GM>Derek McLarmen wrote:
>
>>My personal experience of being taught biological evolutionary theory
>> at a public (state government) school in Australia in the early 70's is
>>not consistent with this claim. Religious and philosophical issues simply
>> were not raised in any part of my pre-university science education.
>>
>
>and Steve Clark agreed:
>
>>This was my experience as well.
>
>That is not going to be the experience in the geosciences. At least as
>far as the concept of a global flood is concerned, it is ridiculed often
>and with good observational reasons. I have been on numerous geological
>field trips where the issue of a global flood, Noah etc. came up. When it
>has brought up it was always given a raucous set of raspberries by
>everyone. Anyone going into such a situation with a YEC/global flood view
>is in for a lot of trouble. The problem is that the YEC geological student
>is right then staring at data which can not possibly fit into the concept
>of a global flood. He will KNOW that the data fits what they are saying.
You are right. No geology course worth studying could fail to confront (and
affront) the religious beliefs of YEC's. It may be that Steve and I were
fortunate enough to either not have any YEC's studying science with us, or,
more likely, not have any YEC's confident enough to argue their beliefs in a
science classroom.
GM>"Neptunists and catastrophists set themselves a task which ultimately
>proved self-contradictory. They accorded complete philosophic validity to
>whatever result Baconian induction might bring them; and they also
>required these results to display the structure and development of the
>material world as the history of an intending Providence with a moral
>purpose, as physical evidence not only of God;s power but of His will and
>His immediacy. However firmly they might insist that Genesis was not
>designed to teach the truths of science, or the Geological Society to
>teach the truths of morality, still truth, as Sedgewick felt, could not be
>inconsistent with itself. The central thread of interpretation became
>finer and finer. One by one its strands were broken and the weight of
>demonstration put upon those remaning--the six days of creation, the
>six-thousand-year span of earth history, the birth of our present globe in
>a primeval diluvium, the antiquity and original parentage of species, the
>dynamical efficacy of divinely ordained cataclysms, the flood itself.
>Finally, the conception of a divinity who must continually interfere with
>his arrangements in order to prove himself a governing force depended upon
>the immutability of different manifestations of life. This was the one
>remaining strand."Charles Coulston Gillispie, "The Uniformity of Nature,"
>in J.F. White, _Study of the Earth_, Prentice Hall, 1962, p. 37
>
>Mighty interesting theology for a geology text.
While certainly not promoting atheism (YEC's who consider that OEC and TE
are effectively atheism would disagree), White, by including this Gillespie
quote in a science textbook, needlesssly provides YEC's with evidence to
substantiate one of their consistent complaints, i.e. science classes are
undermining the religious beliefs that YEC parents have instilled in their
children. I would like to think that there are more sensitive and
constructive ways to deprogram the children of YEC parents without
necessarily promoting atheism as the only alternative to YEC.
GM>Lest those who don't know me think I am saying that there is a huge
>conspiacy on the part of geology profs, I am not saying that. In fact, I
>agree that the geological evidence rules out a global flood. I am merely
>pointing out that the Christian failure to incorporate the data of geology
>into a consistent apologetic leaves the YEC student of geology at the
>mercy of those who do not like Christianity. Because the data IS on their
>side!
>
>My main gripe is with those who know nothing of geology who promulgate the
>global flood view when all they are doing is setting their followers up
>for devastation when they finally do learn some geology.
I understand your gripe. My main gripe is that Christian geologists,
biologists and science teachers are too willing to leave the job of
discrediting YEC to atheists and agnostics, rather than generate any discord
by tackling this issue within the Christian community. It would seem to me
that YEC's who are convinced by atheists or agnostics that YEC is
unsustainable are much more likely to become atheists or agnostics, than
YEC's who are convinced by OEC's or TE's. Yet it continues to be the likes
of Dawkins and Gould who are the loudest, most persistent and most published
voices against YEC.
Regards
Derek
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| Derek McLarnen | dmclarne@pcug.org.au |
| Melba ACT | dmclarne@ncomcanb.telstra.com.au |
| Australia | |
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