danw@oliven.UUCP (danw) (11/29/84)
[] Subject: Creationists are not stupid Ok creationists are not stupid. At least not in a way that can be measured with something as crude as a Stanford-Binet I.Q. test. The question i would like to see addressed is: Are they dangerous? ( Did the dark ages just happen? Did many of these well meaning, but frightened, individuals knowingly help further the development of this ideological holocaust ? Could thinking people haved stopped it? Could it happen again? ) danw >Your questions are provoking. Would you please expand on them a bit so I more clearly see the direction of your argument? In what way do you see creationists as directly responsible for the dark ages? Yes, I know that the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and its hierarchy were creationists and promulgated the Inquisition which was in large part the cause of the dark ages. However, it was not that they believed that God created the universe that motivated any of that (misguided) endeavor. The prime motivation behind the repression of the budding scientific community was their fear of loss of control over the community at large, which has since happened. The problem was caused by power politics (God save us from all theocracies!) practiced by a group (the church) that should never have gotten into that area of human endeavor. I believe that a little thought will show that conditions today are sufficiently different to render your argument unsupportable. I look forward to reading your reply (presumably to the contrary). > Blessed Be, > Xxxx Xxxx ======================================================================= Granted , the creationists were no more directly responsible for the dark ages, than the hitler youth was directly responsible for the holocaust. This does not mean we should encourage the hitler youths of the future. My point is the creationists ,while individually peaceful, are part of a larger movement that holds the greatest threat to personal liberties and civilization that can possibly be imagined. Contemplating the possible emergence of a technological based THEOCRACY has got to be the ultimate libertarian nightmare. This is not the benign and comic philosophy of say the Flat Earth Society. The efforts of these people to force their will via the legislatures, and school boards MUST be opposed at all costs. The cost of freedom is eternal vigilantes. Those that believe " a little thought will show that conditions today are sufficiently different to render your argument unsupportable." Are doomed to repeat the histories of Germany , Spain and Iran. A return to the dark ages is possible when enough people are , apathetic , don't think it's possible , or work to make it possible. (We have plenty of the former and the later. It is to those who don't think it isn't possible that i make my appeal) People laughed at the hitler youth. People laughed at the Iatola Kolmanie (sp) People are laughing at the creationists. For g*ds sake, take these people seriously, they deserve to be taken seriously. danw