Bruce (and other Wheaties),
Thanks for the geology note. You may be aware that the American
Geophysical Union (AGU) to which most professional geologists belong, and
to which I also belong, (its a long story why space physics is
"geophysics") has long had a "statement" that Creationism is not valid
science and should not be taught in the schools. I think it dates back to
1981. Recently they have expressed an interest in strengthening the
statement to say that Evolution is the proper scientific theory that
should be taught. This is where I became a bit irate and sent off two mail
messages to AGU. The debate can be found at:
./debate.html
If you don't mind, Bruce, I will put your message on the website. It may
interfere with your hope to get it published, but my experience is that no
one has any clue what appears on the web.
But if I can make a brief prediction, that your note, no matter how
accurate you make it, will have little impact on the Creationism
debate. The problem, and its a very serious one, is that we are living in
a post-modern age. One characteristic of post-moderns is that they do not
value truth. How did this come about?
The claim that Science has made for 200 years, was that they alone could
talk about ABSOLUTE TRUTH. In the past 40 years, the high priests of
Science have produced pollution, ozone depletion, atom bombs, Chernobyls,
and you name it, the public has lost its faith in Science. The promise of
a technological utopia has vanished. Even physicists no longer believe
that fusion power will provide all the energy the world needs in a few
short years. Only a very few space scientists still think that colonizing
the solar system will be the obvious destiny of man. As America draws near
the exhaustion of its oil supplies it has found no replacement for this
non-renewable resource. Electric cars have yet to appear in our
neighborhood. And I could continue with these failed predictions for many
pages. This despair, in the face of computer chips, the Internet, the
Green Revolution, desalination plants, solar power, is somewhat amazing.
Because its not about facts, its about dreams, about visions, about
weltgeist. Face it, science as religion let us down. (Internet is a good
example, because its all about escape from reality, not changing reality.)
Instead, we get experts with flowcharts and models explaining to us that
global warming is going to kill us, with other experts telling us that
global warming is a myth. Or storing radioactive waste in Yucca Mountain
is perfectly safe, or that it will kill all our (great)^n grandchildren.
The same expert yesterday who said fusion power would be here in ten years
is now saying that he needs another 10 billion dollars and 20 years to
achieve it. The mood gets ugly. Why should Joe Taxpayer spend another cent
for failed promises? Perhaps Science is all about ego trips and not about
facts? Then the radical feminists, the deconstructionists, the
sociologists gladly leap into the fray with their explanations why truth
isn't what it used to be. And the educators send their troops into the
culture wars armed with "esteem building" and "goal oriented teaching".
I just saw a bumper sticker today that said "Hate is not a Family Value".
After some time I realized it was an attack on the Conservatives who push
family values to the exclusion of moral relativism and inclusivism, which
was being labelled "Hate". (What an Orwellian world we live in!) After
some further recollection, I wanted to put on a bumper sticker that said
"Dems hate haters". I had a serious lunch conversation with a PhD
physicist who explained to me that what he couldn't stand about
fundamentalists was their narrow minded attitude. I said to him "So what I
hear you saying is that you can't tolerate intolerance?" He agreed
fervently with my statement. Such statements can only be made in our
post-modern world.
Okay, so where does this fit in with the Creationism debate? Bruce, you
have written a wonderfully researched document
that assumes that Science
can reveal absolute truth. Its a document that would have carried a lot of
weight in 1950. But the Creationist, like the post-modern
deconstructionist, just doesn't care. Faith, as Mark Twain ridiculed in
Huck Finn, is believing what you know aint so. Nor, for that matter, does
the NEA care either, they will push Evolution with or without evidence as
long as they have breath. The Culture wars have long since passed the
battle lines of Facts, and they are now fighting viciously over Beliefs and
Creeds. You might as well have tried to stop the wars of religion in
Europe with rational discourse.
This is deja vu all over again, and would be highly discouraging to
me but for a recent revelation. When Jesus said, "I am the Truth", he was
making "facts" personal, he was saying "I am Physics, I am Geology, I am
Astronomy". As Science learns about the Universe, it is learning about
Jesus. Science returns to its medieval position as a portion or subject
within Theology, for Theology is the Queen of the Sciences. Saint Paul in
Phillipians 1 said that he was stuck in prison while some of the
competition out of envy were trying to steal his fame by preaching in his
usual places. And then he made the amazing statement. "But what does it
matter, for Christ is preached, and in that I rejoice." I don't care what
my colleague's religious affiliation is, as long as he does good physics,
for then "Christ is preached". Conversely, even if a Creationist claims
the same Lord as I, if he teaches nonsense, he is defaming the name of
Christ.
In these culture wars, we will lose and have indeed already lost if we
adopt the methods of the enemy. If the Creationist, in the name of religion,
sacrifices the truth, he has crucified Christ all over again.
The issue should not
be "what system do you subscribe to?", but "what is the nature of truth?".
Only a passionate desire for truth will bring us to Christ, only a
stubborn persistance for truth will lead us out of the choking weeds of
wealth and culture, only a hatred for duplicity will prevent us from dying
from Satan's cancerous lies, for only the truth will set us free.
- Rob
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