4 ms·

just because they're in the majority doesn't mean they're sane, imo.

by ouid 7y ago

rsynnott 7y ago
I’m fairly sure the majority of people don’t believe in literalist young earth creationism. It’s mostly a thing in certain Protestant sects, and regionally (especially in Turkey) in Islam. If you’re talking about the vaguer “evolution happens, but, er, maybe a deity did something non-specific about it”, then that’s more common, granted.
- galaxyLogic 7y ago
  I never quite understood why many religious people have a problem with Evolution. If God created everything, surely he could create Evolution as well.
  - nealeratzlaff 7y ago
    From a lot of otherwise science-accepting people I grew up with, the issue isn't that penguins or insects adapted to their environment in unique ways. The issue lies in humans coming from monkeys. People I've known have a hard time with us not being created as special companions for the creator.
    - galaxyLogic 7y ago
      I think this ideology is partly because being a God's special companion means you can rule over others. So it's a convenient patriarchal fiction for many who want to rule over others, with God on Their Side.
  - djokkataja 7y ago
    I think it's about the sense of personal meaning and importance one gets: if God personally crafted you down to the tips of your toes, that makes you feel more important and like your life is more meaningful than if God created some system (evolution) which just happened to eventually result in you at the current point in time.
    - galaxyLogic 7y ago
      Good point. At the same time it is pretty clear by observing how babies are born and grow up, and if you believe God created human race, that you do believe he "created some system" by which we grow from sperm and eggs, to be the way we are :-) I think the way cells "evolve" to become mammals is actually much more wonderous than one species evolving into another.
  - tuesdayrain 7y ago
    I consider myself deeply religious and I never had an issue with this or any other aspect of science. To me, the goal of science is understanding how God's universe works.
  - jcranmer 7y ago
    I think the tendency arises from two critical components, which aren't present in most religious traditions (and hence why most religious problems don't have a problem squaring evolution with religion). The first is a belief that the way to salvation is a narrow path and that those who seek to follow it are constantly buffeted by forces that would have them fall off. The second is a strident belief in the literal, inerrant truth of religious texts. Altogether, this ends up in a worldview of "If I question anything, I question everything, which means I fall off the path to salvation. Therefore, anything that would make me question my religion is automatically wrong."
- flukus 7y ago
  > It’s mostly a thing in certain Protestant sects Catholics have a lot of grey area too (https://www.catholic.com/tract/adam-eve-and-evolution https://www.catholic.com/tract/adam-eve-and-evolution), they struggle with the random mutation and natural selection aspects that form the basis of evolutionary theory: > However, it says that, if they did develop, then they did so under the impetus and guidance of God There is also the literal adam and eve: > In this regard, Pope Pius XII stated: “When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parents of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now, it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the teaching authority of the Church proposed with regard to original sin which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam in which through generation is passed onto all and is in everyone as his own” Fortunately souls don't exist, so at least that doesn't conflict with the bible.
  - gattilorenz 7y ago
    > the literal adam and eve You're quoting Pius XII, which died in the 50s. Since at least the 80s the Church[1] accepted that evolution is a thing, and I don't think anybody claimed Adam and Eve really existed. There was a symposium in '86, writings by Joannes Paulus II in the 90s, and more. [1] yes, it is not a homogeneous group, I personally know people that believe I A&E and that evolution is "just a theory, not a fact". But that's the individual opinion of some priests and believers, not the official position.
    - flukus 7y ago
      Apparently expecting God and his earthly messengers to keep their story straight for a human lifetime is too much.
      - gattilorenz 7y ago
- riversflow 7y ago
  I hate to say it, but I’ve been recently re-convinced that people like you and I live in a bubble. Most people are adamantly religious in the US if you start to dig down. I knew this when I was a reckless atheist teenager adamant about the beauty of evolution, but after surrounding myself with like-minded people for a decade, my natural tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt relapsed over that bit of my established world-view. It was only recently, when I took an astronomy class for fun and I started to talk to more people about timelines and aspects of the universe that excite me, but don’t jive with religious views so well, that I remembered this sad fact. It honestly makes it harder to hold onto any hope that the human race can reason itself out of the corner it’s worked itself into. :-(
  - CDSlice 7y ago
    Which part of the US were you in?
    - riversflow 7y ago
      California

just because they're in the majority doesn't mean they're sane, imo.

by ouid 7y ago

just because they're in the majority doesn't mean they're sane, imo.

