-- Larry C. Lyons ColdFusion/Web Developer Certified Advanced ColdFusion 5 Developer EBStor.com 8870 Rixlew Lane, Suite 204 Manassas, Virginia 20109-3795 tel: (703) 393-7930 fax: (703) 393-2659 Web: http://www.ebstor.com http://www.pacel.com email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chaos, panic, and disorder - my work here is done. --
> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2002 2:36 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: Religious argument in the US... Why? > > For the record, not all creationists believe in a literal 6-days of > creation. To believe God created the Heavens and the Earth is > not to throw > out all science and all evidence of evolution. What many > people object to is > the teaching of evolution, with no push or guidance from a > creator -- a > godless evolution, as a form of intellectual dishonesty > (evolution is, after > all, just a theory), and a form of religious establishment > (removing God > from the equation is promoting atheism, which is a religious > belief). Wrong, you are exhibiting here a complete misunderstanding of scientific theory. Is gravity a theory or a law? Its the same thing here, the evidence is so overwhelming that evolution has been largely accepted as a scientific fact. Only the specific mechanisms, whether it is punctuated equilibrium or neo-Darwinianism. > Of > course, whenever any person tries to raise these objections > before a school > board or such, they are shouted down as an ignorant > creationist. But nobody > believes creationism (6-day or otherwise) should be taught as the only > theory. I've interviewed the leading creationists scholars > (for an article I > did for my college newspaper), men from the Creation Research > Institute in > San Diego, and they do not want this. After all, Darwin was > unconvinced > himself either way on the question of whether there is a God. > Surely, there > is some room for skepticism in how we teach our children? Creationism is not science. Its part of a fundimentalist Christian effort to reintroduce religion to US schools. If one applies the same standards and principles that you find in peer reviewed scientific journals to what is produced by the CRI, its painfully obvious that it has absolutely no scientific credulity. Moreover consider forcing the teaching of a religious inspired myth as on equal par with the most empirically supported scientific law in a science class. At the very least that strikes me as violating the separation amendment. Whose creation myth shall we choose, Fundimentalist Christian? The Hindu mythos would probably be better, it has more action, battles, sex, betrayals etc, I'm sure the kids would love that one. How about the Hellenic Greek creation myths? That's even raunchier. If you disagree with what your child is being taught in science class at school, feel free to withdraw her from the public system. There is no place for religion in science classes. > > I guess, though, maybe I haven't answered your question. Outside of > explaining the history of our country's fascination with this > issue. I'm not > sure there is much of an answer. We've just been raised to > think about this > issue a lot. A Christian will tell you that they push for > more religion in > public life because they see too many secularists trying to totally > eliminate it. Bill Clinton made this point himself once > during his first > term. A great book on the subject, which I read when it came > out, is the > "Culture of Disbelief" by Stephan Carter. Clinton cited this book in a > speech he made on the subject and it was a New York Times > bestseller. The > book is about the desire of many secularists to push religion > out of the > public square. It documents many such attempts and makes an > argument that > this is not good for the culture. As for why secularists seem to want > religion out of their lives, I suppose you would have to ask > them. I guess > they distrust religion, and not without cause I suppose, but I always > suspect a deeper, more personal agenda. A question, classic humanism or secular humanism espouced by those like Erasamus has resulted in how many pograms, holocausts, crusades, lynchings etc? Lets compare that number to the same count for fundimentalist Christianity. There are ample reasons to distrust fundimentalism from any religion. Consider the likes of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, two recognized leaders of the Christian Fundimentalist movements, how quickly did they applaud the attacks on Sept 11. A few days later when his revenue stream was threatened, Falwell gave a very weasel worded retraction. His organization then turned around and sent out a big fundraising letter, obstensibly to defend Rev. Falwell from the attacks from the liberals and left wing media for something he apparently did not say. It is this absolute lack of integrity that permiates fundimentalism and is why I deeply distrust it and think that the wall separating church and state should also have a moat, and a barbed wire fence. I have no problem with the free practice of your religion, the problem starts when you are placing your religion in areas where it is interferring my free practice of my religious beliefs. In other words freedom of religion ends when you try to shove your religious beliefs down my throat. regards, larry -- Larry C. Lyons ColdFusion/Web Developer Certified Advanced ColdFusion 5 Developer EBStor.com 8870 Rixlew Lane, Suite 204 Manassas, Virginia 20109-3795 tel: (703) 393-7930 fax: (703) 393-2659 Web: http://www.ebstor.com http://www.pacel.com email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chaos, panic, and disorder - my work here is done. ______________________________________________________________________ Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
