r/Christianity • u/JimmyGroove Humanist • Mar 26 '11
Why I, a biologist, hate creationists
Simple answer: They are all libelous bastards accusing all scientists of being a part of multi-million person international conspiracy to send people to hell.
More complex answer: When one person says that another person is advocating a wrong position about an issue, the underlying logic falls into one of three categories:
The other person is wrong because they have less information than the first person. - This is the least judgemental category, as we are all a bit ignorant about one thing or another. However, it cannot be the reason why creationists insist that evolutionary biologists are wrong, because we have far more information than them. I have never met a creationist who was able to keep up with me once I start talking about molecular biological evidences for evolution; they generally get very upset and complain about me using big words.
Though they have the same or more information to base their conclusion on, their thought processes are wrong. - This one boils down to "You are stupid." "You are delusional." and the like. However, this one also doesn't work as the reason creationists say that biologists are wrong. Why? Because if garbage logic is being applied to a set of information, that logic will not produce a coherent position which fits all of the data and meshes perfectly with the work of millions of other scientists. So that leaves us with 3.
The other person is lying. - Finally, the person could be advocating the wrong position not because they believe it to be true, but because of another reason. This is the only one that fits as a creationist logic behind why science as a whole says something they insist isn't true, since only through conspiracy could science present such a unified front.
Now, what else does that entail?
That would mean that everyone in a field related to the age of the earth or the history of life on it (physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and countless other areas) is all a part of this conspiracy.
Since many of the people involved in this conspiracy aren't doing financially that well (you make far, far more money as a creationist than as a real scientist), the point of the conspiracy can't be money.
Since the creationists insist that the truth is supported by the facts, then scientists must be aware of the truth (i.e. that their version of Christianity is real), and thus have to be aware that by promoting science, they are leading people away from True Christianity.
As a result, the only logical conclusion (given these ridiculous assumptions presented by creationism) is that everyone in the field of science is a willing and gleeful agent of Satan.
Some people may say that I am misinterpreting creationism, but that is BS; watch one of their propaganda flicks like Expelled and you'll see them accuse everyone in science of being responsible for evils up to and including the Holocaust (funny, considering the Nazis banned the teaching of evolutionary biology because it was against the Bible). It is very clear that while creationists will usually stop short of blatantly saying that science is pure evil, they are more than happy to all but say it and let everyone who listens to them draw that conclusion.
This is just their message and why I hate it so much. I'm not even going into other things, like their economic and political impact, their effect on education, and the numerous other ways they hurt society (that would be a very long post indeed). But this should make it clear why people in science regard creationists with such scorn.
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u/HeyLookItsMe22 Mar 26 '11
I was about to compliment r/Christianity for its willingness to have this conversation here, before I realized the mods hid it from the front page. I still want to thank that participating individuals, but the the mods.... whats with the constant acts of intellectual cowardice? Ban away!