You cannot just wish these things away. All you can do is incorporate the best aspects and leave the rest behind.
Religious fanatics already brainwash their kids.
If you want your children to compete in the world, you give them an education, to be healthy, a sound diet, or spiritual, the teachings of Christ. You cannot blame these parents for doing what they honestly think is best for their children.
A scientific education without the sacred, or "religious", is emotionless and hollow. And a religion without science can rapidly become dogmatic and close minded.
Yes, superstition and the like seem to be part of the human psyche. I agree, besides science education children also needs spiritual teachings. There are enlightened versions of Jesus's teachings for example. If I can't blame the parents teaching creationism, I can certainly blame legislators if they mess with biology curriculums, because then it gets dangerous. See the view of the European Parlament below. Creationism is a threat to human survival.
Trying to make my point here let me say this: "To me creationists driving cars is a contradiction."
Why?
Creationists follow a Dark Ages belief system which includes above all a blatant disrespect for scientific method. Most of them drive cars and the irony is that the car would never have been in the 19th century without 300 years of enlightenment that preceded this invention (the first Otto gasoline engine was built in Mannheim, Germany by Karl Benz in 1885).
Creationism is more dangerous than astrology. As long as horoscopes contain positive statements, the placebo effect makes the lives of people easier.
Enlightened Christians can believe in God and follow Jesus's teachings, while at the same time knowing the Earth is about 4.6 billion years old and evolution is no contradiction when properly interpreting the Bible or other sacred writings. The "seven days" in Genesis have a symbolic or metaphorical meaning. Ever heard of the "eleventh hour"? The eleventh hour is an expression referring to the last moments before a deadline or the imminence of a decisive or "final" moment. In a situation like this, nobody would check his or her wristwatch and expect to see it's eleven o'clock. Well, a few creationists might.
All sacred writings are full of allegories, symbols and metaphors. This holds true for all faiths. I know many enlightened Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists etc. who would agree with this. I also know many enlightened followers of non-religious belief systems who would also agree with this. There are many excellent non-religious belief systems and they are equally important. Following a particular belief system is a personal choice. We should all respect each other's differences in rituals and customs.
"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light". This could mean "Let there be starlight", which represents a key milestone after the creation of our Universe, beginning with the Big Bang. To me it also means "let there be enlightenment".
Religious views of a person should be consistent with that person's life. Cars require enlightenment.
Any thoughts on this?
Why do creationists not trust the age of the Earth? Evolution? A high mountain requires more time to build. A pebble requires a lot of water to keep flowing over it. The half-times of isoptopes can be clearly observed. Resistant bacteria adapt to deal with threats from antibiotics. We can even watch DNA make copies of itself and measure the rate of errors (mutations). GPS receivers can monitor plate tectonics. I have trouble understanding half-hearted enlightenment of creationists in support of the science behind cars, but being ignorant about the age of the Earth or the Universe.
Well, some creationists were brainwashed when they were kids. So they are actually victims and we need to develop strategies to unbrainwash their minds. College professors have a hard time with them as freshmans in science classes. The dangerous people are the "thought" leaders of creationism and I suspect that they also have political goals. I'm glad that European governments have begun dealing with the issue, see the resolution below. By the way, I would consider myself to be an enlightened Christian. I believe in God. I admire the teachings of Jesus. They are wonderful, smart and very long-sighted. I love science. I find it very sad that creationist leaders try to hijack religion and use it for their own purposes. Terrorists try to do the same and of course this is worse as people also get killed. All of this drives people away from religion. What we need is enlightened religious leaders with enough charisma and the willingness to cooperate with enlightened politicians (not all politicians fall into this category). We need strategies to contain creationism and "intelligent" design.
