Monday, March 26, 2018

A book I ordered from Amazon: "God's Word or Human Reason? An Inside Perspective on Creationism"

I'm trying to save money so I promised myself to stop buying books. That idea didn't last long. I ordered a book about creationist stupidity. I decided I had to buy and read it.

The book was written by 5 people who used to be know-nothing creationist retards. These days they totally accept the established truth of evolution and according to the book reviews they are very knowledgable about it.

Two of these people are atheists, aka normal. There is one deist and two people who didn't throw out the ridiculous Christian death cult.


There shouldn't be any deists. There shouldn't be any Christians or Muslims or any other religious cult. This is the 21st century. We don't need supernatural magic FFS.

This customer review convinced me to buy this book:

This finely crafted volume brings together five former creationists in the service of a cogent, rigorous, fair, and richly factual analysis of the scientific viability of the major forms of Christian-based creationism. Among its several virtues is the fact that it addresses the data and arguments adduced on behalf of creationism -- particularly young-earth creationism -- in a fair and carefully articulated manner, and thus generates an analysis replete with honesty and intellectual integrity. As such, this book should be read by everyone, particularly those who stand on opposite ends of the continuum regarding the supposed conflict between science and religion, and by those who care about our modern understanding of human origins and its implications for human nature and the moral foundations of society.

The core logic of the book is built on five chapters reviewing, in considerable technical detail, (1) the geological record and an analysis of flood geology; (2) the complexities of radiometric dating and how it can be corroborated via other data sources; (3) the evolution of birds and dinosaurs and an analysis of the creationist theory of "created kinds"; (4) the origins of human evolution as indicated in the fossil record and DNA analyses; and (5) the theological standing of creationism in the context of mainstream Christian biblical interpretation. Each of these chapters is followed by an autobiographical essay, by each author, of their own progression from creationism to their respective positions now. And they have by no means arrived at the same destination: two are now atheists, two Christians, and one deist. But they are united in the simple fact that the scientific evidence against young-earth creationism is completely and utterly incontrovertible.

I recommend this book in the strongest possible terms to everyone who cares about human origins and the relationship between science and various forms of religion, in the broadest possible sense of that word. Because I believe everyone *should* care about this relationship, I think everyone should read this book.

My own perspective: By reading this book I have gained a much deeper understanding of the arguments that have been used to prop up various creationist constructions of human origins. Even though I understood, as do most, the basics of young-earth creationism and its founding from a "literal" interpretation of the bible (understanding that "literal interpretation" is literally impossible), I was not familiar with the details of creationist arguments, with flood geology, the reasons for believing the earth is only 6000 years old, etc. And as I read the authors carefully judicious treatment of creationist claims and scientific data, I came to sense, more viscerally than ever before, the sense of desperation that creationist writers emit, the embarrassingly post hoc ("lame") efforts to explain away massive bodies of sound empirical findings, the willingness to engage and focus on minor uncertainties and incongruities as though they were grandly disconfirming of geology, evolution and even science itself.

In short, I found three troubling aspects of creationist thought: (1) the goal of making empirical facts subordinate to a narrow and insupportable reading of the bible, to twist the truth to a very specific, arbitrary, and skewed view of spiritual faith; (2) the assertion of "facts" and arguments that are disingenuous at best and, in some cases, appear to be knowingly false; and, (3) the seemingly desperate need to perpetuate and spread the belief in biblical creationism, as though persuading others to their ill-founded views somehow bolsters their credibility. In my own view, the effort to advance biblical creationism amounts to a form of spiritual cowardice, a failure to authentically confront questions of ultimate concern about our origins and nature. Spiritual growth, to the extent that one believes there is such a thing, begins only when we ask these questions with the courage to deal with whatever answers we learn. If they really aspire to spiritual growth and the search for truth, creationists should get honest with themselves and start asking the questions instead of pretending to answer them.

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