Hey everyone, this is Dan Merrill.
The Economist article In God's Name wrote, "from a secularist point of view, the wrong sorts of religion are flourishing, and in the wrong places. In general, it is the tougher versions of religion that are doing best--the sort that claim Adam and Eve met 6,003 years ago" (See Course Readings).
In the light of that statement, I thought I'd include this video of a group of atheists visiting the Creation Museum in Kentucky:
SAIU trip to the Creation Museum from Secular Alliance on Vimeo.
If you're interested in seeing more, here's a collection of a hundred photos from inside the museum, along with snarky commentary.
Creationist John Morris has praised the museum, saying it will validate the concerns and doubts many people have about science and evolution. "Americans just aren't gullible enough to believe that they came from a fish," he said, according to the Associated Press. It's much more rational to believe that humans used to live alongside dragons and dinosaurs, apparently.
The Creation Museum is a wonderful example of why it's dangerous to believe in the infallibility of something, whether it's a book of scripture or a revered leader. If you start with the premise that everything in the Bible is perfectly true, and that the Biblical God is perfect in every way, you tend to refrain from thinking critically about the material that's presented to you. Instead you resort to spinning and skewing facts and logic and reason to conform to what comes from the infallible source. And you end up explaining why it was okay to fornicate with your sister back in the day and seeing nothing morally questionable about a God who would send a tidal wave to wipe out incurably wicked people like these young girls. And if you take it far enough, you may end up reaching these sorts of conclusions.
I had no idea such a place existed, although it doesn't surprise me.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting question was posed to me by an unnamed member of the Champlain faculty:
"Is it not true that you put as much faith in science as some do in religion?"
To which I replied "It is true that I have faith in the process of the scientific method, of the rigors of the scientific community, and of many scientific findings that I have not personally tested."
The fact is that I have no proof that galaxies, pulsars, black holes exist. I have never seen nor had proof of the existence of atoms, protons, or molecules. Yet for some reason I put faith in these things but not in God, because they have proven to be a better model for prediction and provide a more tangible explanation for things.
I still submit to you this counter for the "creationist museum";
If the creation of this museum was an attempt at "spinning and skewing facts and logic and reason to conform to what comes from the infallible source" is it not true that many people discard the religious alternatives to scientific evidence rather than re-test the scientific evidence?
I'm not saying that scientific evidence is wrong, just that we often put "faith" in it and trust that "scientists know what they're talking about."
It is for this very reason that we see pseudo-science crop up on commercials for bunk cure-alls; people these days put blind faith in science the way people of the last few millenia put blind faith in God.
I can't count how many times I heard last semester "Intelligent design is just creationism, but Darwinism is FACT" as if being a falsifiable theory inherently proves a concept.
Just food for thought.