Re: [asa] Homeschooling and Creation Science

YECs (and all of us) are hyper-sensitive to the seemingly innocuous
content that strategically and sparingly inserts snippets of mischief
dogma for indoctrination purposes. All it takes is the red-flag word
or phrase to alert our senses (assuming those have not already been
aroused by warnings from those who occupy our same trench) and then we
apply warning labels and treat the source with heavy gloves on -- in the
rare cases that we keep that source around at all. (speaking of
building "monolith" institutions as another thread warns against.)

In this psychologically aware and market-savvy culture, our senses are
more fine-tuned than ever. And that is the hurdle to jump in this
project: (do you "sneak it in" and hope to get away with it? Or do you
candidly announce it up front and risk untried rejection? -- If I were
to do unto others... then the latter is the choice) I too would love
to see an ASA booth & materials and would use them, as I already use YEC
materials, (but not because they are YEC). I use the BJU chemistry text
in our school, and like it. But you are correct to observe that such
"dabbling" is not reciprocated among our YEC neighbors. One of my YEC
colleagues will not move on any of this, and I am convinced that he will
go to his grave with his views largely the way they are today because he
has strong protection mechanisms in place. YEC materials, he welcomes,
Dawkins & co. he "welcomes" (because they so handily confirm the YEC
fear). But TE is the dangerous and seductive enemy to keep locked out
at all costs. And I'm sure many of these folks have already donned
their gloves or locked their doors on the ASA. To the YECs who do
linger here -- I will venture that you are the courageous exception to
this observation. Although you may only be present to test & build your
defenses or otherwise inoculate yourselves against the influence. That
is how most of us spend our time in hostile territory, to be sure. To
resort to a platitude: the quest for truth may be the first casualty in
any war. Also be assured of this (if I may make over much of what were
no doubt some casually chosen words of yours, John): there will be no
toleration of anybody "making something Christian" after the fact. It
has to be Christian from the first to the last and Christian foremost
(as I don't doubt you intend to say.) I just make a big ruckus about
your chosen phrase to illustrate the point on hypersensitivity to even a
little phrase. They accuse TEs of putting a Christian veneer on an
otherwise non-Christian package. "Perspectives..." does help this by
answering from a rigorously Biblical and Christian point of view. I
wish my colleague weren't so dead set against such a book. But the
Bible is (and rightly so) the primary sword to wield, IMO, when
discussing this with fellow Christians. I would love to here more of
your thoughts on this -- I obviously have plenty of my own as well. I
am eager to see the works suggested by some, like Louise and George just
suggested. This site already serves as a resource for me in exactly
this way. Thank you.

--Merv

Jon Tandy wrote:
> In some off-list conversation, I've thought of a few ideas to take the
> ASA message to a younger audience, in particular the homeschool
> audience which is pretty much monopolized today by YEC.
>
>
> The real problem, as I see it, is the mentality that I myself have had
> in the past. It's only been in the last year since receiving ASA
> e-mail that I've been willing to consider evolution or local flood or
> a non-simplistic reading of Adam and Eve as a scientific fact, and
> even then I don't like the implications. We are very careful as
> Christian parents what our children take in, and what worldview it's
> representing. If a children's publication were to be started, it
> would have a steep uphill battle against the parents' concerns over
> Biblical integrity and lack of science education in the parents. If
> the children's PSCF were to take on subjects like, was the Biblical
> flood global like we learned in Sunday school, or is evolution a
> scientific fact (as inevitably it would have to take on these
> subjects), parents who themselves haven't come to understand or be
> comfortable with these subjects may pull it out of their kids' hands
> in suspicion that it's a "worldly plot" to indoctrinate their children
> toward atheism. I don't know how to get past that, except to draw the
> parents into the magazine itself, and engage parents as well as
> children to consider the evidences, and also to make the magazine very
> clearly Christian in the sense that Perspectives on an Evolving
> Creation has tried to do, to mix an attitude of wonder at God's
> creation together with the scientific evidences. As such, it would in
> many ways have to focus probably 70-90% on non-controversial subjects
> of teaching children the wonder of creation, and mix in some overt and
> covert references to the controversial issues to begin the process of
> education.
>
>
> Jon Tandy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> *From:* asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu
> [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] *On Behalf Of *Jon Tandy
> *Sent:* Friday, April 27, 2007 2:19 PM
> *To:* 'ASA Discussion Group'
> *Subject:* [asa] Homeschooling and Creation Science
>
> The other day I mentioned a book which we picked up at a
> homeschool conference. It was a bit discouraging walking through
> the many vendor aisles, looking at all the various booths and
> seeing what seemed like all of them packing various YEC-slanted
> materials on the sciences (it would be impossible to tell without
> looking through them all, but that's a good guess). I realized
> that this is going to be (and probably already is) a formidable
> force, as the homeschooling movement has picked up steam over the
> last 20 years.
>
>

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Received on Mon Apr 30 21:10:20 2007