On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 22:50:10 -0700, johac
<jhachmann@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote in alt.atheism

One more reason for the US religious righties to hate the French.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070326/ts_nm/france_creationism_dc;_ylt=ArQfoE6B6
hLqCNetpzbz0FZZ.3QA

---
French scientists rebut U.S., Muslim creationism

By Tom Heneghan, Religion EditorMon Mar 26, 10:19 AM ET

With creationism now coming in Christian and Muslim versions,
scientists, teachers and theologians in France are debating ways to
counteract what they see as growing religious attacks on science.

Superstitious unthinking stupidities, as usual.

Bible-based criticism of evolution, once limited to Protestant
fundamentalists in the United States, has become an issue in France now
that Pope Benedict and some leading Catholic theologians have criticized
the neo-Darwinist view of creation.

An Islamist publisher in Turkey mass-mailed a lavishly illustrated
Muslim creationist book to schools across France recently, prompting the
Education Ministry to proscribe the volume and question the way the
story of life is taught here.

The Bible and the Koran say God directly created the world and
everything in it. In Christianity, fundamentalists believe this
literally but the largest denomination, Catholicism, and most mainline
Protestant churches read it more symbolically.

This literalism led Christian fundamentalists to reject the theory of
evolution elaborated in the 19th century by Charles Darwin, the
foundation stone of modern biology. Muslim scholars also dispute
evolution but have not made this a major issue.

"There is a growing distrust of science in public opinion, especially
among the young, and that worries us," said Philippe Deterre, a research
biologist and Catholic priest who organized a colloquium on creationism
for scientists at the weekend.

"There are many issues that go beyond strictly scientific or strictly
theological explanations," he said at the colloquium in this university
town southwest of Paris. Deterre's Blaise Pascal Network promotes
understanding between science and religion.

Barred from teaching creationism in U.S. public schools, some
conservative Christians now advocate the "intelligent design" argument
that some forms of life are too complex to have simply evolved.
Scientists call this creationism in disguise.

These American concerns caught notice in Europe after Vienna Cardinal
Christoph Schoenborn, a confidant of Pope Benedict, attacked
neo-Darwinist theories in 2005 in what seemed to be a move to ally the
Catholic Church with "intelligent design."

GROWING ISSUES IN FRANCE

These theoretical debates became a pressing issue in France last month
when schools unexpectedly received free copies of an "Atlas of Creation"
by Turkish Islamist Harun Yahya that blames Darwinism for everything
from terrorism to Nazism.

Herve Le Guyader, a University of Paris biology professor who advised
the Education Ministry on the Atlas, said high school biology teachers
needed more training now to respond to the increasingly open challenges
to the theory of evolution.

"It's often taught in a simplistic way," he said. "We have to give them
the philosophical arguments they need to respond."

Paleontologist Marc Godinot said creationists and their critics drew
overblown conclusions from a theory that explains how life developed but
not how it was created. The ultimate origin of life is not a question
science can answer, he said.

Creationists reject evolution because some scientists say the role of
chance in it proves that life has no final meaning.

With an imaginary buddy who has omni characteristics life has no final
meaning either. Gross stupidity.

What if someone's 'role' as an infant was to simply wet or urp on
someone to distract them enough that conversation is interrupted. The
'meaning' of that life has been completed. Now what? Dispose of the
person as surplus?

"We have to decode this, but that's a job for philosophers and
theologians," Godinot said . "Creation is actually a big mystery."

Jacques Arnould, a Catholic priest who works at France's National Center
for Space Research, said Christians in Europe should not look down with
bemusement at creationists abroad.

"They are believers, as we are," the Dominican theologian told the
meeting of about 100, mostly Catholic scientists with a few Muslims as
well. "There are Christian, Muslim and Jewish approaches that we have to
respect."

Arnould said the question of life's purpose arose naturally in biology
class but science could not answer it. Instead of offering simple
creationism, he said, theologians should develop views that respect
modern science and faith in a divine purpose.

He said Catholic thinkers should update "natural theology," the
teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) that married philosophy
and science in a view that dominated European thought until the
18th-century Enlightenment divorced the two fields.

"Natural theology was based on the knowledge of the time," said Arnould.
"That knowledge keeps changing, so natural theology has to change too."

---
http://tinyurl.com/34mc6l

On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 22:50:10 -0700, johac
<jhachmann@remove.sbcglobal.net> wrote in alt.atheism

One more reason for the US religious righties to hate the French.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070326/ts_nm/france_creationism_dc;_ylt=ArQfoE6B6hLqCNetpzbz0FZZ.3QA

---
French scientists rebut U.S., Muslim creationism

By Tom Heneghan, Religion EditorMon Mar 26, 10:19 AM ET

With creationism now coming in Christian and Muslim versions,
scientists, teachers and theologians in France are debating ways to
counteract what they see as growing religious attacks on science.

Superstitious unthinking stupidities, as usual.

Bible-based criticism of evolution, once limited to Protestant
fundamentalists in the United States, has become an issue in France now
that Pope Benedict and some leading Catholic theologians have criticized
the neo-Darwinist view of creation.