A note on Social Darwinism: I think homo sapiens became such a successful species because it also developed solidarity and social behavior. Natural selection favored groups of early homo sapiens (and its ancestors) because they were helping each other. They developed painting and language. Survival of the fittest in economic terms does not mean the company that is most ruthless will survive. Ruthlessness might lead to short-term success, but that's about it. What you need is fair competition and real stakeholder value. Treat everyone well. Your customers, your employees, your local communities. Long-term you will also have happy shareholders. Focus on short-term shareholder value only and you're doomed. Natural selection. Darwin was a smart man.
Our children should not only learn about science, but also philosophy, ethics, religion, purpose, identity and a lot more. They should not be indoctrinated. Science cannot answer every question there is. Science cannot prove or disprove God. Whether God exists is a matter of belief. A matter of faith. Science cannot answer the question why anything exists at all. We need both. But we don't need pseudoreligions such as creationism messing with science. Religion should stick with the realm outside science. Purpose. Meaning of life (beyond that of selfish genes). Values. Peace.
I'm trying to comprehend the Creationist view and the appeal of Dark Ages belief systems in general. There are some in other religions as well. Without understanding we cannot develop useful strategies to fight the Dark Ages belief systems. They appear harmless at first. I'm sure many non-suspecting Creationists are good and warm-hearted people. They are being misled by charismatic pseudoreligious leaders who seem to have political agendas as well. Not so harmless anymore. Kids get brainwashed by their strict parents. Creationism gets very harmful when it comes to hijacking the education system, in particular the curriculums of science classes. We cannot allow this. We have to fight this. This is what the European Union is trying to achieve (see resolution below). It's sad how far this has spread in the United States. In the mid-term the movement can become very dangerous. First it will lead to the burning of books and later to the burning of witches. Galileo was found guilty of heresy and put under house arrest. Giordano Bruno was killed. He was burned at the stake as a heretic. We think we live in the 21st century and all of this happened a long time ago. Can we be sure the Dark Ages will not return? Can we take democracy and freedom for granted? Or does it take an effort to defend it?
Undermining scientific method in a few areas can eventually spread to other areas as well. Let's try to contain it while we still can. I don't want to go back to the burning of witches. Europeans are quite worried about what's going on in the US. I don't want brainwashing in our schools. Here's a very recent resolution from the European Parliamentary Assembly:
1. The aim of this resolution is not to question or to fight a belief – the right to freedom of belief does not permit that. The aim is to warn against certain tendencies to pass off a belief as science. It is necessary to separate belief from science. It is not a matter of antagonism. Science and belief must be able to coexist. It is not a matter of opposing belief and science, but it is necessary to prevent belief from opposing science.
2. For some people the Creation, as a matter of religious belief, gives a meaning to life. Nevertheless, the Parliamentary Assembly is worried about the possible ill-effects of the spread of creationist ideas within our education systems and about the consequences for our democracies. If we are not careful, creationism could become a threat to human rights, which are a key concern of the Council of Europe.
3. Creationism, born of the denial of the evolution of species through natural selection, was for a long time an almost exclusively American phenomenon. Today creationist ideas are tending to find their way into Europe and their spread is affecting quite a few Council of Europe member states.
4. The prime target of present-day creationists, most of whom are of the Christian or Muslim faith, is education. Creationists are bent on ensuring that their ideas are included in the school science syllabuses. Creationism cannot, however, lay claim to being a scientific discipline.
5. Creationists question the scientific character of certain areas of knowledge and argue that the theory of evolution is only one interpretation among others. They accuse scientists of not providing enough evidence to establish the theory of evolution as scientifically valid. On the contrary, creationists defend their own statements as scientific. None of this stands up to objective analysis.
6. We are witnessing a growth of modes of thought which challenge established knowledge about nature, evolution, our origins and our place in the universe.
7. There is a real risk of serious confusion being introduced into our children's minds between what has to do with convictions, beliefs, ideals of all sorts and what has to do with science. An "all things are equal" attitude may seem appealing and tolerant, but is in fact dangerous.
