What's up with creationism?

[LastPoet]

...and there's nothing wrong with it. As far as I can tell religion is a form of therapy, prayer is a sort of therapy. It helps relieve tension and anxiety and makes someone feel good about themselves... is there something wrong with that?

I hear heroin has similar effects.

I felt that too. Ahhh. Damnit no more. Not one last shot. No more.

[robvalue]

What creationists generally do is try to find problems with the theory of evolution. That's not the same as finding evidence for creationism.

There can be no scientific evidence for it, because it's not a scientific hypothesis. It's just a magical story.

[Longhorn]

Ghhhhh....the term 'believe in evolution' again. We hates it!

Lol, what's the better way to say it? "I am confident that evolution is true?" 

Acknowledge or accept. Evolution is a scientific fact, and so the word believe is a bit awkward, at least to me. Just a pet peeve though

[Cyberman]

Pool, personally I don't see the conflict between evolution and the belief in God. We learned about evolution during science class in my Catholic grade school, so with me, there's never been a conflict. The scientist who developed the theory of the big bang was a Catholic priest.

With the greatest of respect, I am so sick of seeing this pop up over and over again.

Yes, Georges Lemaître was a Catholic priest, but his work in Big Bang cosmology was done in his capacity as an astrophysicist - not as a priest. Really, riding on the coattails of a respected scientist purely because he happened to share your religious beliefs is as spurious as saying that women made the bulletproof vest possible just because the inventor of Kevlar was a woman.

Can we please bury this canard now?

[Catholic_Lady]

Lol, what's the better way to say it? "I am confident that evolution is true?" 

Acknowledge or accept. Evolution is a scientific fact, and so the word believe is a bit awkward, at least to me. Just a pet peeve though

I see what you mean. I do accept evolution.

[Catholic_Lady]

What creationists generally do is try to find problems with the theory of evolution. That's not the same as finding evidence for creationism.

There can be no scientific evidence for it, because it's not a scientific hypothesis. It's just a magical story.

Yes, I suppose that's what I meant. They have evidence that they believe helps disprove evolution, not evidence for the story of creation as depicted in Genesis.

[Catholic_Lady]

Pool, personally I don't see the conflict between evolution and the belief in God. We learned about evolution during science class in my Catholic grade school, so with me, there's never been a conflict. The scientist who developed the theory of the big bang was a Catholic priest.

With the greatest of respect, I am so sick of seeing this pop up over and over again.

Yes, Georges Lemaître was a Catholic priest, but his work in Big Bang cosmology was done in his capacity as an astrophysicist - not as a priest. Really, riding on the coattails of a respected scientist purely because he happened to share your religious beliefs is as spurious as saying that women made the bulletproof vest possible just because the inventor of Kevlar was a woman.

Can we please bury this canard now?

I never said his work was done in his capacity as a priest, that's why I included that he was a scientist. 

When people keep acting as though devout Catholics cannot accept evolution, I feel compelled to remind them of a few things. One being that the daddy of the Big Bang, was, himself, a devout Catholic. Another being that I first learned about evolution in Catholic school. I don't know why anyone would have a problem with me explaining those 2 points when people act all shocked that I accept evolution.

[athrock]

Pool, personally I don't see the conflict between evolution and the belief in God. We learned about evolution during science class in my Catholic grade school, so with me, there's never been a conflict. The scientist who developed the theory of the big bang was a Catholic priest.

With the greatest of respect, I am so sick of seeing this pop up over and over again.

Yes, Georges Lemaître was a Catholic priest, but his work in Big Bang cosmology was done in his capacity as an astrophysicist - not as a priest. Really, riding on the coattails of a respected scientist purely because he happened to share your religious beliefs is as spurious as saying that women made the bulletproof vest possible just because the inventor of Kevlar was a woman.

Can we please bury this canard now?

This is an unfounded rumor or story? How?

That Fr. Lemaitre might be considered the "Father" of the big bang theory is no rumor, and the reason that Christians (Catholics especially) like to remind folks of this fact is because there seems to be a genuine canard that the Christian faith is incompatible with cutting edge science.

Never was. Never will be.

[Anomalocaris]

Always had been, always will be.

[Cyberman]

@CL: Again with all due respect, what is the relevance of bringing up Lemaître's religious beliefs, if not to co-opt his astrophysics accomplishments into larger Catholicism? Will Hay was a well-respected astronomer with many discoveries in his name, as well as a popular and famous comic actor. See the relevance there?

Neither do I.