An Islamist publisher in Turkey mass-mailed a lavishly illustrated
Muslim creationist book to schools across France recently, prompting the
Education Ministry to proscribe the volume and question the way the
story of life is taught here.

The Bible and the Koran say God directly created the world and
everything in it. In Christianity, fundamentalists believe this
literally but the largest denomination, Catholicism, and most mainline
Protestant churches read it more symbolically.

This literalism led Christian fundamentalists to reject the theory of
evolution elaborated in the 19th century by Charles Darwin, the
foundation stone of modern biology. Muslim scholars also dispute
evolution but have not made this a major issue.

"There is a growing distrust of science in public opinion, especially
among the young, and that worries us," said Philippe Deterre, a research
biologist and Catholic priest who organized a colloquium on creationism
for scientists at the weekend.

"There are many issues that go beyond strictly scientific or strictly
theological explanations," he said at the colloquium in this university
town southwest of Paris. Deterre's Blaise Pascal Network promotes
understanding between science and religion.

Barred from teaching creationism in U.S. public schools, some
conservative Christians now advocate the "intelligent design" argument
that some forms of life are too complex to have simply evolved.
Scientists call this creationism in disguise.

These American concerns caught notice in Europe after Vienna Cardinal
Christoph Schoenborn, a confidant of Pope Benedict, attacked
neo-Darwinist theories in 2005 in what seemed to be a move to ally the
Catholic Church with "intelligent design."

GROWING ISSUES IN FRANCE

These theoretical debates became a pressing issue in France last month
when schools unexpectedly received free copies of an "Atlas of Creation"
by Turkish Islamist Harun Yahya that blames Darwinism for everything
from terrorism to Nazism.

Herve Le Guyader, a University of Paris biology professor who advised
the Education Ministry on the Atlas, said high school biology teachers
needed more training now to respond to the increasingly open challenges
to the theory of evolution.

"It's often taught in a simplistic way," he said. "We have to give them
the philosophical arguments they need to respond."

Paleontologist Marc Godinot said creationists and their critics drew
overblown conclusions from a theory that explains how life developed but
not how it was created. The ultimate origin of life is not a question
science can answer, he said.

Creationists reject evolution because some scientists say the role of
chance in it proves that life has no final meaning.

With an imaginary buddy who has omni characteristics life has no final
meaning either. Gross stupidity.

What if someone's 'role' as an infant was to simply wet or urp on
someone to distract them enough that conversation is interrupted. The
'meaning' of that life has been completed. Now what? Dispose of the
person as surplus?

"We have to decode this, but that's a job for philosophers and
theologians," Godinot said . "Creation is actually a big mystery."

Jacques Arnould, a Catholic priest who works at France's National Center
for Space Research, said Christians in Europe should not look down with
bemusement at creationists abroad.

"They are believers, as we are," the Dominican theologian told the
meeting of about 100, mostly Catholic scientists with a few Muslims as
well. "There are Christian, Muslim and Jewish approaches that we have to
respect."

Arnould said the question of life's purpose arose naturally in biology
class but science could not answer it. Instead of offering simple
creationism, he said, theologians should develop views that respect
modern science and faith in a divine purpose.

He said Catholic thinkers should update "natural theology," the
teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) that married philosophy
and science in a view that dominated European thought until the
18th-century Enlightenment divorced the two fields.

"Natural theology was based on the knowledge of the time," said Arnould.
"That knowledge keeps changing, so natural theology has to change too."

---
http://tinyurl.com/34mc6l

johac wrote:

French scientists rebut U.S., Muslim creationism

By Tom Heneghan, Religion EditorMon Mar 26, 10:19 AM ET

With creationism now coming in Christian and Muslim versions,
scientists, teachers and theologians in France are debating ways to
counteract what they see as growing religious attacks on science.

Bible-based criticism of evolution, once limited to Protestant
fundamentalists in the United States, has become an issue in France now
that Pope Benedict and some leading Catholic theologians have criticized
the neo-Darwinist view of creation.

An Islamist publisher in Turkey mass-mailed a lavishly illustrated
Muslim creationist book to schools across France recently, prompting the
Education Ministry to proscribe the volume and question the way the
story of life is taught here.

I wish the Moslem creationists would get to work here. There's nothing
better at keeping Christian fundies at bay than knowing that if they
open the door for religion, non-Christians will walk through.

johac wrote:

French scientists rebut U.S., Muslim creationism

By Tom Heneghan, Religion EditorMon Mar 26, 10:19 AM ET

With creationism now coming in Christian and Muslim versions,
scientists, teachers and theologians in France are debating ways to
counteract what they see as growing religious attacks on science.

Bible-based criticism of evolution, once limited to Protestant
fundamentalists in the United States, has become an issue in France now
that Pope Benedict and some leading Catholic theologians have criticized
the neo-Darwinist view of creation.

An Islamist publisher in Turkey mass-mailed a lavishly illustrated
Muslim creationist book to schools across France recently, prompting the
Education Ministry to proscribe the volume and question the way the
story of life is taught here.

I wish the Moslem creationists would get to work here. There's nothing
better at keeping Christian fundies at bay than knowing that if they
open the door for religion, non-Christians will walk through.

--
L. Raymond