20 October 2010

God and Science

Oh FFS. I just discovered that my wingnut sister actually believes the earth is only 6-10 thousand years old. Because the Bible says so, apparently. She's married to a doctor. On all that is holy, I hope he's better at science than she is.

Okay, my Christian friends, here's the problem, science isn't bullshit just because that'd be convenient for your world view. The Bible is a fabulous source of ideas for how to be a good person, but it kinda sucks as a science book. See, it doesn't mention giraffes at all, and last I checked, they exist. And it was written a LONG time ago. Before people understood anything about the speed of light (though apparently, some people still don't). And so the stories we told to make sense of the universe were like little children talking about how babies are made. They get bits right, but they miss a whole lot of the story.

Adam and Eve are stories. The 6 days story? A story. A tale we told to make sense of a world we didn't understand. And that's okay. We got the important part right: God made the universe. Or God is of the universe. Or the universe is of God. Or something. I dunno. :)

For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:4, NIV)

3 comments:

Ignorance said...

The prevalence of Young Earth Creationism nowadays baffles me quite a lot, especially since the same creation myth easily allows to read it in favour of Day-Age Creationism. I still wouldn't advise people to believe that, but it tends to get at least the timescale right.

Funny that you mention the speed of light, it seems there's quite some Christian fringe opposition to the Theory of Relativity, supposedly because it supplants Newton's mechanics only for the sake of promoting Darwinism (a nonsensical claim).

I think a lot of the hostility comes from ideological abuse of evolution, though I guess the cause is more complex than that. Does your sister see this old-age brand of science as inherently atheist? (My apologies in advance if this comment draws an anti-accommodationist to your blog.)

Anonymous said...

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Luna said...

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