When Cleaner Air Is a Biblical Obligation
Some Evangelicals - always quick to misinterpret or misquote Scripture -- have interpreted Genesis 2:15:
to mean that we should be better stewards of the Earth. It has made them strange bedfellows with environmental groups like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council. I'd be encouraged by this if they hadn't already had many dubious positions in the past ... like opposing gay and abortion rights."The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."
Vatican: Faithful Should Listen to Science
"A Vatican cardinal said Thursday the faithful should listen to what secular modern science has to offer, warning that religion risks turning into "fundamentalism" if it ignores scientific reason." Monsignor Gianfranco Basti, director of the Vatican project STOQ, or Science, Theology and Ontological Quest, reaffirmed John Paul's 1996 statement that evolution was "more than just a hypothesis." "A hypothesis asks whether something is true or false," he said. "(Evolution) is more than a hypothesis because there is proof."
If the Vatican thinks Intelligent Design is bunk, then Christians that believe in ID are really on the fringe.
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One of the most glaring examples of politicizing religion that I've seen recently occurred when a liberal California church was contacted by the IRS and threatened with losing their tax-exempt status. This happened because they delivered an anti-war sermon two days prior to the 2004 election. The sermon did not endorse either candidate but did criticize the Iraq war. That a liberal church was singled out is an incredible hypocrisy. Practically every Evangelical, conservative Lutheran and Catholic church in the country actively lobbied against Kerry prior to the election. One could argue that it was the single-most important thing that swung the election in Bush's favor.
Antiwar Sermon Brings IRS Warning
23 comments:
"A Vatican cardinal said Thursday the faithful should listen to what secular modern science has to offer, warning that religion risks turning into "fundamentalism" if it ignores scientific reason." Monsignor Gianfranco Basti, director of the Vatican project STOQ, or Science, Theology and Ontological Quest, reaffirmed John Paul's 1996 statement that evolution was "more than just a hypothesis." "A hypothesis asks whether something is true or false," he said. "(Evolution) is more than a hypothesis because there is proof."
Is this the Beginning of the End for ID/Creationism....?
Or would you advise me not to hold my breath just yet.......?
"we should be better stewards of the Earth"
BAH! The earth was created for man to exploit - it says so in the Bible. When there's no more coal/oil/trees/water/clean air, the rapture will come anyway... (groan).
That's actually a large argument of the Neocon camp - Bush's cronies. There's no need to save the environment because the world will end soon, so we might as well use it. Scary huh?
Don't get me started on the Tim LaHaye rapture crowd.
That thing about being stewards of our earth is not a new development.
The Vatican, i.e. The Catholic Church does not speak for all Christians, either.
Laura said: There's no need to save the environment because the world will end soon, so we might as well use it. Scary huh?
There does indeed seem to be a growing feeling amongst the 'fundies' that the "Rapture" is just around the corner..
Even scarier though is that they have the means to end it all for the rest of us just to make sure that they were right....
Sadie,
You are correct. But they do speak for over half the world's Christians.
I think they just want to make sure they are not on the wrong side of history again like they were with Galileo/Copernicus.
"I think they just want to make sure they are not on the wrong side of history again like they were with Galileo/Copernicus."
I think you are right.
dbackdad said: I think they just want to make sure they are not on the wrong side of history again like they were with Galileo/Copernicus.
Indeed. Slow learners aren't they... But at least they're 'getting it' now.........
"Indeed. Slow learners aren't they... But at least they're 'getting it' now........."
You'd make a fantastic teacher, cyberkitten. Everyone would be so eager to please you because if they somehow didn't "get it" they'd be belittled and humiliated in front of their classmates.
*wink*
You'd make a fantastic teacher, cyberkitten. Everyone would be so eager to please you because if they somehow didn't "get it" they'd be belittled and humiliated in front of their classmates.
Thank you.
Though if someone took hundreds of years to finally 'get it' I'd call them a particularly slow learner & pass them on to the experts....
Indeed, I spoke too soon:
Kansas State Board Votes to Teach Intelligent Design in Schools
Congratulations, Kansas, I'm sure high-tech industries will be lining up for miles to reap the benefits of your backwards educational system.
is Tim La Haye still around? I thought he faded from the scene years ago. course, it's been years since I payed attention to that scene....
ck said: "There does indeed seem to be a growing feeling amongst the 'fundies' that the "Rapture" is just around the corner..'