I’m fairly sure the majority of people don’t believe in literalist young earth creationism. It’s mostly a thing in certain Protestant sects, and regionally (especially in Turkey) in Islam. If you’re talking about the vaguer “evolution happens, but, er, maybe a deity did something non-specific about it”, then that’s more common, granted.

galaxyLogic 7y ago
I never quite understood why many religious people have a problem with Evolution. If God created everything, surely he could create Evolution as well.
- nealeratzlaff 7y ago
  From a lot of otherwise science-accepting people I grew up with, the issue isn't that penguins or insects adapted to their environment in unique ways. The issue lies in humans coming from monkeys. People I've known have a hard time with us not being created as special companions for the creator.
  - galaxyLogic 7y ago
    I think this ideology is partly because being a God's special companion means you can rule over others. So it's a convenient patriarchal fiction for many who want to rule over others, with God on Their Side.
- djokkataja 7y ago
  I think it's about the sense of personal meaning and importance one gets: if God personally crafted you down to the tips of your toes, that makes you feel more important and like your life is more meaningful than if God created some system (evolution) which just happened to eventually result in you at the current point in time.
  - galaxyLogic 7y ago
    Good point. At the same time it is pretty clear by observing how babies are born and grow up, and if you believe God created human race, that you do believe he "created some system" by which we grow from sperm and eggs, to be the way we are :-) I think the way cells "evolve" to become mammals is actually much more wonderous than one species evolving into another.
- tuesdayrain 7y ago
  I consider myself deeply religious and I never had an issue with this or any other aspect of science. To me, the goal of science is understanding how God's universe works.
- jcranmer 7y ago
  I think the tendency arises from two critical components, which aren't present in most religious traditions (and hence why most religious problems don't have a problem squaring evolution with religion). The first is a belief that the way to salvation is a narrow path and that those who seek to follow it are constantly buffeted by forces that would have them fall off. The second is a strident belief in the literal, inerrant truth of religious texts. Altogether, this ends up in a worldview of "If I question anything, I question everything, which means I fall off the path to salvation. Therefore, anything that would make me question my religion is automatically wrong."
flukus 7y ago
> It’s mostly a thing in certain Protestant sects Catholics have a lot of grey area too (https://www.catholic.com/tract/adam-eve-and-evolution https://www.catholic.com/tract/adam-eve-and-evolution), they struggle with the random mutation and natural selection aspects that form the basis of evolutionary theory: > However, it says that, if they did develop, then they did so under the impetus and guidance of God There is also the literal adam and eve: > In this regard, Pope Pius XII stated: “When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parents of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now, it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the teaching authority of the Church proposed with regard to original sin which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam in which through generation is passed onto all and is in everyone as his own” Fortunately souls don't exist, so at least that doesn't conflict with the bible.
- gattilorenz 7y ago
  > the literal adam and eve You're quoting Pius XII, which died in the 50s. Since at least the 80s the Church[1] accepted that evolution is a thing, and I don't think anybody claimed Adam and Eve really existed. There was a symposium in '86, writings by Joannes Paulus II in the 90s, and more. [1] yes, it is not a homogeneous group, I personally know people that believe I A&E and that evolution is "just a theory, not a fact". But that's the individual opinion of some priests and believers, not the official position.
  - flukus 7y ago
    Apparently expecting God and his earthly messengers to keep their story straight for a human lifetime is too much.
    - gattilorenz 7y ago
riversflow 7y ago
I hate to say it, but I’ve been recently re-convinced that people like you and I live in a bubble. Most people are adamantly religious in the US if you start to dig down. I knew this when I was a reckless atheist teenager adamant about the beauty of evolution, but after surrounding myself with like-minded people for a decade, my natural tendency to give people the benefit of the doubt relapsed over that bit of my established world-view. It was only recently, when I took an astronomy class for fun and I started to talk to more people about timelines and aspects of the universe that excite me, but don’t jive with religious views so well, that I remembered this sad fact. It honestly makes it harder to hold onto any hope that the human race can reason itself out of the corner it’s worked itself into. :-(
- CDSlice 7y ago
  Which part of the US were you in?
  - riversflow 7y ago
    California