> If you really CARE whether or not evangelical Christendom accepts the
> correctness of anything other than YEC, the burden of proof and the
> responsibility for making it comprehensible to the masses is on YOU (the
> Christian scientific "establishment". YOU must convince the rest of us!
and...
> If you're going to claim the intellectual high ground, and keep it, you're
> going to have to do a better job of defending it than referring challengers
> to your own sacred literature. If you can't convince the Chuck Warmans and
> Steve Jones and Jim Bells of the world, or more importantly, the Joe
> Sixpacks of the world, AT THEIR LEVEL, then no matter how right you may
> be, you'll never attract much of a following. Unless you resort to
> ACLU-type coercion, that is.
Yes and no. Here are the problems as I see them...
1. People who do science for a living are busy people. If you're a
professor you teach one or more classes with all the work that
entails, serve on various committees, advise students (both
undergraduate and graduate), write professional papers, review
professional papers from your peers, read the professional papers
in your own field, supervise your graduate student's research,
attempt to do your own research, write grant proposals to fund
that research, and maybe once in a while spend some time with
the wife and kids. If you're a graduate student, as I am, it's
a similar grind with very long days and little time off. Most
do not have time to reach out and try to educate the public, even
if they wanted to (as it is, I probably spend too much time reading
and replying to these mailing list posts than is wise).
2. Many people, quite frankly, don't want to be educated about science.
Many people could care less or feel that they're unable to learn it
because it's too hard. You can't force people to become educated
(there are university students who take beginning courses in geology
and get mad when you actually try to teach them something! :) I
don't believe our society really values science.
3. One can't really understand things like the second law of thermodynamics
or quantum mechanics without learning some advanced mathematics. Sorry,
but popular-level explanations just don't cut it. One can't understand
radiometric dating in any detail without learning about how isotopes
behave in geologic systems. It's not a one-way street where scientists
have to make everything simplified so people can understand it. Some
things just can't be simplified without distorting them. If you want
to learn something, it may entail some hard work.
4. Don't churches share any responsibility? Are there any churches that
invite Christian scientists who AREN'T YECs in for talks (many of them
invite YEC speakers)?
Personally, I try to educate people about the science of geology because I
think it's interesting and because most laypeople have no idea what geology is
or what geologists do. I also enjoy teaching. I also have tried to let my
fellow Christians know that there are Christians in science who are not YECs.
Unfortunately, they generally don't know this because many evangelical
churches, if they think about science at all, are committed to presenting only
the YEC view by inviting only YECs in for talks and seminars.
- Steve.
-- Steven H. Schimmrich Callsign KB9LCG s-schim@uiuc.edu Department of Geology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 245 Natural History Building, Urbana, IL 61801 (217) 244-1246 http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/s-schim Deus noster refugium