something like this:
"God said, 'Let there be x', and there was x."
Creationists revise the history of Egypt too, as otherwise the pyramids have to be dated before the Flood. That is on Answers in Genesis. I suppose they revise all archeology, but the pyramids are well known and clearly dated.
The Ottawa Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society has a response:
http://ottawa-rasc.ca/science/index.html
Charles O'Dale
Past President,
Ottawa Centre, RASC
Thanks for the heads up on the extreme view claiming most astronomy as false. And thank goodness not all believers in a created universe are as extreme as the 4th Day Alliance whom you quoted. On the other side, readers believing purely in evolution are hopefully not comparably extreme to the point of ignoring possible evolution in the far future. A possibility to ponder: the known vast universe probably has quite a few habitable planets - probably a few (maybe distant ones) even will evolve civilizations that overcome silliness/stupidity we often see locally, and survive many millennia - advanced scientists may evolve in their thinking and overcome to-us limitations of time and space enough to create black holes or such that expand into new universes They may be advance enough to even put in constants that allow for lasting planets, molecules that evolve into beings with brains and compassion for group survival - and which beings then say, "You don't suppose we were created?" Ha, nice irony.
- - Or we could put our own feet down extremely firmly and say, evolution could never ever, ever lead to that! Well, let's be careful about falling into our own extremism and unwittingly setting limits on evolution in the future. I suspect the long run answer on what our universe is doing is somewhere in the middle between what extreme evolutionists and extreme creator believers are convinced is the Final Word.
- - P.S. A Sagan quote that appeared in your page's left column prompts a related thought: we only partly understand Sagan's sharp thinking about "extraordinary" explanations if we forget the ending of his book Contact - which though fiction, this very careful thinker could have written differently but didn't - and that is that "extraordinary" evidence for an "extraordinary" claim sometimes shows up a bit later! Einstein also cautioned against scientists being over-parsimonious in explaining how things work. Maybe this applies too about how we convince ourselves, whether creationists or evolutionists, how the universe works. We've already seen that evolution can do extraordinary things in the past, now for what it can do in the future...
Again thanks for the quote-alert. And your other thoughtful pages.
BF
One other alarming example from the 4th Day Alliance, this one re potential life elsewhere in the vast universe, at their site under Articles/Life in outer space:
"[...] any other galaxy, star system, or celestial object which would "harbor life" would be FOR US (humans on earth) and not for any other creature or life form.[...]
That's their capitalization, not mine - which emphasizes how scary is their narrow selfish view about the possibilities in a universe they claim was designed a specific way by a wise, so loving creator.
Wow, if a creator really does exist and somehow actually made other beings somewhere out there, I bet those beings would be so happy to know they had no choice but to let us smart, eco-wise, peaceful humans take over their planets! Not! What a great thing to teach impressionable children at 4DA "star parties". All I'll say is "heaven protect us" - and ask readers to warn families against being lured to such activities. B
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