Letters to the Editor
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Take the Opportunity and Run With It
He's asking for your input, so give it to him.
Your hatred and revulsion for the asininity that is creationism is just as irrational as that belief system. Why on earth would you hate something that is stupid? Don't hate it, treat it seriously. Take it to its logical conclusion.
WHY do you think that so much of the pressure to mainstream creationism has disappeared? It's because, instead of getting angry, actual scientists started to publically deconstruct its tenets and to show how utterly unscientific it really is.
So do the same for your friend, and leave the anger at home. One of the things that would not exist, in a world that is NOT driven by evolutionary forces, is the ability of microorganisms to mutate and evolve in the presence of antibiotics. Discuss this with him, talk about the consequences of carrying a disbelief in evolution to that end: one would have to refuse to accept treatment with antibiotics that have been developed to treat resistant strains of bacteria. If there IS no evolution, then it's not possible for bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics in newer generations.
Nothing is served by responding to a perceived problem with hate and anger. Be better than the creationist idiots. Be the rational person that you believe yourself to be.
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You might suggest to him...
... that he reads (or rereads) The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. It really is very readable and interesting, and if he still thinks the theory is wrong, then he isn't very smart, and good luck to him.
Just how you can teach this in a science class is beyond me, but presumably we are talking about a church school. Even so, if such teaching leads to children failing science exams or failing to progress in education, then it will be on his conscience.
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creation and evolution
The most intolerant people I know are fundamental atheists.
That includes my beloved husband, who honors reason and objectivity above all else, but becomes emotionally disturbed by
other people's belief systems. I think we, all of us, get angry and disappointed when the world doesn't conform to our personal beliefs. But friends are a package deal; remember and honor the qualities you loved and connected with.
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You might propose...
That your friend include "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins in his readings as he explores "intelligent design". I doubt he could handle Dawkins' other texts, but this one might give him enough information to say no to the position without completely dismantling his belief system. A step toward center is still a step...
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Shameful misdirection.
Cary, all the pretty words and mystical nonsense you have in your reply is typical of religionists. It is there to misdirect and obfuscate.
The question was very simple. A science-oriented, truth-based rationalist is having a hard time with his friend considering the opportunity to abuse children's minds by instilling false cult beliefs in them. It is abuse. Creationism is a myth, it is not reality, it is not truth, it is not science. And brainwashing innocent young minds to believe that falsehood is truth (Young Earth Creationism), and the contrary that truth is false (Evolution, Natural Selection, Cosmology
The earth is NOT 6,000 years old. Some chick named Eve was not fashioned from a man's rib. Noah did not pilot an ark and save pairs of animals while all the rest of animal-kind perished. Teaching that crap to children should be considered child abuse.
LW does not need to get into a verbal altercation with his friend, but he should not withhold his truthful assessment of the situation.
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brilliant answer, Sir!
Thank you Mr. Tennis. that was a simply brilliant answer, my favourite yet. Wow. Thank you for writing so beautifully and with such insight and kindess. I have to go back and re-read it.
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Cool Rationality Perseveres
mickisue: Amen!
And I'm one who believes that God & evolution are not incompatible. Try steering your friend towards those who believe that "God and evolution" can coexist. Try Googling that--there are plenty of Christians who hold these beliefs.
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desirein
Tolerance is, by definition...people like me being forced to put up with other people's irrational beliefs. And because "reasonable" religionists have allowed the most backward and intolerant theocrats to run this country, I say....
maybe your ilk might stop attacking skeptics, and look in the mirror.
People of faith allowed the religious right to get us in the situation we are in now....
so leave atheists alone, and start living tolerance rather than slamming atheists.
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tell him the truth
Your nausea is there for a reason. It's the same thing as what he calls Grace, or conscience. Don't betray or hide your nausea. Let him have it with all you've got and tell him why.
If he truly believes in God because of a sense of personal contact, he should know that God doesn't need him to lie for him. His own Bible says lying is wrong. It doesn't become right just because it's done in the name of God.
How do people who truly believe in God dare to act like this? Don't they have any sense of shame?
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Ah, I too have had this problem, grasshopper.
I had some fundamentalists friends once. Any ideas contrary to their own were met with "hatred and revulsion," any different educational approaches were tantamount to child abuse, any ideologies that upset them were, to their minds, the products of ignorant, misguided minds that had not seen the light, any friends who disagreed with them set off a storm of soul-searching about whether to continue the relationship ... oh, wait, were we talking about *religious* fundamentalists? So sorry. I was talking about my atheist friends.
Nothing promotes the image of a clearheaded rational atheist like someone who is moved to vomiting and panic when presented with a fairly simple dilemma. Way to go, atheist!
He has asked for your input. Give him some links, some book reviews, some short snippets of information. Act like the rational logical mind you probably pride yourself on being. Otherwise, you are as much a frothing, overemotional zealot as the worst that you decry.
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let him
People send their children to religious schools for exactly this sort of thing. If they can't get it there, who knows, they might go back to the public schools and try it out there. That's just bad all around.
I'm myself in the (pseudo) evangelical atheist camp but I tell you what: Don't treat people with disgust or contempt - all we have are other people. You won't convince them of anything this way anyway. Being wrong isn't evil, it's just being wrong.
Also, consider this, those kids will be taught by creationism by someone with serious doubts about it. Kids are unknowing about many things but they are very adept at picking up things like this.