Monday, June 18, 2007

Young Earth Creationists Starting to Implode

I don't have issues with Christians the way some occultists do. I was raised liberal Lutheran and didn't really study magick in order to rebel but instead to go further in terms of spiritual understanding than the Lutheran Church seemed to allow. I have met a number of Christians who are sincere and accomplished spiritual practitioners who are serious about living their beliefs, and I see this variety of Christianity as a valid spiritual path - but I do take issue with those who refuse to accept scientific discoveries that conflict with their dogma. To quote Liber Librae,

The sin which is unpardonable is knowingly and willfully to reject truth, to fear knowledge lest that knowledge pander not to thy prejudices.

I'm talking about Young Earth Creationists here - Christians who believe that the world was created in six literal 24-hour days about 6000 years ago. A belief in some form of "intelligent design" does not necessarily contradict current science (if, for example, you posit that apparently random events are actually part of some divine plan) but there is such overwhelming evidence that the world is more than 6000 years old that I find it hard to take the Young Earth adherents seriously.

Apparently there's trouble brewing in Creationist paradise. An Australian Creationist group is suing the American group that just opened its "Creation Museum" in Kentucky that depicts, among other things, dinosaurs and humans interacting. The lawsuit is unfortunately familiar - it's about money and group leadership.

Museum Group Sued by Fellow Creationists

It's kind of interesting to note how Young Earth Creationism has evolved (and yes, that's deliberate irony). The original creation date of 6006 BC was arrived at in the Middle Ages by combining the Genesis account with the statement in the Book of Daniel that "a day is to God as a thousand years are to man." Of course, that's silly because it places the creation of humans at around 1000 BC and we have recorded history older than that. So the 6000 number was kept for unknown reasons and it changed from 6006 BC to 6000 years ago, with the creation itself happening in six 24-hour days.

It's unclear why 6000 years is still so important to the more recent version, since if the creation actually happened in six 24-hour days the reference in Daniel becomes irrelevant. If you're a hardcore Young Earther, It probably would make more sense to drop the creation back to around the creation date from Egyptian mythology, 10,000 BC. Then you actually have a "great flood" at the end of the last Ice Age to correspond with the story of Noah, though it appears to have been confined to the Mediterranean basin.

We'll have to see how this all plays out. Maybe the Flying Spaghetti Monster will get in on the action soon.

Technorati Digg This Stumble Stumble

No comments: