From: Craig Rusbult (craig@chem.wisc.edu)
Date: Tue Oct 07 2003 - 11:31:21 EDT
Glenn says,
>I too had that same feeling when I was a YEC. I knew deep down
>that the position I was publishing on was in deep trouble. Yet I
>continued because I believed! I suspect lots of YECs are just like
>that. And I didn't want to beleive that my fellow christians would
>fill my head with mush. Christians are supposed to be honest in all
>their dealings.
Yes, it seems that there would be tremendous cognitive dissonance
for Christians who know the most, who are very intelligent and know a
lot about science. And the more they learn the stronger would be the
dissonance.
I guess this is counterbalanced by their feeling that what they're
doing really is good for the Gospel, so the motivations shouldn't be
questioned even though the methods often seem unwise, and the typical
results -- in terms of Christian witness to the scientific community
and the perception (fostered by YECs and by atheists, for different
reasons but with similar results) that "if the Bible is true then the
universe is young" and that a young earth is essential for
Christianity -- often seem counterproductive.
Craig
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