[net.religion] religion & rational thinking

lew@ihuxr.UUCP (11/13/83)

James Hutton, now regarded as the originator of modern geology,
was also conventionally religious. He credited God with creating the
great natural cycles of the earth which so felicitously provide us with
our needs. Georges Cuvier, the founder of paleontology, was a devout
Lutheran and an outspoken opponent of the theory of evolution (pre-Darwinian.)
Nevertheless he recognized the existence of several great epochs of life
in earth history, which he accounted for by a series of special creations,
the last of which was recorded in the Bible.

So I agree with Larry Bickford and others that religion needn't be an
impediment to rational thinking. This leaves me wondering to what I should
attribute the contorted machinations of creationist doctrine.

	Lew Mammel, Jr. ihuxr!lew

eich@uiuccsb.UUCP (11/20/83)

#R:ihuxr:-76500:uiuccsb:11900011:000:1053
uiuccsb!eich    Nov 16 21:12:00 1983

To what should you attribute the contorted machinations of creationist
doctrine?

Simple.  The Copernican theory overthrew the anthropocentrism evident
in Genesis and implied, philosophically fastidious Churchmen of the
time thought, by an all-good, all-loving God.  Next came the
objectification of natural things by scientific thought, which
threatened to undo dualism by tossing mind (soul) out the window.  And
finally, there was Darwin, who demoted man from his status as a being
made in God's image to a successful specialization of an ape (I know,
not quite right, but that is how it was interpreted).  Of these three
great body blows to a literalist, excessively anthropocentric
Christianity, the first is indisputable; the second is subject for
interminable philosophical debate pending brain/AI breakthroughs; but
the third, still an area where contested, legitimate theories clash,
is ripe for `debunking' from a `scientific' standpoint.

Creationists aren't dumb.  They know what ideas are dangerous to
their religion, and they oppose them.