Fifty years ago, when I was a little boy, we were being taught that the rapture was literally any day now. 90 years ago, when my dad was little, he was being taught the same thing.
You'd think folks would be so tired, tired of waiting... wait, that sounds like it has the makings of a song...
GWB: You underestimate the power of human rationalization... ;)
This from the BBC:
The US state of Kansas has approved science standards for public schools that cast doubt on evolution.
The Board of Education's vote, expected for months, approved the new language criticising evolution by 6-4.
Proponents of the change argue they are trying to expose students to legitimate scientific questions about evolution.
The Kansas decision came as voters in Pennsylvania replaced all eight school board members who approved a similar policy in some of the state's schools.
It looks like the voters in Pennsylvania have come to their senses.....
Wait. They are just accepting ID as a theory to teach alongside Evolution, right? What's so devestating about teaching two "theories"? Sounds pretty progressive to me...
Sadie Lou said: Wait. They are just accepting ID as a theory to teach alongside Evolution, right? What's so devestating about teaching two "theories"? Sounds pretty progressive to me...
Hardly... as one is a Scientific Theory... and the other is just wishful thinking.
I have no great objection to the teaching of 'Intelligent Design' but I do strongly object to it being taught in a Science Class. It should stay in Religion Classes where it belongs.
Funny, heard something on npr about this. Sadie Lou - whether you realize it or not, you're flying the same canard that the IT/Creationist zelots fly:
Evolution is a theory, it's ok to teach other theories, theories aren't facts
Bull - as has been explained countless times, when a layperson says theory, they really mean hypothesis. Scientific theories are more than some speculation about something.
Evolution forms the underpinnings for everything from gene therapy to epidemiology. What practical applications does ID/Creationism support? Where are the operable/testable/peer reviewable experiments that support ID?
Teach ID/Creationism instead or actual science and we might as well stop bathing, catch the black death, and give up.
Sadie: From Wikipedia: "In scientific usage, theory is not the opposite of fact. Theories are typically ways of explaining why things happen, usually after the fact that they happen is no longer in scientific dispute. In referring to the "theory of global warming", for example, there is no implication that global warming is not occurring; world temperatures have been measured and are increasing. The "theory of global warming" refers instead to scientific work that explains how and why this has been happening."
As Eric says, laypeople confuse "theory" with "hypothesis" or conjecture.
...and you guys say I'm biased. Man, I can't believe the double standard played out so blantantly sometimes.
There are differnt strokes for different folks. We've been putting up with a difference of opinion on how the earth was created for a LONG time. Hell, they teach evolution as fact.
So no, it doesn't belong in Religion Class. It can be presented alongside evolution and the rest of you will just have to be tolerent of it.
Just like we tolerate being looked down on and called stupid or ignorant because we DON'T believe in evolution.
So there.
*sticks tongue out lightheartedly*
Sadie Lou said: So no, it doesn't belong in Religion Class. It can be presented alongside evolution and the rest of you will just have to be tolerent of it.
Erm - no we don't. ID isn't science, so why should it be taught in science class? So-called Intelligent Design is just another way of saying Creationism, which is just another way of saying that "God did it". That does not belong in a science classroom.
When I got into an argument with Sadie Lou over ID and scientific theory, she accused me of being disrespectful to her.
Sadie Lou, are you beginning to see that a scientific theory is different from, say, a theory like "I have a theory that it was Colonel Mustart in the Library with the Candlestick" type of theory?
I tried to explain this to you, but you decided that I implied you were stupid.
ID is a religious explanation for how life started.
Evolution is science.
Religion is based on faith. Faith is a belief in something for which there is no proof.
There is a ton of facts to back up many of the theories covering evolution.
Sadie -
saying we should just tolerate a difference of opinion and teach ID alongside evolution is like saying that we should teach 2+2=blue alongside of 2+2=4 in math class. One has a huge body of evidence to back it up, and the other isn't even math.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the vatican also said religious minorities are particularly vulnerable to verbal prejudice and stereotyping and one should not engage in it.
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