wjb (03/30/83)
A good friend of mine is in school at a local university and is taking his first course in computer programming. He has waited until this point in the semester to start taking the course seriously. He came to me for help. This friend of mine understood nothing at all about flowcharts, editors, or DO loops. His algebra was weak, to put it charitably. There was no way for me to teach him everything he missed so far before the current assignment was due in two days. What I could do, and what I and another friend have begun to do, was tutor him in the basics on a regular basis in hopes of him salvaging the semester. I face a similar problem with you. I would love to be able to give you an intelligent, rational basis for what I believe in, but the Net is the wrong medium, and one article would hardly suffice to give you background enough to discuss the issues. I expect that I understand your point of view; we were probably taught the same science courses in school. But I also know that the background to which I refer is not at all common: it is extremely unlikely that you understand my point of view. At first I was inclined to write you off as another yammerhead on the net, more interested in exercising your fingers than your brain, but after thinking about it, I had to conclude that there was also a probability that you were a person who simply insisted on intellectual integrity from those whose conclusions differ from your own. That's entirely reasonable. And if your scientific background is about par for most folk in our country, I could certainly see why you might find `scientific creationism' hard to swallow. In fact, if you've heard some of the stuff I've heard from people who claim to know what they're talking about (and obviously don't) defend what they claim is scientific creationism, I could see why you might find it _r_e_a_l_l_y hard to swallow. I would like to refer you to a person who could give some bibliographies and some materials to answer your questions in the rigorous manner I think you would appreciate. You can contact him through the following address: Mr. John Clayton c/o Donmoyer Ave. Church of Christ 718 East Donmoyer Avenue South Bend, Indiana 46614-1999 Take the time to tell Mr. Clayton the extent of your background in physics, astronomy, geology, archeology, and paleontology. I have attended one of his lecture series, "Does God Exist," and noted that he generally aims his material to the nonscientific community. Every night after the lectures, he held a question answering session, in which he answered any question put to him. The discussion quickly rose to a technical level that I appreciated and in time escalated over my head. If you are interested in discussion with a creationists, I would love to participate, but before we can have an intelligent discussion, I think you should at least learn what I think the issues are, just as I must understand the issues from your point of view. If, after having contacted Mr. Clayton and having read the material he recommends, you remain interested in further discussion, I can be contacted by: Commercial (919)697-6253 Cornet 8-292-6253 Unix mail [get it from the header] U.S. Snail 1404 Paxton Ct. Greensboro, N.C. 27405 Home Phone (919)375-5180 Eagerly awaiting your reply, I am, W. J. Buie, Jr.