Re: What do I mean by the word "won?"

----- Original Message -----
From: "John and Carol Burgeson" <burgytwo@juno.com>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2005 4:17 PM
Subject: What do I mean by the word "won?"

> Randy wrote: " I have to weigh in with George on this one. Without
> appropriate
> qualification, the headline "The YEC's have won" is incorrect, conveys
> the
> wrong impression, and fails to motivate us. To be sure, your specific
> clarifications help somewhat (though even those, I believe, might be
> overstatements), and I agree that in certain segments of society and in
> some
> aspects the YEC's have, so to speak, "won."
>
> Two things.
>
> 1. I meant to spark rebuttals -- there fore I did not define the word
> "won" in my original posts. I quite agree with your "appropriate
> qualifications" comment.
>
> 2. I am, myself, quite convinced that the YECs have "won," although I
> will admit I am not sure exactly how to define this.
>
> Let me try.
>
> The Flat earthers did not "win." They have disappeared, for all intents
> and purposes.
>
> The worshippers of Zeus did not "win."
>
> The followers of Joseph Smith "won." That is, although their historical
> base is nonsense at least as silly as that of the YECs, they have,
> nonetheless, established themselves as not only a viable enterprise, but
> one which is growing and shows no sign of ever fading away.
>
> At one time, I though seriously that the YECs would, in time, fade away
> like the flat earthers and the Zeus worshippers. Then I thought that, at
> east, they would plateau into a small, nagging, irritating sect But that
> has not happened. They have been growing in size, and more importantly in
> influence, over the 20 some years I have been following their antics.
> Therefore, I say that they have "won." They have now established
> themselves, like he Mormons, as a viable enterprise, one that shows no
> sign of decay.
>
> Will YEC nonsense get taught in public schools (George's worry)?
> Probably, at least in the ID form (wink -- we all know who the designer
> is). Will public schools themselves fade away -- or at least diminish in
> population as the privates take over? Almost certainly. What will be
> taught in the privates? You guessed it.
>
> Well, that's my take on it, anyway. Oh yes, I don't take this dialog all
> that seriously. Too much of it is "off the top of the head. Me,
> particularly. Perhaps that is why George is always so sure he knows what
> I am talking about. And why he is so often incorrect in that assumption.

In this case my error about what you meant is due to your using the phrase
"the YECs have won" in a strange way. When people (correctly) say something
like "Evolution has won in the scientific community" [the last 4 words being
of course an essential qualification], they mean that the vast majority of
scientists accept some form of evolutionary theory rather than special
creation, and there seems to be no likelihood that that will change. They
don't mean something like "Evolution isn't going to go away."

But with the meaning you give here to "the YECs have won," most of my
earlier criticisms don't apply. But I still think you're being too
pessimistic about the situation.

I apologize for taking your posts seriously. From now on I'll assume that I
shouldn't do that unless you tell say otherwise.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
Received on Sat Mar 26 19:58:06 2005