Re: "YEC" v. "Literal Creationism"

John E. Rylander (rylander@prolexia.com)
Wed, 26 Mar 1997 22:14:29 -0600

Finally, I get it, what was utterly obvious to most readers. Believe it or not, I've never pronounced "YEC" as "yecch" -- I've always read it as either "young earther" or "young earth creationist." Never even occurred to me to do otherwise, as I recall.

I wonder: does Morris mind "YEC" simply because of its phonetic pronunciation? Or does he mind it even when it's said as "young-earth creationism"?

--John

-----Original Message-----
From: John Tant, N4XAN [SMTP:jtant@exis.net]
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 1997 9:01 pm
To: John E. Rylander
Cc: 'Calvin Evolution Reflector'
Subject: Re: "YEC" v. "Literal Creationism"

Howdy folks,
Just my zwei Pfennig, but I use the terms OEC and YEC in my
high school classes all the time. I don't apply any specific
emotional twist. YEC just goes on the board much more quickly
than "6000-year-old-earth-catastrophist-creationist-position"
and, after the first couple of times, communicates just as
effectively as the longer version. Same thing for OEC. I was
completely unaware that Morris et al found it distasteful.
In the FWIW dept however, I have noted that (whether it is
justified or not) the term YEC is not typically used as a
compliment and typically has another, somewhat negative, word
associated with it. (Of course, I grew up in TX and didn't
learn until later in life that the word Yankee could be used
without the "prefix" either <big Houston-sized grin!!> My
wife is from Long Island, NY and just LOVES that story!)

jbt

John E. Rylander wrote:
>
> As usual, I don't have time for any significant reply, but two thoughts come to mind:
>
>
>
> (2) "Literal creationism" seems to -me- a poor choice for a scientific discussion for two reasons: (a) What sets aside YECs is -not- that they literally believe in creation, or believe in literal creation -- even ECs do that. The "literal" applies to their interpretation of the Bible, not to their belief in creation. (b) A few ECs, e.g. Glenn, consider themselves staunch literalists as well.
>
> Given that (i) YEC very clearly expresses what is distinctive in Morris et al's position wrt science, and (ii) hypothetically at least that the point is not to use emotionally loaded or unloaded, derogatory or euphemistic terms, but to be as clear as possible, I'd say stick with YEC at least insofar as one is discussing the scientific position. If one is discussing the theological position, then something like "Biblical literalism" (but not "literal creationism") would seem apt, although ...

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