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Creationism Again!

Entry 945, on 2009-02-13 at 21:26:51 (Rating 4, Religion)

Yes, I know. I am often criticised for having too much to say about creationism, but I really just can't help it. Creationists really are an annoying bunch of morons and it is worrying when their belief system seems to be expanding beyond its traditional stronghold of America. And its more concerning when people with political power are revealed as creationists.

So where is this leading? A clown by the name of Mervyn Storey is demanding that an exhibit about Darwin and evolution at Ulster Museum in Belfast, Ireland should be balanced with a similar creationist exhibit. He claims that equality laws require alternative theories, which an alleged large proportion of the population believe, should also be presented. He is currently concerned that the museum have been "quite dismissive" regarding his request. I wonder why!

The problem is that this idiot is a Democratic Unionist member of the Northern Ireland assembly, as well as a born-again Christian. I guess Ireland is quite a religious society: they killed each other for years over minor differences in the interpretation of Christianity after all, so I shouldn't be surprised by this.

So there are several questions to answer here. First, should pressure from a politician be able to force an institution like a museum to change its policies and programs? Second, is there any merit in creationism as an alternative theory to evolution? And third, is creationism a worthy subject for inclusion in a museum program whatever its accuracy and truth might be?

OK, its easy to say that politicians shouldn't have this sort of influence, but there is also a case to say that they were elected by the people to control society and especially public institutions this way. But I don't think an individual should be able to effectively force his beliefs on others like this. If this is a real issue then there should be official intervention from the government as a whole. And if it is a genuine breach of the law then maybe the police should be involved.

Is there any real merit in creationism as an alternative to evolution? Well of course not. Creationism can be show to be wrong through hundreds of different lines of reasoning and experimental and empirical evidence. If it was right then just about everything else we have discovered about the universe would have to be false. There is just no way a reasonable person would accept it as true so its definitely not an alternative to evolution.

But despite the fact that its false should it be exhibited in a museum anyway? After all, in museums I visit I see displays of other primitive superstitious myths. We all know they are untrue but they are fascinating stories and often reveal a lot about the civilisation which invented them. Clearly creationism belongs in this category.

So there would be a case for presenting creationism as a myth but not as an alternative to evolution because evolution is one of the few theories where there are just no realistic alternatives at all. If it was presented this way the wording of information about it would have to include phrases like "in Christian mythology a God created the world in 6 days" or "primitive tribes didn't understand the world so they explained it through these stories". That would be fine but I don't really think that's what Mervyn has in mind!

Comment 1 (1891) by Anonymous on 2009-02-20 at 09:16:26:

OK, one thing I agree with. You do have too much to say about creationism. Get over it!

Comment 2 (1893) by OJB on 2009-02-20 at 13:17:47:

Yeah whatever. I did say that was a fair criticism but creationists just bug me so much that I can't help it! Its actually a real debate in the pro-science and skeptical communities: would it be better to just ignore the idiots and does debating them just give them credibility? I personally think we should debate them but make sure we totally humiliate and ridicule them. Many people disagree and I think they also have a good point!

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