Re: [asa] A graduate student speaks out

David C. said: *There are occasional young earth arguments for which I am
unable to
find an honest explanation, but delusional seems more appropriate as a
general characterization (of course, the average person in the pew is
merely misled.)
*
Ok, I'm not defending YECism, but.... I'm really not comfortable with this
kind of characterization. My impression is that most serious YECs are doing
their best to support what they believe is a correct interpretation of
scripture. I think we have to be very careful about calling that a
"delusion," particularly as the "delusion" and "wish-fullfillment" memes are
applied heartily against all of us theists by the new atheism. We all
believe at least some things on the basis of scripture that are hard to
reconcile. I believe the scriptural interpreation of my YEC brothers and
sisters is unsustainable and that they are wrong, but I don't think most are
deluded. Now, there are a few professional YECs whom I believe are just
dishonest, but that's another matter.

On Jan 17, 2008 7:59 PM, David Campbell <pleuronaia@gmail.com> wrote:

> > I've said it before and I'll say it again, of all the creationists I've
> met, including Andy McIntosh, none of them I would say were deliberate
> liars. Yes they are willfully self-deluded, because they can't reconcile
> what science tells them with their faith.<
>
> There are occasional young earth arguments for which I am unable to
> find an honest explanation, but delusional seems more appropriate as a
> general characterization (of course, the average person in the pew is
> merely misled.) Nevertheless, they are still in violation of the 9th
> commandment-presenting wishful thinking as legitimately researched
> claims (cf. I Ti 1).
>
> > This was, it turns out a big mistake, and lost me a good deal of
> > credibility, because it seems that you had already sent Anderson a
> > couple of unsolicited emails in your usual vein, which he considered
> > so appalling that he doubted that you were even a Christian! He had
> > considered posting them on his blog, but thought better of it because
> > he considered what you had written to be a disgrace to the service of
> > Christ.
>
> While admitting that Michael is not always the most tactful person in
> the world, young earth and antievolutionary claims frequently contain
> attacks on anyone who disagrees with them. Unless Anderson objects to
> those, too, I think he has a problem. This is why the defense of YEC
> with "are you accusing someone who professes to be a Christian of
> dishonesty" offends me. Yes, I am accusing someone who accuses me of
> dishonesty of dishonesty. If you don't like anyone accusing a
> professing Christian of dishonesty, you should not be happy with
> almost anything from creation science or popular ID.
>
> Not that this justifies responding in kind, but that there are
> significant problems of double standards, not unlike those used by
> Dawkins to claim atheists good, religious bad.
>
> --
> Dr. David Campbell
> 425 Scientific Collections
> University of Alabama
> "I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
>
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Received on Thu Jan 17 21:45:12 2008