| [ freeeXpression ] in KIDS 글 쓴 이(By): typhoon (♥한윤수♥) 날 짜 (Date): 1996년04월21일(일) 19시29분09초 KST 제 목(Title): The Creation Research Society Creed [Image] The Creation Research Society Creed Brett Vickers (bvickers@ics.uci.edu) Last updated: March 23, 1996 [---] The Creation Research Society, established to promote and fund "scientific" creation research, publishes a journal called the Creation Research Society Quarterly. It is one of the only journals (that I know of) where creationists are able or have even tried to publish their work. Prominent creationists such as Duane Gish, Henry and John Morris, Thomas Barnes, and Harold Slusher have all served on its board of directors at one time or another. The society and journal require that all members adhere to the following statement of belief. Statement of Belief: 1. The Bible is the written Word of God, and because it is inspired throughout, all its assertions are historically and scientifically true in the original autographs. To the student of nature this means that the account of origins in Genesis is a factual presentation of simple historical truths. 2. All basic types of living things, including man, were made by direct creative acts of God during the Creation Week described in Genesis. Whatever biological changes have occurred since Creation Week have been accomplished only changes within the original created kinds. 3. The great flood described in Genesis, commonly referred to as the Noachian Flood, was an historic event worldwide in its extent and effect. 4. We are an organization of Christian men and women of science [*] who accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The account of the special creation of Adam and Eve as one man and one woman and their subsequent fall into sin is the basis for our belief in the necessity of a Savior for all mankind. Therefore, salvation can come only through accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior. To my knowledge, no major journal in any scientific discipline requires its submissions be accompanied by a statement of belief. Such a practice is anathema to the practice of science. Science is performed methodically: a reasonable hypothesis is proposed, evidence is gathered to test the hypothesis, and the hypothesis is modified or discarded if the evidence contradicts it. Should continuous trials and evidence support the hypothesis, it may become accepted by the community of scientists as a viable theory. Statements of belief, however, require adherents to begin with a theory--no, a conclusion fixed in stone--and perform the evidence gathering afterwards. By adopting a statement of belief, the creationists have turned the practice of science on its head. A troubling implication of the statement of belief is that the subscribing creationist is not free to alter his theories should the evidence contradict them. Rather, he must disregard any evidence that might oppose the literal Genesis account of creation or the great Noachian deluge. Either that, or he must concoct a wildly imaginative tale to mesh the physical evidence with the literally interpreted Bible. The latter approach is often taken by creationists not wishing to appear as if they are ignoring the scientific problems with their creation scenarios. Examples of such fanciful tales include the existence of a "water vapor canopy" surrounding the Earth prior to the great flood, the creation of starlight in transit, and the hydrological sorting of fossils during the great flood. Surprisingly, these creationists are extremely blunt about the fact that they have no respect or need for science as practiced by the vast majority of working scientists. "We propose to re-evaluate science," they say. The ultimate goal of creation "scientists" is not to bring creationism up to the level of science; it is to bring science down to the level of creationism! They are forced to do this, because the quality of their research results is not on a par with that expected by most major scientific journals. Finally, note the central role that religion and theology play in the statement of belief. The statement makes it clear that the "inspired" Biblical account of creation, not the scientific evidence, forms the basis for their belief in special creation. Creationists are constantly claiming that "creation science" is based on science, not religion, but this statement of belief by one of the premier creationist organizations in North America gives the lie to their claim. In conclusion, I believe that creeds such as this one breed poor science. They limit the scope of inquiry. They stifle the creationist's thinking. For evidence of this, one need only analyze the quality of the results creationists are producing (or failing to produce). Creationists do not publish anything pertaining to creation in mainstream scientific journals; they do not even submit to them. What they do publish is typically riddled with errors and goes into creationist tracts, books or journals. Creationists have a long way to go before they can ever earn the acceptance of mainstream scientists. They won't be receiving that acceptance until they give up unnecessarily restrictive and science-hostile creeds like this one. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Footnote [*] It was not until 1987 that the statement included "women of science." [<-] |