Posted on 03/21/2006 8:10:55 AM PST by PatrickHenry
The spiritual leader of the world‘s Anglicans does not believe that creationism -- the Bible-based account of the world‘s origins -- should be taught in schools.
"I don‘t think it should, actually. No, No," said Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, reflecting on the bitter education debate over religion and science that has so divided the United States in particular.
Williams, head of a church which has no problem with the Darwinian theory of evolution, told the Guardian newspaper: "I think creationism is, in a sense, a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory, like other theories."
Asked if he was comfortable with the teaching of creationism in schools, the mild-mannered and usually cautious theologian said: "Not very. Not very."
In the battle to bring God into the classroom, Christian conservative supporters of creationism and intelligent design seek to deny or downgrade the importance of evolution.
Intelligent design proponents say that nature is so complex that it must have been the work of a creator rather than the result of random natural selection as outlined in Charles Darwin‘s theory of evolution.
Williams‘ stance echoes the position of the Roman Catholic Church, the world‘s largest single Christian denomination, which has weighed into the debate by praising a U.S. court decision that rejected the intelligent design theory as non-scientific.
Catholicism, which has never rejected evolution, teaches that God created the world and the natural laws by which life developed.
British businessman Peter Vardy has funded schools in northern England that came under attack for teaching creationism in biology classes.
But the creationist movement has certainly not taken hold as strongly in Britain as it has in the United States.
"Religion has become politicized in America. That is not the case here. This is not a major issue," religious commentator and broadcaster Clifford Longley told Reuters.
"There is no intellectual credibility given to creationism in this country. There is no parallel between English evangelicals and American evangelicals.
"When I wrote an article saying there were no creationists in Britain, they both wrote to me."
For the life of me I cannot understand the extensive use (or misuse) of the many appeals to emotion in a debate. As far as I know the issues of a debate, at least this particular debate, are independant of the character of the debaters.
Thanks for the ping!
The things that were alleged to have been done by God, you mean.
"What we will see in heaven is God throwing out the ones who refused to believe in Him because they felt that science had proven Christianity was a myth. And it's not going to be a pretty thing to see, either."
What do you think he will do to those who refused to use their brains and rejected the evidence available from the physical Creation?
D@mn you, spell checker!
What a limited deity.
So you hope. :)
"The only thing He's interested in is whether someone accepted Christ or didn't. God isn't interested in your scientific knowledge where your eternity is concerned."
Is He interested in why someone believed in Christ? What if it was just because they were told to, without any thought or consideration as to the reasons to believe? Why would God punish us for using our minds?
Funny how She tends to match Her adherents that way.
It's no different than when it started - just more gods and their so-called followers to ignore.
"Dante's Comedy" placemark
How about that; a CREVO thread, and it only took 14 posts before someone raisied the issues of homosexuality. I swear you could post a thread on FR about "How to Fix a Faucet" and somebody would show up to proclaim that they once heard about a plumber who was a homo, so if you embrace the same technique he used to fix the faucet, you'll be accused of guilt by association.....
Ah, of course. My bad.
" A person can't be 'told' to have faith."
Sure they can. It happens all the time; in fact it is the primary way that most religions are spread, including Christianity. That's why most people in the USA grow up being Christian instead of Hindu. They were told what to believe when they were little and most still believe it when they are adults.
"You can try it, but forced or coerced faith is no faith at all."
It's not necessarily coerced, it's more like unquestioned.
"As to its reasons, they aren't as important as the fact of actually having that faith."
So blind faith is better then reasoned skepticism. I think I understand...
" But using same said mind to come to a conclusion that He's just a fairy tale isn't going to fly come judgment day."
In other words, the minds He gave us are defective. Too bad we didn't get a better version, like Mind.3
"That's a gross misuse of what you were given, and He's not going to reward anyone for that."
That cuts both ways.
I think I was designed by Bill Gates. I can scarcely get through a 24 hour period without shutting down and rebooting. Plus the need for upgrades keeps increasing, and they are more and more likely to have side effects.
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