The Worst Thing about Creationism

[cleanhippie]

Of all the things about creationism, perhaps the worst is simply its lack of beauty. It teaches – nay, encourages – people to be content with a small Universe. It teaches that it is okay, even good, to look up at that deep band of stars that comprise the Milky Way and to say, “Meh. What else is there?” This is what believers in special creation are taught. They believe, most arrogantly, that there is nothing greater out there than their concept of an ever-shrinking, ever-so-tiny god. They believe that all we say was created for us a mere 6 thousand years ago.

Reason, rationality, and science encourage one to sit outside on one of those warm summer nights, pure awe undaunted by the anonymous fears lurking in the dark. They say, Look! there’s so much to be known. Don’t ever be satisfied with the Universe you know. They teach, “Wow! What else is there?” They teach that it is not good but stupendously great to wonder – and it is even greater to tear that wonder asunder and leave it in shattered little pieces so to discover that, yes, there are still deeper wonders. That is the prize of knowledge. Creationism rejects this beauty.

Of course, none of this says whether one or the other is true. Reality dictates that (and reality has a strong bias toward the truths of science). What this does suggest, however, is that something so vile, empty, and ugly as creationism or petty, little humanoid gods has no place among the robust beauty of science and reason and rationality. Go outside and look at the stars.

http://madmikesamerica.com/2012/03/the-worst-thing-about-creationism/

[HereSince1628]

1. "reality has a strong bias toward the truths of science"

As I was training in bio systems analysis, we joked that when a computer model doesn't square with reality, reality needs stronger bias towards our models!

Yet, it is the conceptualizations of science that must bend strongly toward reality. And they have, which is why those conceptualizations seem to be 'truths.'

[humblebum]

6. Very perceptive and true.nt

[cbayer]

2. dumbasses

(excuse the inside joke)

[skepticscott]

3. Nice try

But trying to joke about it now doesn't mean that your broadbrush mocking wasn't meant sincerely the last time.

[cleanhippie]

5. I wa going to add a comment about that in my OP...

But thought it would be in poor taste.

[humblebum]

7. That may have been the general view of creationists in centuries past, but

few that I know of have such a limited point of view today, even those who accept the 6000 year idea.

[2ndAmForComputers]

9. So, what it "their" better point of view as opposed to the one described in the OP?

By the way, you don't have to be afraid to out yourself as a creationist - as I understand, being one is within forum rules. So you can drop the "that I know of" and "those who." "We" is OK.

[cbayer]

13. Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?

[2ndAmForComputers]

15. Wow. Drama much?

[LARED]

8. If I understand correctly

Those that believe in a creator fail to see the beauty of the universe because there is a creator of said universe.

[2ndAmForComputers]

10. Creationism is more than believing in a creator. It's "no evolution."

As in, all living species were created as they are. THAT is creationism.

It's like refusing to acknowledge any Physics after Aristotle.

[Leontius]

17. Others disagree

[cleanhippie]

18. About what?

[Humanist_Activist]

11. I wouldn't say it applies to all theists, but in many I see them debase or disparage...

the material in favor of what they call the spiritual. Basically saying that the universe is a horrible place if there's no god in it. Indeed, some will come out and say it. This is something I simply don't understand, isn't what we know, and continue to learn, about the universe enough? Why wish for more, rather than know more?

In addition, and again I stress, this doesn't apply to all religious believers, but in quite a few I notice a simple lack of curiosity about the universe, indeed, I find it rather off putting, I simply don't understand how someone can lack the drive to want to learn more about the Universe, from quarks to black holes. Hell, I want to learn it all.

Why can't the universe be appreciated for its own sake? It has a beauty that's much grander, older, and deeper than any man made gods, legends, or myths. Even better, we have the tools available to help us understand the workings of these processes, and understand how the beauty is produced.

I would imagine that if there is any god out there that created this universe, the most practical way to understand this god, and probably the way it would prefer, would be through a telescope, or microscope, or even simply through a prism that splits light into its constituent colors. If you want to know god, you won't find the answers in a book, or in a church or temple, but in the night sky, or in a lake bed, or in a forest. Not in any mystical or magical sense, but by looking at what is around us and wonder. After all, isn't the best way to know the mind of a creator easiest by studying its creation?

[cbayer]

14. Wow! Your last two lines are fantastic!

Honestly, I felt inspired as I read them.

And I think for the first time, I absolutely agree with you.

[Dorian Gray]

12. That's an interesting

perspective that I've never really thought about before, but I do agree. Creationism is really limited and lacks beauty.

[MineralMan]

16. Creationism lacks that sense of wonder, for sure.

By accepting the simple explanation, "God did it," they miss the complexity of the universe, and lack the interest to study it. That, to me, is the central problem with creationism. Without that sense of wonder, life is really meaningless, it seems to me.

[LARED]

19. That's a mighty broad brush you've got

A belief that "God did it" in no way diminishes the wonder of the complexity of the universe for lots of creationist. Or for that matter any form of theism. Anyone regardless of theological perspective can be awed by the vastness and complexity of the universe.