16 Thoughts to “The Great Debate: evolution vs. creationism”

  1. Kelly_3406
    February 6, 2014 at 8:58 am

    I recently heard a priest from the Dominican Order speak on this topic. He said that his life’s work has been the pursuit of truth. The example he gave was creationism. He stated that the purpose of Genesis was not to give a scientific explanation of Earth’s formation and that it was preposterous to suppose that creation took place in six days. He said that creationists do a disservice to Christianity because they make everyone else look like morons.

    I probably do not communicate nearly as well as this priest, but I agree with what he said. People who interpret Genesis literally are not the sharpest tools in the shed.

  2. Cargosquid
    February 6, 2014 at 9:09 am

    I’m in a class called “Big History.”

    It covers…well….all of history. It starts with the Big Bang. One of the videos talks about evolution vs creationism. While the professor was very respectful of religion……she made the point that creationism is not science. It may be an explanation for the beginning of life on earth…but not a scientific one.

    We had a student in class that is a history major. When we started talking about deep history….history before the written word, and the Big Bang….he realized that he had to drop the class because he was a creationist. Unfortunately, he had to take another class to fill his class requirements and ended up in The History of Genetics.

    Perhaps God is trying to tell him something.

    1. Moon-howler
      February 6, 2014 at 10:29 am

      I actually see no reason why science and faith cannot exist side-by-side.

      The bible was written/interpreted or whatever by or through an ancient people who had limited scientific knowledge.
      Clinging to myths and pretending they are science just makes people look ignorant.

      I have no respect for someone who would drop a class for that reason. No one asked him to believe a theory, just know it.

      I can’t take anyone seriously who pretends that faith is science.

  3. George S. Harris
    February 6, 2014 at 9:26 am

    I think the Dominican is on the right track; however, some of his brethren might not agree. I would not agree with Kelly’s comment that, “People who interpret Genesis literally are not the sharpest tools in the shed.” Their faith brings them to this conclusion. As Cargo points out, a student had to drop out of a class because it conflicted with his belief. Years back I met an Air Force physician (a colonel) who was a creationist. We had a long discussion on the subject of evolution v. creationism. Here is a man of science who has all the evidence in front of him, yet his belief tells him that what is written in the Bible is the absolute word of God and therefore true. Tomato-Tomahto. It is necessary to remember that we are a nation that espouses freedom of religion as well as freedom from religion although there are those who would argue that putting, “In God We Trust” is a government endorsement of religion in violation of the First Amendment.

    1. Moon-howler
      February 6, 2014 at 10:34 am

      George, I am mulling over what you said. I don’t think Kelly was too harsh. I am tired of being polite over it also. For many years I didn’t think real people who were educated still believe that creationism was science. I stand corrected.

      I would especially question someone who was a history major mixing up faith and science. That overlooks the fact that all human beings have tried to seek out a reason for their own existence, what happens to them when they die, and how the earth around them works.

  4. Rick Bentley
    February 6, 2014 at 5:07 pm

    My position – people can argue all day long about whether a creator is implied by our existence or not. But we should be careful to teach children that evolution, the process of things evolving (to include biological life forms, and also social norms, laws, etc.) is real and has a name. Not understanding mutability is a problem.

    Again, my 6th grade science teacher skipped the chapter on evolution. I do believe that it made it a bit harder for me and the 200 other kids he taught to understand the world, for a few years.

    1. Moon-howler
      February 6, 2014 at 10:05 pm

      That’s the reason curriculum should be set and not optional. Shame on the 6th grade science teacher. No one asks that anyone believe in evolution. Just know what is popular theory. People can go to church and believe what they want.

      However, evolution is going to be on the test. Know it well enough to pass the test. Return to church on Sunday if that’s what floats your boat.

  5. Cargosquid
    February 6, 2014 at 7:30 pm

    The interesting thing is that one of the Big History experts….is a Jesuit.

    The other thing is that evolution and other assorted theories……say ABSOLUTELY nothing about the existence or lack thereof, of a deity. Nothing. It neither denies that there might be deity nor confirms it.

    As one of the physicist stated….we don’t know what caused the Big Bang. Perhaps it was the words, “Let there be light…..”

    1. Moon-howler
      February 6, 2014 at 10:03 pm

      Perhaps. However, perhaps not. Why does evolution have to explain religion? Mankind explains religion actually.

  6. Cargosquid
    February 6, 2014 at 10:50 pm

    @Moon-howler
    Evolution and science don’t have to…..That is what they are saying. Those subjects aren’t concerned with religion in any way, shape, or form. But they don’t deny the possibility because of that, either.

    1. Moon-howler
      February 7, 2014 at 12:46 am

      Nor should they. I find that creationists are far more hostile to concepts in evolution than vice versa.

  7. George S. Harris
    February 7, 2014 at 1:02 pm

    If you ever go through some of the writings of Will and Ariel Durant, you may find some interesting things about gods/dieties/etc. It seems to me that it just may be that humans have to have a reason for their being and that is that someone/something greater must have brought it all about. Deities help mankind explain the unexplainable. They have come in many forms–tree, rocks, mountains, rivers, animals, reptiles, super human like forms, things that are part animal, part human. As I noted earlier, Kelly’s Dominican may have been on to something–a way to blend creationism and evolution. Remember time is a human invention. As Albert Einstein said: “Space and time are modes by which we think, not conditions under which we live. Time–the time that we know through clocks and calendars–was invented.” What we think of a “day” in Genesis just reveals that the writers had no other concept of time.

  8. BSinVA
    February 7, 2014 at 6:39 pm

    In the beginning; Man created God.

  9. George S. Harris
    February 8, 2014 at 10:07 am

    Why BS, I think you have discovered the great mystery. Do you suppose whoever wrote that line the other way was dyslexic? 😎

  10. BSinVA
    February 8, 2014 at 5:44 pm

    http://i57.tinypic.com/1id3k5.jpg

  11. Rick Bentley
    February 11, 2014 at 5:10 pm

    In the beginning Man created God – AND IN HIS OWN IMAGE HE DID CREATE HIM.

    We do seem to have a want or need, as George says, to trace our being here to a cause, or a Supreme Being. Best quote I’ve heard on this is that we are all aware of the great universal truth. The characteristics of our lives are largely defined by how we choose to cope with it.

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