Young-Earth Creationism is Cruel

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2018/03/27/young-earth-creationism-is-c...

I think the Slactivist has a real point here; young Earth creationism really does drive a lot of people from Christianity, as they hit reality hard.

And most Christians worldwide would agree with you. Although this type of Christianity is a significant force in the USA, and is growing in various parts of the world as "globalisation" (aka US influence) spreads, it is still a fringe minority view within Christianity generally.

>1 prosfilaes: from the article: This vertiginous sense of something almost like panic is what everyone should feel the first time they glimpse the staggering reality of deep time. Or the first time they ponder astronomical distance. It’s all so old and so vast, and if that doesn’t make your head spin for a bit then you’re probably not quite getting that.

The first time the "vastness" was really brought home to me was when we watched the film "The Powers of 10" in school. I still get a little dizzy watching it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0

More work by Charles and Ray Eames ... What are chances you are sitting in on one of their chairs?

http://www.dwr.com/designer-charles-and-ray-eames?lang=en_US

Sit on it, Rood.

Christianity is cruel.

Having my misgivings about it more than vindicated later in life by work in multiple fields has relieved me of more and more of that cruelty, though, in the image of Thoreau, I'll probably always hear echoes of those bloodhounds baying.

I suspect that it may be more vertiginous for people coming from such opposite "understandings". People who get the facts straight off the bat (eg children), may take to it a lot easier, eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6w2M50_Xdk.

>2 John5918: "a fringe minority view within Christianity generally"

I don't suppose you'd care to provide data? It doesn't look all that fringe to me: http://www.pewforum.org/2014/11/13/chapter-8-religion-and-science/

>7 zangasta:

The Roman Catholic Church (which claims around 1.2 billion adherents) does not support creationism nor that there is a conflict between Christianity and science, and I believe the same is true of Anglicans, Lutherans, Orthodox and a number of other older protestant denominations.

> 8

I suspect zangasta was thinking about the followers rather than the official stance of christianity's acknowledged leaders.

Things are getting better but I suspect christians polled around the world would agree with Americans. There are still right at fifty per cent of christians who are creationists in America in this poll from last year. (I count the 19 per cent who believe god had nothing to do with humans evolving as non-christians at a minimum).

https://news.gallup.com/poll/210956/belief-creationist-view-humans-new-low.aspx

>9 JGL53: "I suspect zangasta was thinking about the followers rather than the official stance of christianity's acknowledged leaders."

Yes, after all, that a considerable number of them blatantly disregard my "teachings" regarding the comparative evils of galoshes-usage should not deter him from blandly accepting my claim to having 8.3648ish billion adherents. Nor should he get hung up on the fact that my "teachings" about sub-atomic particles insist that Higgs's Boson got inserted there by my hero, Yahoo the Unsmellable.

"The Roman Catholic Church (which claims around 1.2 billion adherents)"

What a horrid way of addressing it. "I claim this new continent for Spain." "I claim these women who have not lain with men as my war booty." "I claim Jerusalem." "I claim Jerusalem." "I claim Jerusalem." "I claim Jerusalem." "I claim Jerusalem."

So keen on relieving the Norwegian State of the evils of money were the RCC that they scanned the phone directory, claiming anyone with a Polish- or Spanish-sounding names as member in order to receive per-member state subsidies. For some benighted reason or other, several of these claimees objected.

Ah, yes, the Anglican Communion. Founded on the family values of Henry. Not that that's relevant to the current topic, but I just thought I'd mention it.

>11 zangasta:

Fair comment, "claim" is not the most appropriate word, and in fact that thought was in the back of my mind as I typed, but I was typing in a hurry on a very poor internet connection in South Sudan, and these days I can't always immediately remember the exact word I want.

>13 John5918:

No worries, gave me an excuse to practice my typing skillz. I'll await that better word?