Reflectorites
On Wed, 26 Jan 2000 12:56:05 -0600, Susan Brassfield wrote:
SB>This was also posted to the other list I am on and thought it might make
>for interesting reading.
[...]
> LET'S TEACH CREATIONISM
> by Bart Kosko
>
> Fundamentalist Christians are correct: creationism should be taught in the
> schools. But they won't like the results.
I would of course be happy if *all* forms of "creationism" were taught in
schools, ie. Progressive and Mediate Creation, as well as Young-Earth
Creation.
And also part of the teaching of "creationism" would be bringing out the
problems and hidden metaphysical assumptions of evolution.
I am sure that the leading evolutionists realise that, otherwise they would
have long ago allowed creationism to be taught in schools alongside
evolution.
I find amusingly naive the statement: "science demands mechanisms. It
demands to know how something happens". Apart from the fact that this is
simply false: Newton proposed his theory of gravity with no mechanism,
just a description; what exactly is the "mechanisms" of the origin of life and
macroevolution, for starters?
Steve
[...]
> The Kansas State Board of Education voted in August to allow state techers
> not to teach evolution of the Big Bang theory of cosmic creation. Then New
> Mexico's State Board of Education voted 14-1 in October to ban creationism
> from the state curriculum.
>
> The New Mexico declaration went too far. There is one point where the
> creationists are right: Schools should teach creationism in science classes.
> Creationism offers an ideal case study of the scientific method. But
> creationists may not like the result.
>
> All good theories should have a central claim and creationism does: God
> created the world. Most versions further claim that God created Earth and
> that He created the life forms on its surface.
>
> But science demands mechanisms. It demands to know how something happens. So
> what is the mechanism of creationism? How did God create the world? Did He
> just say, "Behold!" and the world appeared? Then how does this "beholding"
> work? Does it have a mathematical description? Does it obey the law of
>energy conservation?
[...]
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"The biggest physical storm occurring in ten years usually produces as
much change as all the rest put together. And the biggest in a hundred
years as much or more than all the rest. And, perhaps, even the biggest in a
thousand years.... Something of the same sort seems to happen with
evolution. The fine-tuning of genes produces small changes. The addition
of entirely new genes, perhaps whole batteries of new genes, produces
large changes, grafted onto the genetic complement of an already existing
organism." (Hoyle F., "Mathematics of Evolution", [1987], Acorn
Enterprises: Memphis TN, 1999, pp.xv. Ellipses in original.)
Stephen E. Jones | sejones@iinet.net.au | http://www.iinet.net.au/~sejones
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