The Science of Creationism...

[Calathar]

As always... Only in America...

 

[Jhessail]

Unfortunately not. Though its only in America where they actually have good funding and a firm leg to stand upon. I've met English and Finnish creationists and IDiots and wasn't just little while ago when the news reported about Russian Orthodox priest who wanted Creationism taught in Russian schools.

 

[mdk31]

It's also worth remembering that a sizable portion of the population of the Muslim world is creationist.

 

[Swadius 2.0]

Anyone that understands the evidence doesn't believe in a young earth. If they understood the evidence, they would believe in an old earth! 

What a person believe to be true is a personal thing. What is true in reality doesn't always make a person happy.

I suppose I can comprehend, intellectually, the idea that some people might hold happiness in higher regard than reality.

A man named Kierkegaard once put forward that the belief with a great possibility of being false and is one which is not accepted by the masses is an idea worth devoting oneself to. Although his reasoning that the greater the risk the more God will wuv you is based upon the Bible, I think his point stands up well even without it. He once said that a person who throws themselves at a figure or an idea where in the community harboring the notion is discouraged lives a fuller life than someone who simply believes in a certain religion when it is accepted practice for everyone else around him to do so. Kinda like living a last stand everyday of your life.

 

[CJ1145]

Kierkegaard. I read something about him. I can't remember what, but that name is just unforgettable.

 

[Seff]

He was a Dane. The word means graveyard, or literally "churchyard".

 

[siprus]

Unfortunately not. Though its only in America where they actually have good funding and a firm leg to stand upon. I've met English and Finnish creationists and IDiots and wasn't just little while ago when the news reported about Russian Orthodox priest who wanted Creationism taught in Russian schools.

wow in finland. i tought that our school system works quite well as anti-obivious-bull****guard or something. well there gotta be some idiots every where. lucky they aren't so noisy here.

 

[Jadow]

It's also worth remembering that a sizable portion of the population of the Muslim world is creationist.

That depends on your view of "creationist". You see, in Islam there has never been any real strict/literal interpretation of "Creation". I'm not particularly knowledgeable about Islam, but I do not think there is something the equivalent of Genesis/Adam and Eve's story in either scope or specificness(relative of course )

Indeed, At the beginning of the medieval era, when Christendom was still struggling to break free of the dark ages, Muslim science was well advanced, and although it was certainly religiously influenced it was not hindered by literal interpretations of the Qu'ran (like we have in Christianity with the Bible, even today). While Hydrodynamics was by far the most studied and understood of the sciences(understandable since many Muslim countries were situated in water-scarce regions), geology had some grassroots as well, with scholars producing theories that the Western world will not come up with until the late Renaissance. I can't remember exactly, but I think that the estimated age of the Earth was thought by Muslim scholars to be 75,000 - 100,000 years old at this time.

And, while the source isn't as certain, it appears that very basic ideas of "evolution" were also cropping up even earlier(700-800C.E.), and it is certain that by the Middle Ages they were taught in Islamic schools. Though of course, they were no where near as advanced or as comprehensive as Darwin's theory of Evolution. (By natural and sexual selection.)

I would just like to add however, that uneducated Muslims may seem to be traditional creationist, but that is not as a result of their religion. Rather, they simply lack the access to education that the Western world has, and they are also most likely raised in a culture of superstition.

 

[Archonsod]

That depends on your view of "creationist". You see, in Islam there has never been any real strict/literal interpretation of "Creation".

There is, but it makes a lot less mistakes than the Christian one. It still has Allah knocking the world and universe together in six days, and he creates the moon before he makes the Earth, but it doesn't rule out a big bang.

although it was certainly religiously influenced it was not hindered by literal interpretations of the Qu'ran

You want to brush up on your history of Islam. They were most certainly hindered by the various interpretations of the Koran, not to mention if you wanted to do anything not possibly covered by existing interpretations the legality of it would need to be debated and confirmed by scholars; a process which could take years.
It's not really true that Islam was ahead in science. Christians were well ahead of them in astronomy, Islam was well ahead in medicine, Christians had advanced animal husbandry, Islam had irrigation. In general, those areas which were actually useful to the strongholds of either religion (Western Europe and the Middle East) were well ahead of others. There's not exactly much call for irrigation in France, while Saudi Arabia would have little use for forestry.

I can't remember exactly, but I think that the estimated age of the Earth was thought by Muslim scholars to be 75,000 - 100,000 years old at this time.

Nope. Muslim scholars recognised that the Earth had been here a long time, but according to them it was so ancient it was impossible to judge. China meanwhile came up with the idea of geological layering and thus geological time, but of course it's not until the 18-19th centuries people can start putting this idea to use.

And, while the source isn't as certain, it appears that very basic ideas of "evolution" were also cropping up even earlier

Depends on what you classify as evolution. The idea of selective breeding is necessary before you get anywhere with animal husbandry, so in the sense of recognising genetic inheritance it's as old as civilisation at least. The Greeks first came up with the idea that life began in the ocean, that life could occur without any deity organising it and similar, but they lacked an actual theory of evolution; in fact the closest you got was Plato who thought variations on a given form were possible but these were finite and predetermined. It's not until Lamarck that you get anything resembling a theory of evolution, and not until Darwin that you get anything like a correct theory of evolution.