Re: [asa] YEC social dynamics

Merv wrote:

> One way to approach the problem may be to help YEC folks see that
> they are, in an ironic way taking sides with the hardest core
> atheists by granting science more authority than they ought. So
> those most likely to issue the challenge: "What do Christ and
> Belial have in common" need to take stock of their own position.

I do think that this point is essential. The extremes in this debate
really see the issues in a very similar light. They both see science
as a comprehensive worldview that encompasses all of reality --
essentially equivalent to "knowledge." They further both accept that
if God were real and active in the natural world that God's
fingerprints should be transparently seen through science.
Similarly, the Bible is read as though it is intended as a scientific
document. Given these assumptions, the atheist says the Bible's
descriptions of the natural world are clearly in error, and science
has found no proof of God, therefore God does not exist. The YEC
creationist says, the Bible is the only source of real truth and
since modern science does not agree with the Bible's description of
the natural world and its history, and refuses to acknowledge God as
part of scientific description, then science is clearly a tool of
Satan to spread disbelief.

Both are working from the same false assumptions -- and coming to
opposite conclusions.

Keith

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Received on Tue Sep 5 10:21:54 2006