I entirely agree that the real issue here isn't the YE part of the YEC position; it's a certain view of biblical authority. If someone is fully convinced that (a) the fundamental truth of biblical revelation is tied up with the YE position and (b) there is "no stopping point" on the slippery slope to atheism (either real atheism or a moral view that functions as a form of practical atheism), once a YE view is abandoned; if (as I say) someone believes these things, then it's understandable why Ham and others are so vociferous about this.
IMO, the history of religion and science in the 20th century shows that one need not hold the YE view in order to be a fundamentalist (pace Ham). However, accepting biol evolution is another matter entirely: it's virtually impossible to remain a fundamentalist if you take that route. The highly important larger question, of course, is whether fundamentalism is the only genuinely Christian and genuinely biblical option. I think we know Ham's answer to that one.
If I were a social scientist (in case anyone hasn't noticed, I'm nothing even approximating a social scientist), I'd want to know a lot more about this survey -- the design of the questionnaire, the sample set, the background beliefs of those who designed it and those who took it, etc -- before drawing the hard and fast conclusion that Ham draws. Of course, quite likely, he already "knew" the answer before it was carried out.
Ted
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Received on Thu Aug 6 12:20:03 2009
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