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Evolution (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Richard Klim
- Start date
Richard Klim
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It's unusually forthright ("religion is highly correlated with the dysfunctionality of a society" etc) for a paper in a well-respected scientific journal.
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Simon Wates
Well-known member
I have always mused that these anti-evolution US stalwarts would be doing themselves good service if they took on board the possibility of God creating evolution....
I don't think that is subtle but maybe they cannot see beyond their current rant...and unfortunately the schoolchildren are being brainwashed (as I understand).
I don't think that is subtle but maybe they cannot see beyond their current rant...and unfortunately the schoolchildren are being brainwashed (as I understand).
Some of them have, of course, but for most of them it's too sophisticated a notion. But even for the majority, anti-evolutionary sentiment doesn't run all that deep. As long as you don't accuse him of being descended from monkeys, the average evangelical is more or less indifferent to everything else.
My take (FWIW) is that the current wave of anti-evolutionary sentiment in the States is pretty much a last hurrah. All the polls I've seen show the younger generation in religious households much more enlightened about such matters than their elders
chris butterworth
aka The Person Named Above
Why isn't there a smiley for chuckling, sniggering or super-smugness engendered by the feeling of " I knew I was right"?
Chris
Chris
James Lowther
Well-known member
is that a genuine abstract from a scientific journal??!!
not that i disagree with any of it but it doesn't strike me as very scientific
not that i disagree with any of it but it doesn't strike me as very scientific
Chris D
Well-known member
There's room for everyone here. Even those too nutty/hardcore for 17th century England and Holland. Makes for great 'Bluegrass and Black Gospel' music, stock car racing, college football, deep fried everythings, and 'Creationizm Them Parks'.
Armed compounds and anti evolution legislation (in some states) are a tough sell. Pretty entertaining though. We even have members of Congress trying to jam more of the other tribe into Israel. Need to get the 3rd temple built - and all that. Great fun....
Armed compounds and anti evolution legislation (in some states) are a tough sell. Pretty entertaining though. We even have members of Congress trying to jam more of the other tribe into Israel. Need to get the 3rd temple built - and all that. Great fun....
Dave Boyle
Well-known member
What I've never been able to understand is God created the earth before birds & stuff but nobody denies that islands occasionally still pop up
Simon M
Well-known member
Different explanations? Like what?
Science is not just 'an explanation'. It is the only type of explanation which uses empiricism (observable, testable, repeatable measurements of the world around us). Scientific explanation can be proven false by new information or observations, religious and mythical ones are cannot. In suggesting that 'different' explanations will 'no doubt' be employed in future you are effectively saying that we'll use explanations of the world around which are neither empirical nor imagined and are neither falsifiable or non-falsifiable.
dantheman
Bah humbug
You obviously haven't read enough Science Fiction.
(That's the well-known literary genre, btw
)
colonelboris
Right way up again
Wowsers, that's pretty strong stuff for a journal. Entirely right, but normally publishers are a bit more softly-softly.
If anyone's wondering if people really do believe heavily in creationism, have a nose through this lot: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/dgue/introduction
The biggest case of heads-in-the-sand I've seen.
It's also by no means limited to Christianity - there are plenty of Islamic and Jewish sites with similar material, it's just that this is one of the funniest ones.
If anyone's wondering if people really do believe heavily in creationism, have a nose through this lot: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/dgue/introduction
The biggest case of heads-in-the-sand I've seen.
It's also by no means limited to Christianity - there are plenty of Islamic and Jewish sites with similar material, it's just that this is one of the funniest ones.
chris butterworth
aka The Person Named Above
And, by the way a lot of people view it, scary ones. Apparently over 50% of Americans who were surveyed believe this crap in it's entirety - dunno about the UK though.
Chris
Kirk Roth
Rarely to be taken seriously
Haven't finished the article (and am tempted not to...), but something that seems conspicuously missing is attention to politics. Here in the U.S., evolution becomes a political wedge issue, especially in the south. I don't think that religion is the reason that evolution denial is such a big movement in the states. I don't believe the U.S. is that much "more religious" than countries such as India or many South American countries, for example, which don't seem to have strong anti-evolution movements.
What we do have is a history of court cases over evolution, "creation museums," and politicians who feel the need to weigh in on their "opinions" of what science says. Don't get me wrong, there is obviously a religious component. But as a resident, the political spin is quite obvious to anyone who cares to pay attention. It makes a good wedge issue for local-level politics, as it makes a convenient bogeyman for local schoolboard issues and so on. It doesn't get much beyond (or barely to) state-level politics in most cases, as courts have decided the issue at that level. (That's where the savvy politician ditches an evolution platform for a strong position on abortion!)
Thanks for enduring a political rant - all I really need to say is that religion does not act solo in "the problem of evolution in (The United States of) America"
What we do have is a history of court cases over evolution, "creation museums," and politicians who feel the need to weigh in on their "opinions" of what science says. Don't get me wrong, there is obviously a religious component. But as a resident, the political spin is quite obvious to anyone who cares to pay attention. It makes a good wedge issue for local-level politics, as it makes a convenient bogeyman for local schoolboard issues and so on. It doesn't get much beyond (or barely to) state-level politics in most cases, as courts have decided the issue at that level. (That's where the savvy politician ditches an evolution platform for a strong position on abortion!)
Thanks for enduring a political rant - all I really need to say is that religion does not act solo in "the problem of evolution in (The United States of) America"
Ben Wielstra
Well-known member
But it is only a political issue because it is a religious issue, right?
Kirk Roth
Rarely to be taken seriously
Religious and educational, yes. But my point is that not many "religious issues" in our country get the same political treatment. For example, and in contrast to some European countries, the burqa debate gets a big yawn here in the states. Yes, its an intensely important issue to some religiously, but not in the media, not in debates, and certainly not in politics. Evolution is a totally different story.
Richard Klim
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That's the problem - some people believe it's a story.
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