about 3 weeks ago i found out that most of the students in my biology class are CREATIONISTS. 'born again' mostly, i see a big conflict coming up next year because part of our A level course is evolution. we had a small discussion about vaccination and and how its uptake effects its effectiveness, and how people's prejudices is causing problems such with MMR and so on... and long story short not long after it turned out my classmates were having visions of christ and many long hours were spent trying to explain the holy ghost to me.
im a bit worried about the situation, i dare not ask the rest of my classmates wheather they are *fool* of woo too.
You're going to have a fun, if occasionally excruciatingly frustrating year...
Yes scientists can be idiots, they can be fooled and they can be bigoted.
I'd add though that although scientists can be bigoted idiots, in theory the checks and balances of the peer review system should weed out the nutters short term and the less viable ideas over the longer term.
What sort of creationists are they? Are they mesmerised by ID in some way, or are they from the full-on young earth, talking snake brigade?
I find the idea of creationists of any stripe bothering to learn biology rather bewildering. Evolution is the very foundation upon when biology stands; take it away and nothing makes sense. I really don't see how it is that they manage to square the circle.
God did it...following prayer.Originally Posted by ianj5150
Scientists should be motivated by a search for the truth, whatever that might be. Unfortunately, they are only human and some get a bit diverted. Personally, I am positively obsessed by the truth but I realise I am a little odd ...
Scientists can be idiots, yes. Just because someone is an expert in one topic, it doesn't mean they are not prey to the same fallacies and weaknesses as everyone else in others (and occasionally, their own field).
My advice to you, when the time comes, is to keep your temper and patience. Acting with dignity, answering questions to the best of your ability, listening to others' position and then addressing their points calmly is the best way to open minds to yours. Equally, if you don't have a good response to a creationist position, say that you would like to look into that and will come back to them. Then do a bit of research, ask questions here if you need to, and formulate a really good answer with references that you can give to them later.
I've changed many people's positions using this approach. If you give people the references and let them educate themselves, they'll feel like they did the work and won't feel patronised.
However (and sorry to be a real bore), your chances of having your point appreciated go up greatly if you hone your communication skills. Education is the key to just about everything, and the ability to communicate well is the most important tool you'll ever own. Improve your grammar and punctuation. Capitalise your sentences. I appreciate you're probably young, and you come across as intelligent in your post, but you let yourself down by not adhering to general written English conventions.
I think it's great that you're asking the tough questions and are prepared to defend your position with your classmates. Demonstrating a disciplined and educated mind will help you.
Thank you for all your advice, its very clear and concise. There is no risk of losing my patience, most of them are my friends and they are all quite polite.
(continued)
But the thing baffling me right now is that according to them their parents are not at all religious, maybe they were convinced by the bible freaks that show up on the sreets every single day.
And finally, unfortunately English has never been my forte, i seem to have picked up a few bad habits from videogame forums. I will try to keep within laws of garmmar and spelling next time (no guarantee).
Those evangelist claim they take the bible literally
Angel says to John 'Let those who do wrong continue to do wrong. Let those who are vile continue to be vile.' Revelations 22:11
I guess they forgot to read the bible.
It seems weird to get a whole class brought up non-religiously to be creationists, they might be messing you around.
If not then who knows, education of evolution might open their eyes a bit.
I suppose the appeal-to-ego aspect of creationism
"How can someone as wonderful as me have arisen by chance?"
might be particularly appealing to some teenagers.
If you don't mind me asking, newatheist, roughly what part of London is your school in, and what kinds of communities (ethnic, social class, etc) do the pupils come from?
If I remember correctly Newatheist is in the unenviable possition of being an apostate muslim, so it's possible his classmates are receiving religious instruction from Islamist youth groups rather than their less religious parents.
That would imply there's something even more wonderful than them and that clearly isn't true.
Having 'born again' classmates and bible freaks on the streets, I'd assumed that some brand of Christianity was the likely source of blame for the Creationism.
Peckham, mostly black, asian and middle-eastern.
strange how i only noticed the religiosity of my school only after i became an atheist.
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