Re: The YECs continue to consolidate their victory

----- Original Message -----
From: "Glenn Morton" <glennmorton@entouch.net>
To: "'George Murphy'" <gmurphy@raex.com>; <asa@calvin.edu>; "'Carol or John
Burgeson'" <burgytwo@juno.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 10:59 PM
Subject: RE: The YECs continue to consolidate their victory

> 3-24-05
> George Murphy wrote:
>
>> I don't underestimate the seriousness of the YEC problem but
>> "consolidate their victory" language is counterproductive -
>> besides being
>> untrue. (If it were correct, YEC stuff would be legally
>> taught as science
>> in public schools, which is not the case.) Among other things, such
>> language is likely to encourage a lot of ordinary Christians
>> to cave in to
>> YECism who might not otherwise do so.
>
> Let me suggest something as an analogy from history. For 70 years it
> was illegal to teach religion in the Soviet Union. The minute that
> government fell, religion sprang up like weeds in spring. The plain
> fact is that just because it is illegal to teach a given view it doesn't
> follow that that the view has lost. History says differently. The laity
> will believe what they want to and teach their children what they want
> to regardless of what people tell them to teach publically.

As I said, "I don't underestimate the seriousness of the YEC problem." I
didn't say that YECers had "lost" or that there was no likelihood of them
winning. But it's a considerable overstatement to say that they have
"won" - let alone that they're "consolidating their victory." The fact that
teaching YEC as science isn't legal is just one indication of that. Another
is that while there may be news items that give YEC some PR (& we'll have to
see what this evening's is like), there are numerous routine news stories
about discoveries in geology, astronomy, paleontology, &c that assume the
correctness not only of an old earth & universe but of evolution & don't
bother to mention YECers takes on the issues.

Your last sentence ignores the fact that teenagers not infrequently rebel
against their parents' ideas.

One way to help YEC win is to tell people that it already has.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
Received on Fri Mar 25 07:47:26 2005