Religions > Atheism > Commentary: Fantasy Island: The dwindling refuges of creationism
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Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Jason Spaceman" |
| Date: |
11 Dec 2005 08:25:26 PM |
| Object: |
Commentary: Fantasy Island: The dwindling refuges of creationism |
From the article:
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By William Saletan
Posted Friday, Dec. 9, 2005, at 8:05 AM ET
KEY WEST, Fla., Dec. 6—Sunday morning, as snow approaches Washington,
I throw a swimsuit in my travel bag and fly off to Key West. Twice a
year, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Ethics and
Public Policy Center bring journalists to this hedonistic outpost to
talk about faith and values. It's an odd trip from cold to hot, from
secular to pious to prurient. Everything feels upside down. Maybe
that's the point.
Our first topic is creationism. In Washington, reporters look at the
polls—42 percent of Americans think life has existed in its present
form since the beginning of time—and fret that fundamentalists are
running the country. But in Key West, historian Ed Larson invites us
to look at it the other way. Darwin's Origin of Species, flanked by
Biblical criticism, positivism, Marxism, and Freudianism, blew
traditional beliefs and mores off their hinges. Conservatives and some
progressives saw an oncoming dark age of materialism, relativism, and
eugenics. Radical ideologues like H.L. Mencken and Clarence Darrow
scorned faith. Denominational universities turned modern. After the
Scopes trial, the media abandoned churches. E.O. Wilson, Richard
Dawkins, and other anti-prophets have declared war on faith in the
name of science. Neuroscientists are trying to reduce consciousness
and religious belief to biology.
In the courts, religion has steadily lost ground. The Supreme Court
struck down classroom religious instruction, mandatory school prayer,
sanctioned Bible readings, and "creation science." Fearing conflict,
schools purged discussions of faith even from their social science
curricula. Social conservatives retreated to their churches, radio
stations, and home schools. Larson calls it a "fundamentalist
subculture."
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Read it at http://www.slate.com/id/2131663/
J. Spaceman
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Commentary: Fantasy Island: The dwindling refuges of creationism |
12 Dec 2005 08:02:36 AM |
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Jason Spaceman wrote:
From the article:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the courts, religion has steadily lost ground. The Supreme Court
struck down classroom religious instruction, mandatory school prayer,
sanctioned Bible readings, and "creation science." Fearing conflict,
schools purged discussions of faith even from their social science
curricula. Social conservatives retreated to their churches, radio
stations, and home schools. Larson calls it a "fundamentalist
subculture."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read it at http://www.slate.com/id/2131663/
But evolution has no sense of direction, doesn't know where it's going,
will happily turn around and go backwards. When the fundamentalists'
backs are to the wall is when they'll turn around and start fighting
:-) (not my joke...)
Don't count them out yet!
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| User: "CreateThis" |
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| Title: Re: Commentary: Fantasy Island: The dwindling refuges of creationism |
11 Dec 2005 10:19:10 PM |
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Jason Spaceman wrote:
From the article:
"Fundamentalists have lost the media, the colleges, and the science
academies. The battleground has been reduced to public schools, and
creationism has been reduced to intelligent design—a pathetic, agnostic,
empty shell. Creationists can't teach a dogma, so they "teach the
controversy." They accept more and more of Darwin's theory, narrowing
the dispute to isolated systems—the eye, the flagellum, the
blood-clotting system—that they say Darwinism can't explain. They just
want science to stop short of denying God's possibility. A little bit of
mystery, a parcel of unspoiled divine wilderness, is all they ask.
"I think about that as I bike around the perimeter of the island that
evening. I think of all the territory that's been mapped, drawn, and
quartered. This island, the last of the stepping stones into the
tropics, now covered with concrete, tchotchkes, and thongs. In the
dimming light, I pass a band of tall, white birds prancing offshore,
their long necks craning forward majestically. They look for all the
world as though they're walking on the water. I know that's the mirage
of the Keys: What looks like the sea is really wet flatland, and the
birds' long legs are touching the ground. But if I can just put that out
of my mind, I can hold on to my beautiful illusion till darkness comes."
CT
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| User: "Dale" |
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| Title: Re: Commentary: Fantasy Island: The dwindling refuges of creationism |
12 Dec 2005 12:54:06 AM |
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"CreateThis" <CreateThis@yippee.com> wrote in message
news:Jaudnfdgxc_XZwHenZ2dnUVZ_tadnZ2d@comcast.com...
Jason Spaceman wrote:
From the article:
[...]
They just
want science to stop short of denying God's possibility. A little bit of
mystery, a parcel of unspoiled divine wilderness, is all they ask.
If they could only make a tiny leap, they'd realize it's all mystery.
Explaining how things are doesn't explain why they are.
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| User: "655321" |
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| Title: Re: Commentary: Fantasy Island: The dwindling refuges of creationism |
12 Dec 2005 01:16:15 AM |
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On 2005-12-11 22:54:06 -0800, "Dale" <dmgreer@nspm.airmail.net> said:
If they could only make a tiny leap,
<snip>
Heh. Not so tiny.
--
GlennGlenn (655321) -- aa#825 --
"Genocide is used sparingly by God in only extreme circumstances." -Jim Spaza
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