This is... pathetic. The introduction is so transparently biased, and the argument is so weak it's ridiculous. It makes me sad that people feel so defensive about their personal beliefs that they feel they must stoop to this level.
I mean, if you want to believe that God created life, go ahead -- no one can disprove it. But don't treat us like idiots to try to convince us. That's just disrespectful.
Sadly, I suspect that they're mainly trying to convince themselves.
I will never understand the fundamentalist insistence on believing literally in what is so obviously metaphorical. When I went to Catholic schools in the 60's and 70's, the basic interpretation was that evolution is quite real, and that it's the engine that God used to create the world. What the hell is wrong with that viewpoint exactly, that these people feel the need to make complete fools of themselves in front of the world, saying and believing things that are more or less on a par with Santa Claus? It's really the smallness of the universe as they see it that I find appalling. Well, that and the crabbed bitterness of their mean-assed little dictator of a god, so impotent that he needs an army of bull-necked ignoramuses to defend him.
(Spike and I were talking about this very thing today, and we decided it's just another example of the actual disdain they have for their god and his rules. Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord, but you wouldn't know it to look at these people. They seem to think that despite his actually stating that out loud, it's necessary for them to run around defending him, as if he couldn't do anything for himself. It also proves to me that their god doesn't exist, because if he did, I seriously doubt he'd put up with the way they constantly flout his authority like that.)
I think the insistence on a literal interpretation is an expression of insecurity; an emotional need for solidity in an increasingly fluid world. A small universe feels safer to them than a large one; a literal interpretation requires no thought and permits no confusion. Or, at least, it oughtn't; which may explain why they act threatened when the contradictions of a literal interpretation are pointed out.
Which isn't to say I've got it all figured out. ;/
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branchandroot
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Date: Saturday, April 7th, 2007 03:26 am (UTC)I mean, if you want to believe that God created life, go ahead -- no one can disprove it. But don't treat us like idiots to try to convince us. That's just disrespectful.
Sadly, I suspect that they're mainly trying to convince themselves.
no subject
Date: Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 08:07 am (UTC)(Spike and I were talking about this very thing today, and we decided it's just another example of the actual disdain they have for their god and his rules. Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord, but you wouldn't know it to look at these people. They seem to think that despite his actually stating that out loud, it's necessary for them to run around defending him, as if he couldn't do anything for himself. It also proves to me that their god doesn't exist, because if he did, I seriously doubt he'd put up with the way they constantly flout his authority like that.)
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Date: Friday, April 27th, 2007 02:10 am (UTC)Which isn't to say I've got it all figured out. ;/