8. Creationism has many contradictory aspects. The "intelligent design" idea, which is the latest, more refined version of creationism, does not deny a certain degree of evolution. However, intelligent design, presented in a more subtle way, seeks to portray its approach as scientific, and therein lies the danger.
9. The Assembly has constantly insisted that science is of fundamental importance. Science has made possible considerable improvements in living and working conditions and is a rather significant factor in economic, technological and social development. The theory of evolution has nothing to do with divine revelation but is built on facts.
10. Creationism claims to be based on scientific rigour. In reality the methods employed by creationists are of three types: purely dogmatic assertions; distorted use of scientific quotations, sometimes illustrated with magnificent photographs; and backing from more or less well-known scientists, most of whom are not specialists in these matters. By these means creationists seek to appeal to non-specialists and spread doubt and confusion in their minds.
11. Evolution is not simply a matter of the evolution of humans and of populations. Denying it could have serious consequences for the development of our societies. Advances in medical research, aiming at combating infectious diseases such as Aids, are impossible if every principle of evolution is denied. One cannot be fully aware of the risks involved in the significant decline in biodiversity and climate change if the mechanisms of evolution are not understood.
12. Our modern world is based on a long history, of which the development of science and technology forms an important part. However, the scientific approach is still not well understood and this is liable to encourage the development of all manner of fundamentalism and extremism. The total rejection of science is definitely one of the most serious threats to human and civic rights.
13. The war on the theory of evolution and on its proponents most often originates in forms of religious extremism closely linked to extreme right-wing political movements. The creationist movements possess real political power. The fact of the matter, and this has been exposed on several occasions, is that some advocates of strict creationism are out to replace democracy by theocracy.
14. All leading representatives of the main monotheistic religions have adopted a much more moderate attitude. Pope Benedict XVI, for example, as his predecessor Pope John-Paul II, today praises the role of science in the evolution of humanity and recognises that the theory of evolution is "more than a hypothesis".
15. The teaching of all phenomena concerning evolution as a fundamental scientific theory is therefore crucial to the future of our societies and our democracies. For that reason it must occupy a central position in the curriculums, and especially in the science syllabuses, as long as, like any other theory, it is able to stand up to thorough scientific scrutiny. Evolution is present everywhere, from medical overprescription of antibiotics that encourages the emergence of resistant bacteria to agricultural overuse of pesticides that causes insect mutations on which pesticides no longer have any effect.
16. The Council of Europe has highlighted the importance of teaching about culture and religion. In the name of freedom of expression and individual belief, creationist ideas, as any other theological position, could possibly be presented as an addition to cultural and religious education, but they cannot claim scientific respectability.
17. Science provides irreplaceable training in intellectual rigour. It seeks not to explain "why things are" but to understand how they work.
18. Investigation of the creationists' growing influence shows that the arguments between creationism and evolution go well beyond intellectual debate. If we are not careful, the values that are the very essence of the Council of Europe will be under direct threat from creationist fundamentalists. It is part of the role of the Council of Europe's parliamentarians to react before it is too late.
19. The Parliamentary Assembly therefore urges the member states, and especially their education authorities to:
19.1. defend and promote scientific knowledge;
19.2. strengthen the teaching of the foundations of science, its history, its epistemology and its methods alongside the teaching of objective scientific knowledge;
19.3. make science more comprehensible, more attractive and closer to the realities of the contemporary world;
19.4. firmly oppose the teaching of creationism as a scientific discipline on an equal footing with the theory of evolution and in general the presentation of creationist ideas in any discipline other than religion;
19.5. promote the teaching of evolution as a fundamental scientific theory in the school curriculums.
20. The Assembly welcomes the fact that 27 academies of science of Council of Europe member states signed, in June 2006, a declaration on the teaching of evolution and calls on academies of science that have not yet done so to sign the declaration.
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Matt Browne
My webpage is at
http://www.meet-matt-browne.com"As a race, we survive on planet Earth purely by geological consent." Bill McGuire
