Monday, March 02, 2009

Attention Creationists: We're Onto You

An entertaining and insightful guide to recognizing a hidden religious agenda.

I especially like the following, having heard far too many of these during my years of being religiously educated via radio:

When you come across the terms "Darwinism" or "Darwinists", take heed. True scientists rarely use these terms, and instead opt for "evolution" and "biologists", respectively. When evolution is described as a "blind, random, undirected process", be warned. While genetic mutations may be random, natural selection is not. When cells are described as "astonishingly complex molecular machines", it is generally by breathless supporters of ID who take the metaphor literally and assume that such a "machine" requires an "engineer". If an author wishes for "academic freedom", it is usually ID code for "the acceptance of creationism".
If an author wishes for 'academic freedom', it is usually code for 'the acceptance of creationism.'

Some general sentiments are also red flags. Authors with religious motives make shameless appeals to common sense, from the staid - "There is nothing we can be more certain of than the reality of our sense of self" (James Le Fanu in Why Us?) - to the silly - "Yer granny was an ape!" (creationist blogger Denyse O'Leary). If common sense were a reliable guide, we wouldn't need science in the first place.

2 comments:

Al Penwasser said...

Volly,
I love posts that make me think and yours did.
I am not a creationist, as I prefer to look at things from a logical point of view. I believe Darwin may have made some very valid conclusions, but I don't think a strict evolutionary sequence is correct. If it WAS correct, why are there still apes? Neither do I accept the fantasy of a "Garden of Eden, poof!, we're all here" concept, either. Rather, I think there may have been some spark that kicked the whole shebang off many millions of years ago. But, I find it highly illogical to believe a bearded man directed it all off from a cloud. I believe the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
That being said, when my head starts to hurt (as it does now) I go off in search of a cookie.

Rose said...

Thanks for the link. I'm always bothered by terms like "Darwinsists", as well as phrases like "believe in evolution".

Creationists simply refuse to understand how science works. That's exactly why some theists do not need to prove god's existence because its supposed to be about faith. Science explains things.

Someone may believe in "a spark" as Al calls it, but just dismissing evolution is willful ignorance.

I wonder if those people who reject evolution also reject germ theory and gravity as well. Hmm.