jawfish

Intelligent Design Round Three
john posted in politics & culture on July 13th, 2005

Try Things Creationists Hate by Skeptic Report, for a source on the lunacy of Creationism.

How do Creationists placidly accept the benefits of science? These folks who demand that selected passages from the Old Testament be considered historically factual, are surrounded by products created by the same process which determines that Genesis is myth not history. Every moment of their lives is mediated by some device which is based on scientific principles. Principles applied to genetics, ecology, anatomy, molecular biology and so forth, producing overwhelming evidence for Evolution.

Why do Creationists and other aggressive right-wing evangelicals adopt the politics of victimhood? Over and again you hear them complain of how they aren’t allowed to express their faith, how they are suppressed. Why are they so put upon? Millions of other religious people, from mainstream Christians, to Sikhs, to Buddhists can coexist here within a secular society, without demanding that their belief become law. Next they’ll want affirmative action.

My view is that they have an immature faith. Faith that requires a father-figure who speaks to believers personally, seems egocentric to me. Their defensiveness makes me think they need a faith without consideration, without doubt, a faith that provides simple answers. A Christian who hasn’t thought hard about how a just God can create a world full of suffering, is a poseur. If all you get is answers from your theology, then it’s too simple to stand up to the real world. I think aggressive evangelicals desperately need self-justification, they need sharp divisions and simple rules to explain the chaotic world. The questioning must be silenced to preserve their security.

Science and religion are not the same kind of process, so why is science so frightening to these biblical literalists? Maybe they like their modern gadgets. Maybe all they have a problem with are monkeys and black people. Maybe this latest in a long history of attacks on Evolution is motivated by the recent findings that all humans migrated from Africa, having descended from apes.

Possibly these strict biblical constructionists are just frightened and overwhelmed by modern life. Their choice of religion reflects intellectual immaturity. They don’t want to think, they want answers now, and the answers better tell them they are the good people.

Born Again Evangelical Protestantism is perfect for these requirements. It doesn’t require introspection, it doesn’t ask for guilt, it provides instant absolution and a re-born self. As long as you are willing to limit your questions, then the answer will include you in the club of good folks. Of course, the easiest way for a church to form a community of good folks, is to proclaim the wickedness of those outside the circle.

Genesis is the place in the Old Testament that touches the history of the planet, so maybe that’s why Evolution is the target, and other science is ignored. Without the weight of the theology of Original Sin, Evangelicals can concentrate on the story-telling in the first book, and that’s where they come up against science. Maybe they are so naturally un-scientific, that the other philosophically unsettling discoveries of science whizz by unnoticed, like cosmic rays.

What happens if they discover plate tectonics? Will the San Andreas fault be declared a miracle, a mirage, or a secular humanist plot?