Hair-raising

[fpb]

I read this article, and could not believe my eyes. http://townhall.com/Columnists/FrankPastore/2008/10/07/sarah_palin,_matt_damon,_dinosaurs_and_%e2%80%9cdivine_deception%e2%80%9d?page=full&comments=true It is apparently possible in the USA to have postgraduate degrees in both Political Science and Theology and still believe in the fable of a Young Earth (in other words, in creationism in its most idiotic form) and have one's view published in supposedly respectable conservative fora.

That being the case, it becomes easier to understand why all the lies against Sarah Palin have gained so much credibility. They are wrong about her, but the type that generated them really does exist. Unless the conservative environment does something to rid itself of this kind of member, they will go on poisoning their image with the rest of the world. It is no damn good to keep harping on the fact that fifty years ago, Bill Buckley refused the John Birch Society a place in his movement, if this sort of thing is allowed now.

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It may have struck some of my conservative friends that I recently posted rather a lot of critical items. The reason for this is fairly simple. I and people like me cannot find a home in what now passes for the left - a grouping that betrayed its own roots in the working classes, that has forgotten its own values and reason to exist, and that has become a herald of mere antinomianism. We have obviously many more things in common with most of today's conservatives, beginning with the assumption that permanent values exist. But all the same, the longer I for one spend time with conservatives and in conservative environments, the more aware I become of things that I simply cannot accept. You may call this being independent, or being a candid friend. At any rate, if I have come here in order to keep my own view of right and wrong, it must be expected that I will not give it up only in order to stay here.

Comments

Re: Young Earth Creationism

[lametiger.livejournal.com]

BTW, "God created the earth with the fossils already in place" is a straw man. If you would take the time to investigate the organizations I have referenced you would realize this is not what we believe. Granted, not all who believe in a young earth fully understand the fine distinctions any more than the average lay person understands all the ins and outs of neo-Darwinism vs classical Darwinism vs Punctuated Equilibrium. If you want to attack Young Earth Creationism, find out first what the scientific arguments are of the PhD (some multiple PhD) scientists who hold this position, not the incomplete understanding of laypeople or the caricatures of opponents.

Re: Young Earth Creationism

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I object to the Young Earth paradigm as a historian, and that is something I know a lot about. I can tell you, for instance, that the earliest state of recoverable civilization and culture shows plenty of evidence of having tens of thousands of years of cultural evolution behind them. Archaeology joins up with paleontology in postulating the rise of human culture tens of thousands of years before recorded history, and I have plenty of reasons to accept it. At that point, the picture of the past presented by paleontology has no reason not to be perfectly correct for me. For the love of Jesus Christ Who is truth, I beg you on my knees to abandon this nonsense. It is offensive to truth, and thus to God Himself. But if you will not, please do not continue to support it from the pages of my blog, because I have spoken my last word.