_______________ Forward Header _______________
Subject: Re: Creationists take their challenge to evolution theory into
theclassroom
Author: David Byrden <iplist@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 12th February 2005 1:26:23 pm
...
I think my approach should be used to deflate the Creationists such as
Mr. Harris, who said:
>> "There are creation myths on both sides. Which one do you teach?"
Mr. Harris is wrong; there are more than two sides. Every religion has a
different creation myth.
And Christianity has at least two: Adam and Eve created simultaneously vs.
Eve created out of Adam's side; they're both in Genesis 1. This is
well known to every serious student of religion, or, for that matter,
to anyone who simply reads that book.
If the Creationists force Creation to be taught in
schools, the schools should teach every single creation myth from
cultures all around the world. This would leave no time for any science
in science class - thus making a point - and would undermine the
students'
unthinking acceptance of Christianity.
Or at least undermine their unthinking acceptance of some particular
sect's interpretation of Genesis as representing Christianity. After all,
when did Bishop Ussher's dating of Creation to 4004 BC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ussher
become more important than the Sermon on the Mount or the parable
of the Good Samaritan?
David has said what I haven't seen many people say: the response that
will succeed to a creationist attack on evolution is not to circle the
wagons around evolution or even around science. It is to counterattack
against the creationists' version of religion and Christianity.
This isn't something that many of us particularly want to do;
science isn't about attacking religion; it is about science.
However, this isn't science; it is politics. What creationists
believe and teach in their own homes and churches is their affair.
But when they interject their dogma into public school systems as fact,
they expose it for critical examination, not to mention ridicule.
David
-jsq