Re: Cobb County

On Mon, 24 Jan 2005, Edward Hassertt wrote:

> At least the YEC'ers act like Christians when interacting with others.
> I can't say the same for you. If a nonchristian were to read your posts
> on this list, they would see no reason to follow Christ instead of
> Sagan. As one who has great respect for the achievements, that saddens
> me to know in. I post to discuss specific details and all of you
> mis-characterize me, call me names, slander my profession and abuse my
> character. I wonder how you treat those who challenge your core beliefs?
>

Ed,

I disagree with your first sentence above. For example, a few months ago
there was a discussion on this list of the behavior of Sarfati. The more
militant YECs have very unkind things to say about anyone who disagrees
with Henry Morris's version of the truth. They accuse us of all sorts of
heresy, including denial of the atonement. I have heard reports that they
are trying to pressure Christian publishers and bookstores not to publish
or sell books that favor an old earth.

Many of us would never be accused of heresy by the conservative
evangelicals who know us, and we may react emotionally to such
accusations in defending ourselves against those who would insist that
orthodoxy of belief requires assent to what we know to be demonstrably
false. This may explain some of the heat that is apparent on this list. It
likely carries over to exchanges with people who sound like YECs or remind
us of YECs or look down upon our profession. On the other hand, on this
list I have seen evidence of respect for YECs who are willing to
discuss the issues rationally and not attack our spirituality.

I, too, hope that our discussions will reflect our brotherhood in Christ.

Gordon Brown
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0395
Received on Tue Jan 25 16:16:42 2005