jho@ihu1m.UUCP (Yosi Hoshen) (09/13/85)
In a previous posting I gave some details on a TV program which was aired on the local Christian TV station, Chicago's channel 38. This program was concerned with origins. The program dealt with the evolution versus creation controversy from (fundamental) Christian point of view. They stated that evolution is the secular humanist's philosophy on origins, just as creation is the origin philosophy of the Christian. They claimed that secular humanism is a religion. Evolution, as creation, is based on faith, therefore evolution should be treated as a religion. I wonder if this is a new creationists' tactic. Previously, it was claimed that creationism is a science, providing an alternative to evolution, and as such should be taught in school if evolution is taught. Now, we see a hundred and eighty degree turn around by creationists. Creationists are saying that creationism is a faith based on a religion, but likewise evolution is a faith which is based on the secular humanist religion. The conclusion is obvious. Evolution should be banned from school because religion cannot be a part of the public school curriculum. Is this a new twist in the creationists position resulting from recent court defeats in Arkansas and Louisiana? Since the creationist were not able to legally define creationism as science, are they now trying to label evolution as a religion. Do creationist think that a change of tactics will help get rid of the horrors of evolution from the public school? -- Yosi Hoshen, AT&T Bell Laboratories Naperville, Illinois, Mail: ihnp4!ihu1m!jho
pmd@cbscc.UUCP (Paul Dubuc) (09/16/85)
I don't think either tactic is especially new. These creationists have been playing both sides of the coin for years. I think it depends largely on what standard their opposition uses most for maintaining the inequity between the representation of creationist and evolutionist ideas in the public schools. If it is said that creationism must be banned because it is religious, then attempts are made to show that evolutionism is as much so. If it is said that only scientific opinion should be allowed in, then attempts are made to show that creationist ideas are really just as scientific as those of evolutionists. This is really the same argument cast in negative and postitive terms, respectively. They are the two sides of the same coin; the bottom line being that there is an unfounded inequity sustained in whichever way the standard is presented. Personally, I think the tacitic of trying to get evolutionism banned from the schools is very wrongheaded, just as it is wrong to ban creationist ideas. Creationists should not be using the same tactics by which they say they have been wronged. -- Paul Dubuc cbscc!pmd